MyPillow Review

What is MyPillow?

Per company lore, founder Mike Lindell struggled to find a pillow that he liked, and one night in 2004 he had a dream about making his own. He wanted to create something that would answer all his pillow problems—like waking with sore arms and a stiff neck. He created a pillow with a fill that the company claims “adjusts to your individual sleep needs regardless of sleeping position.” Lindell built the company in his native state of Minnesota and sold them locally for years, until he aired his first national infomercial in 2011.

The pillows feature the company’s “patented interlocking fill,” which is its main claim to fame. But the company’s website doesn’t provide any additional information on what that actually means. The fill is 100% shredded polyurethane foam with a cotton cover.

MyPillow’s offerings have expanded to include sheets, mattress toppers, blankets, linens, dog beds, and more. The company sells two types of pillows: the Classic MyPillow and the Giza Elegance MyPillow.

Rather than offering the consumer the option to physically add or remove filling (like our best bed pillow from Coop Home Goods), the pillows come in firmness levels. To determine which is best for you, the company suggests using its chart system that recommends firmness based on a small chart with two columns labeled to “men” and “women,” and rows corresponding to T-shirt size (yes, really). The Classic pillow comes in two firmnesses: “medium” and “firm.” The website doesn’t specify what fabric is used on the Classic version. The Giza Elegance pillow has the same fill in a 100% cotton case, and four firmness levels that are color-coded to indicate the amount of filling (the company doesn’t give firmness labels for these, instead relying on color alone).

The company suggests customers who are switching from sleeping on a down or feather pillow decrease their suggested fill firmness by one level, as down is generally softer than foam. Admittedly, this could require guesswork and is easier if you purchase the Classic Pillow, which has defined firmness levels, as opposed to the Giza Elegance pillow, which doesn’t provide such a scale. (We’re not sure what to suggest if that’s what you’d hoped to do.)

How much does MyPillow cost?

The Classic is the cheaper of the two, coming in at $69.98 for a standard size pillow, and $89.98 for king. The Giza Elegance rings up at $89.98 for a queen and $98.98 for a king in the blue, or “most firm” version. The full price is not far off from other shredded-foam pillows we’ve tested but at times the company offers steep promotions, which can bring the price of a Classic MyPillow to a fraction of the cost—as low as $19.98. The Giza Elegance is advertised as discounted to as low as $34.98—but only if you use a promo code that the website alludes to, but doesn’t immediately provide. We’ve perused the site for a promo code multiple times and always came up empty-handed. Eventually, one writer found one after digging through the company’s Instagram, but it was still difficult, as the coupon was buried in a caption.

How did we test MyPillow?

We tested the MyPillow Giza Elegance—the company’s self-proclaimed most popular option—in the “yellow” or least firm option, as our testers have smaller frames. We had two testers sleep on the MyPillow for several nights, alternating between side, stomach, and back sleeping to assess how well it performed for each position. We considered variables ranging from overall comfort to whether it gave sufficient neck support.

After these at-home tests, we sent the pillow to our lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for additional testing. Our in-house scientist used an electric blanket to measure heat retention, weighed the pillow down overnight to assess its ability to spring back come morning, and washed it to make sure it could withstand water-logging and drying.

What we like about MyPillow

It’s fully washable

One of the pillow’s biggest upshots is that you can put the whole thing in the washer and dryer, fill and all. While some pillows’ textures change after being washed, MyPillow came out feeling about the same as it went in. (The fabric cover was another story, but we’ll get to that.)

It’s thin enough for stomach sleepers

The MyPillow Giza Elegance is alright for stomach sleepers, as it lands on the flatter side of the spectrum. It might also work for side sleepers with a small frame (again, our testers did), but it would likely require routinely redistributing and fluffing the pillow, or even folding it to fill the space between head and shoulder. In other words, it’s workable if you put the work in. But as testers and consumers, we want products to do the work for us, not the other way around.

Bear in mind, the company’s sizing scheme is less than ideal. We purchased the least-filled option, but perhaps a MyPillow with more stuffing would have yielded a different impression.

What we don’t like about MyPillow

The sizing chart and guidelines aren’t practical

To begin with, the company’s sizing chart and guidelines are misleading. Take, for example, a petite cisgender women who might have a larger chest and wear a bigger T-shirt to accommodate her frame. Despite her clothing size, she may have narrow shoulders and be better off with a less-filled pillow. And that’s cisgender people—we’re not sure what gender non-conforming customers are supposed to do.

In our experience, pillow fill levels correlate more to individual preferences and sleep position than gender and T-shirt size. All stomach sleepers, for example, no matter how big or small they are, will want to opt for a thinner pillow so they aren’t craning their neck overnight. Back sleepers also benefit from a slimmer profile, while side sleepers will need more loft to keep their heads and spines aligned overnight.

It’s not really adjustable

Though the brand claims its pillows are adjustable—because you can redistribute the fill and squeeze or squish them to reshape—they’re not really adjustable. We’d keep that description for pillows that allow you to take out or add filling until you reach the level that best suits you.

It wasn’t good for side sleeping

Even though the MyPillow sample we received was the suggested size, we didn’t find it adequate for side sleeping. It waffled under pressure—one tester described her head as one pole of a magnet, and the stuffing another. Wherever her head went, the stuffing was repelled. She didn’t see this sleeping situation being viable in the long term.

It lacked structure and wasn’t supportive

The pillow also seemed devoid of any structural integrity—the stuffing tends to fall flat after a couple uses. And even after redistributing and fluffing, both our testers found the pressure of their heads made it spread out again. The same issue was apparent in lab test results. Of the pillows we tested, the MyPillow Giza Elegance was the worst at springing back to its original shape after being weighed down under 25 pounds overnight.

It’s lumpy

The pillow was also among the lumpiest pillows we tested. The best way one tester found to describe it is that it’s like sleeping on overripe peaches or cherries—random, differently sized lumps that were also squishy. Neither tester was a fan of the uneven surface.

The fabric casing didn’t fare well in the wash

Though the foam withstood our wash test, the fabric encasement was another story. The pillow encasement looked like it had been dunked in drool. (Sadly, one of our testers would know, as she is a chronic drooler.)

The stuffing also shows through the thin fabric cover. With fabric that lightweight, we have to wonder how well the pillow will hold up in the long term. Moreover, we noticed yellow-ish staining on certain parts of the pillow after washing, primarily along the seams. We’re not sure what those came from—just that it’s not aesthetically appealing.

The MyPillow website is difficult to navigate

Simply ordering the pillow could prove frustrating. The site lacks information on the product itself, and finding a clearly advertised promo code was challenging. For example, our testers weren’t able to figure out what the company meant by “patented interlocking foam,” as this info was not discoverable on the site.

Is MyPillow worth it?

If it wasn’t already clear: We would not recommend MyPillow. We believe many people won’t find it sufficiently supportive for maintaining spinal alignment overnight. It felt far too lumpy, plus the quality seems questionable.

Of course, there are exceptions. People who prefer to sleep on their stomach might find that it works, and those with allergies could rejoice in its washability. But there are better options out there that are far more comfortable, supportive, customizable, and have a comparable price.