Best Bamboo Pillows

As more sleepers are seeking out natural materials for their bedding, bamboo pillows have enjoyed a surge in popularity. Bamboo has many advantages over other traditional pillow fabric and fill materials. The process of growing and harvesting bamboo can be more sustainable than other textile crops like cotton, which require larger amounts of water, fertilizers, and pesticides. Bamboo materials are also naturally durable, cooling, antimicrobial, and hypoallergenic.

However, bamboo pillows can vary widely from brand to brand. This includes their general construction as well as the type of bamboo fabric and interior fill used. With a higher price tag than your average pillow, it’s important to know exactly what sets the best bamboo pillows apart. Our comprehensive guide will cover everything you need to know so you can determine whether a bamboo pillow is right for you. We’ll break down the different bamboo fabrics, common types of fill material, differences in pillow constructions, and how to tell if a certain pillow will work for your unique comfort preferences.

In-Depth Reviews

What is a Bamboo Pillow?

With more consumers interested in bedding made from natural plant and animal fibers, bamboo pillows have enjoyed increasing popularity in recent years. Bamboo pillows typically contain a memory foam or bamboo fiber fill encased in a woven outer cover made with fibers derived from bamboo, a fast-growing grass. This creates a plush yet firm and supportive pillow with a cover that is soft to the touch but still durable.

Bamboo pillows with memory foam fill may either be solid or shredded. Shredded memory foam, memory foam that has been torn into small pieces, allows sleepers to more freely adjust the loft of their pillow depending on their preferred sleep position.

The bamboo-derived pillows covers are made from 100% bamboo fiber. Bamboo is frequently touted for its benefits over other common materials such as cotton and synthetics. Bamboo is naturally hypoallergenic, antimicrobial, lightweight, and cooling.

However, bamboo is often combined with other materials to create a hybrid woven material for the pillow cover. This can improve the softness of the material while retaining the best features of bamboo fabric.

How is Bamboo Fiber Made?

Bamboo belongs to the family of Poaceae plants more commonly known as grasses. While all continents except Antarctica and Europe have their own native bamboo species, it grows especially well in warm and moist areas including both tropical and temperate climates.

As a grass, bamboo grows very quickly. Its fast growth makes bamboo well suited to commercial use. After harvesting, plants that have been cut can regrow back to full height in a short time. Unlike cotton, bamboo requires little in the way of fertilizer, pesticides, or irrigation. This also makes bamboo an environmentally friendly crop that can help restore degraded land.

Once harvested, there are two common methods to create bamboo fiber.

Mechanical Processing: the woody stem of the plant is crushed using machinery and then a natural enzyme treatment helps to break down the bamboo walls. The result is a mushy mass that can be combed through to extract the plant fibers. Plant fibers are then spun into yarn. The result is often referred to as bamboo linen which is highly durable, requires minimal processing, and readily takes up dyes, but is very expensive.

Chemical Processing: this is a more affordable method for creating bamboo-derived fabrics. Also referred to as the viscose process, this method uses strong chemicals to dissolve bamboo stalks to create a thick liquid. The liquid can then be filtered to separate the bamboo fibers, which are spun into a thread to create bamboo-based rayon fabric. Lyocell bamboo involves a similar process but uses less harmful chemicals.

How to Choose a Bamboo Pillow

Bamboo pillows offer a highly breathable sleep surface that can help promote proper spinal alignment in the neck. However, you must take into account your own unique needs when shopping for a new pillow. Here we cover the most important aspects to consider when choosing a bamboo pillow.

What to Consider When Purchasing a Bamboo Pillow

Bamboo pillows are known for their breathability, adjustability, and natural materials. While most bamboo pillows share these same general qualities, not all bamboo pillows are created equal. They can vary widely in terms of the type of bamboo fabric, fill material, and construction.

Many bamboo pillows only contain bamboo fabric in their cover while others use bamboo construction in both the cover and the pillow fill material. The type of fill material will have a significant impact on the performance and comfort of your pillow. That’s why we recommend comparing different brands and pillow models before deciding which bamboo pillow to buy.

Below we’ve highlighted the most important aspects to consider when purchasing a bamboo pillow. If you take these factors into account and prioritize based on your personal preferences, you’ll be able to find a bamboo pillow that suits your needs.

Loft
Loft refers to how tall a pillow sits. Side sleepers typically prefer pillows with higher lofts, stomach sleepers gravitate toward low loft pillows, and back sleepers often look for a more medium loft.

Most bamboo pillows are designed to provide an adjustable loft, where an interior zippered cover allows you to access the interior fill. Fill can be removed or added to create a customized loft that’s comfortable for all types of sleepers.

Fill
Bamboo pillows typically come with either a memory foam or bamboo fiber fill. Memory foam fill can take the form of the more traditional solid memory foam core or shredded memory foam. As the name suggests, shredded memory foam fill is made up of finely torn pieces of memory foam. While solid memory foam can be more firm and supportive, shredded memory is more breathable and adjustable to suit a wider range of comfort and sleep position preferences. Bamboo fiber is even more breathable and may emit fewer off-gassing odors.

Support
The level of support will largely depend on the exact type of fill the pillow contains. Bamboo pillows with a memory foam interior tend to provide ample support, as the foam molds to the shape of the sleeper’s head and neck promoting proper spinal alignment. However, bamboo pillows made with bamboo fiber fill can also offer suitable support that cushions the head and neck.

Firmness Level
This is an indicator of how soft a pillow will feel. The ideal firmness is largely subjective. Some sleepers prefer a more soft, plush pillow while others enjoy a pillow with less give. Bamboo pillows made with shredded memory foam make it easy to adjust the level of firmness by manipulating the shape of the pillow to create a customized firmness level that matches your comfort preferences.

