Linda runs warm. She has for the whole time we have been married, and the bedroom in our split-level in Clifton has central air that never quite reaches the back corner where the bed sits. For years the routine was identical. She would kick the covers off around midnight, flip the pillow looking for a cool spot, and by three in the morning that spot was gone. I would wake up to the fan clicking on. About two years ago we replaced her pillow with the QUTOOL cooling pillow, the shredded memory foam one that comes as a set of two. It did not turn the bedroom into a cave. It fixed the part of the night that was actually fixable.
What follows are the ten things that made a difference, in the order I would explain them to a friend. Some are about the pillow itself. A couple are about the way Linda uses it, which matters more than the listing copy. I tried it for a week myself and went back to my old pillow, so this is not a review from a convert. It is a review from the guy on the other side of the bed who stopped hearing the fan click on at three in the morning.
The half of the bed that stopped running hot
Queen set of two, shredded memory foam, with a silky cooling face on one side and a soft face on the other. That is what Linda has slept on for two years.
Amazon Check Today's Price on Amazon →Her side of the bed stopped being the warm half
One face of the cover is a silky ice fabric, and the listing rates it to bring the surface down by about 4 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit. I was skeptical of a number like that on a pillow. What I can tell you is that Linda stopped flipping it at midnight. QUTOOL also says plainly that any bedding fabric is affected by the temperature of the room around it, which is the honest version. In a warm room it feels cooler, not cold. That was enough for us.
Two faces, so it still works in October
The cover is double sided. Cooling ice fabric on one face, a soft smooth fabric on the other. Linda uses the cooling side from roughly May through September and flips it over in the cooler months. One pillow did the job of two, and that is the reason we do not have a summer pillow and a winter pillow stacked in the closet taking up shelf space.
She could pull foam out until the height was right
Shredded fill means you can unzip the inner case and take foam out. Linda did that the first week, a handful at a time, until the pillow sat where her neck wanted it. The extra fill went into a zip bag that lives in the hall linen closet and it is still there. A pillow you cannot adjust is a pillow you either live with or replace. This one she tuned once and it stayed tuned.
The fill moves with her head instead of pushing back
The filling is 85 percent cross cut memory foam and 15 percent soft microfiber. Because it is shredded rather than one solid block, it shifts when she turns over instead of shoving her head back at an angle. The listing talks about cradling the head and neck and keeping the spine aligned, and for a side sleeper that is not marketing talk, that is just what you need. It is not a firm pillow. It is a soft pillow that holds its shape.
It is a set of two, so a queen bed gets both sides
The queen set of two is the reason this works in a shared bed. Linda has hers. Mine is on my side, and I tried it for a week and went back to my old one, which is fine, because I sleep on my stomach and I like a thin pillow. If you are buying for two people who both run warm, the set means you are not back online in a month ordering a second one.
It suits the way she actually sleeps
The QUTOOL listing covers side, back and stomach sleepers, and the adjustable fill is how it manages that. Linda is a side sleeper who needs height under the neck. A stomach sleeper wants much less. Same pillow, different amount of foam inside it. That is a plain idea and it is why one product can work in a house where two people sleep in two completely different positions.
The cover goes in the washing machine
The care instructions are specific. Machine wash the cover only, air dry, no heat, and do not wash the inner filling. Linda washes the cover every other week and it goes flat on a rack in the laundry room. Two years in, it has not pilled and the 350 thread count fabric still feels smooth. The rule here is boring and it matters. Wash the cover, leave the foam alone.
The foam is CertiPUR-US certified
The foam carries a CertiPUR-US certification. Linda cared about that more than I did. What I noticed is that after the airing period there was no smell left in the pillow, which has not been true of every foam thing that has come into this house. If you are the sort of person who reads labels before you put your face on something for eight hours, this is a label worth reading.
At 7.3 pounds it stays where she puts it
It weighs 7.3 pounds, which sounds like nothing to care about until you have owned a light pillow that ends up on the floor by two in the morning every single night. Linda's stays put against the headboard. It also feels like something when you lie down, not like a bag of air with a pillowcase pulled over it.
They tell you up front to air it out for a day or two
Buried in the listing is the line about letting it air out for about a day or two before you sleep on it. I appreciate a company that says that instead of letting you find out the hard way. We opened the box on a Saturday and left both pillows in the spare room with the window cracked, and by Monday night they were on the bed.
Two years in, the extra foam is still in a zip bag in the hall closet, and Linda still flips to the cooling side in May. She has not once asked me for a different pillow.
What I'd Skip
Skip the cooling sprays and the gel pads that go under the sheet. We tried a spray one August and it felt cold for about twenty minutes. Skip buying a single pillow when both people in the bed run warm, since the set of two handles that. Skip pulling out a big handful of foam in one go. Take some, sleep a night, then decide. And be honest about what any pillow can do. A cooling pillow is not air conditioning. It takes a few degrees off the surface and holds it longer than a cotton pillowcase does, and that is the whole claim. If the room itself is the problem, a pillow will not fix the room. One more thing, and I mean this. If you snore loudly or wake up gasping, that is a conversation with your doctor, not a shopping decision. I had a home sleep test three years ago and it was worth the hassle.
Start with the side of the bed that runs hot
Two pillows, adjustable fill, a cooling face and a soft face. Linda has slept on hers for two years, and I have slept better on the other side because of it.
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