Pressure Relief
Memory foam-based bamboo pillows provide excellent pressure relief by molding to the sleeper’s head, neck, and shoulders relieving pressure, tension, and pain.

Shape
Bamboo pillows follow the traditional rectangular sizing conventions for pillows sold in North America. This includes standard, queen, and king sizes. Some brands may also offer specialty sizing in the form of square or body-style pillow options, but these shapes will be harder to find.

Price
Bamboo pillows typically cost between $50 and $150 depending on the quality and materials. While this is on the higher end of the price range for a new pillow, it’s relatively easy to find sales, deals, and promotions to reduce the final price tag.

Quality Materials
Bamboo fiber is generally considered a long lasting, durable material. Often, the limiting factor when it comes to the life of your bamboo pillow will be the fill. Memory foam and other fills will degrade over time, eventually losing their ability to properly support your head and neck. However, some bamboo pillows made with shredded memory foam or bamboo fiber fill may be able to be restuffed with extra fill, extending their life span.

Moldability
This refers to how pliable or squishy a pillow feels. Bamboo pillows made with a solid memory foam interior will have the classic conforming comfort of memory foam, but lack moldability. In contrast, bamboo pillows made with shredded memory foam or bamboo fiber will be more moldable and easy to manipulate.

Temperature Regulation
Pillows may sleep hot, cool, or neutral. The degree of temperature regulation for an individual pillow will depend on both the fill and cover materials. Hot sleepers typically prefer a cooling pillow to help stay comfortable through the night.

Bamboo fabric is known for its excellent breathability. Combined with a shredded memory foam or bamboo fiber fill that promotes greater airflow than traditional solid memory foam pillows, most bamboo pillows will provide a temperature neutral sleep surface for your head and neck.

What Are the Pros and Cons of Bamboo Pillows?

Bamboo pillows are naturally breathable and made to be highly adjustable. However, bamboo pillows made with a memory foam-based fill share some of the benefits and downsides of other memory foam pillows. The following table presents an in-depth look at the pros and cons of bamboo pillows.

Pros

Cons

Many bamboo pillows are adjustable, making them comfortable for a broad range of sleep positions. Bamboo pillows with interior zippers allow sleepers to customize the feel of their pillow. You can either remove or add fill to adjust the loft or manipulate the shape of the pillow to provide a softer or firmer surface for your head and neck Fabric made with bamboo fiber has many naturally desirable qualities. Bamboo-based fabric is highly breathable as well as antimicrobial and hypoallergenic. Compared to other textile crops, bamboo is fast growing, doesn’t require as much use of fertilizers or pesticides, and may help restore degraded farmland. When made with memory foam fill or bamboo fiber, bamboo pillows are very quiet and generate almost no noise when you toss and turn. Some other pillow materials such as buckwheat, an eco-friendly alternative to bamboo pillows, can create a rustling sound as you change positions which some sleepers may find disruptive.

Although bamboo cultivation is fairly eco-friendly, the same cannot be said for the manufacturing processes used to produce bamboo fabrics. Processing methods may use harmful chemicals that can impact the environment as well as the health of workers. Bamboo pillows made with memory foam filling are susceptible to off-gassing odors compared to pillows made with more natural fills.

What Types of Bamboo Fabric are Available?

Rayon: Rayon derived from bamboo is one of the most common forms of bamboo-based fabrics. Also called bamboo viscose, bamboo rayon is a semi-synthetic fabric made by chemically processing raw bamboo to extract the plant’s fibers for use in textiles. Rayon is affordable and also very soft, making it a good fabric to use in pillows.

Lyocell: Lyocell bamboo shares many similar properties to bamboo-derived rayon. And while the process used to create lyocell is similar to the one used for rayon, it uses a more environmentally-friendly process. If you’re worried about the environmental impact of rayon bamboo but also need an affordable bamboo pillow option, lyocell bamboo represents a good middle ground.

Linen: Bamboo linen is considered the most environmentally friendly option in terms of bamboo fabrics. That’s because it requires very few chemicals and minimal processing. Bamboo linen can be coarse and may not be the best for next-to-face comfort. However, higher thread count bamboo linen fabrics are softer. Bamboo linen is highly durable, but also costly. Because the process involves more manual labor, a pillow that uses bamboo linen will likely be on the highest end of the price range for a bamboo pillow.

Which Bamboo Pillow Sizes Are Available?

Similar to mattresses, pillows also come in various sizes to suit a wide range of sleeper preferences. However, not every retailer carries every size, so be aware of what sizes are available as you scout different brands of bamboo pillows. While sizes tend to be standardized, there can be some minor variations from brand to brand. With that in mind, here are the most commonly available pillow sizes.

• Standard: A standard pillow usually measures 20 inches wide by 26 inches long. Most sleepers can get a good night’s sleep with a standard pillow. However, with less surface area than other options, it’s best for less active sleepers who don’t toss and turn or change positions frequently throughout the night. The standard pillow size is typically easy to find and also less expensive than other larger options.
• Super Standard: At 20 inches wide by 28 inches long, the super standard pillow offers a slight upgrade from the standard pillow without being too oversized. Consider the super standard if you feel like you need a bit more room with your standard pillow.
• Queen: A queen size pillow is typically 20 inches wide by 30 inches long. In addition to the standard and king size, the queen pillow is usually easy to find among most popular pillow brands.
• King: A king size pillow usually measures 20 inches wide by 36 inches long. This represents a big step up from the previous pillow sizes in length and is ideal for those who toss and turn or frequently change positions throughout the night.
• Specialty: Some companies also offer specialty pillow sizing. This can include a Euro size, a compact, square-shaped pillow, and the body pillow, an extra long pillow preferred by stomach and side sleepers who like to hold onto their pillow as they sleep.