How This Cooling, Memory-Foam Neck Pillow Exceeded This Side-Sleeper's Expectations
There are a lot of cool things out there that make us wonder — do they really work? In our I Tried It series, we set out to use them in the real world and have determined that, in fact, they really do.
On Trial: The TEMPUR-Breeze Neck Pillow
Tester: Melanie Yates, side sleeper, enjoys a soft and fluffy bed pillow — firm neck pillows, not so much
The Brief: In truth, I haven't had a lot of success with finding solid memory-foam neck pillows that I can wholeheartedly recommend. They tend to be a little too heavy, firm, and hot for my liking, and I can't get comfortable nestling into their awkward shape, even though I know that other sleepers, particularly those with neck pain, swear by them.
For that reason, I probably wouldn't have chosen the TEMPUR-Breeze Neck Pillow for myself. But for testing purposes, I slept on this pillow for a month, and even though it's the opposite of what I'd consider my pillow preferences to be, it ended up completely exceeding my expectations.
Made by TEMPUR-Pedic, the TEMPUR-Breeze Neck Pillow is one of three pillows from the memory-foam bedding brand's TEMPUR-Breeze collection. The others include the TEMPUR-Breeze ProHi and ProLo, the latter of which our team has previously tested as part of our cooling pillows trial. All three pillows in this collection comprise the same proprietary memory-foam core, layered with gel sheets that are meant to provide a cooling sensation to the sleeper, and they are covered with stretchy, smooth, 500-thread-count performance material that's removable and washable. The shapes and heights of the pillows are their main differing factor.
The Neck Pillow is the least expensive of this collection, retailing at $149, which is still a considerable investment in one's nightly rest. However, when it comes to items that you'll use every day (or in the case of pillows, every single night), the higher price for comfort tends to be easier to justify.
After a month of testing, here's our breakdown of the TEMPUR-Breeze Neck Pillow performance.
Appearance
Let's get the negatives out of the way first. The shape of the TEMPUR-Breeze Neck Pillow isn't ideal if you like a uniform look to your bed pillows. Its low profile doesn't neatly fill out a pillowcase, either — I would recommend using an envelope-shaped pillowcase for these pillows to better hold it in place.
While this just so happens to be an unfortunate side effect of neck pillows in general, if you are a stickler for the appearance of a bed, then you might struggle with this mismatch when you make your bed each day. And unfortunately, the shape wasn't great for propping me up in bed before sleep to read, either. However, this shape does not diminish the pillow's efficacy whatsoever ...
Responsiveness
The memory-foam core of this pillow provides slow-reacting, adaptive support to the sleeper's head, neck, and shoulders. This means that you won't feel any bounce when you lay your head down on it. The pillow can be mashed as much as you'd like, but it doesn't have a malleable form, like a shredded memory-foam or fiber-fill pillow, that would allow the sleeper to alter its shape.
I really liked the slow-responsiveness of the TEMPUR-Breeze Neck Pillow — I never felt like I had to press into it, and it perfectly contoured to my entire face, including my cheekbones and chin. This all-over nestled feeling, thanks to both the pillow's shape and memory-foam core, helped ensure that I never had to wrestle with it to get comfy.
Support
A pillow with too little support will feel flimsy, like your head sinks right through it, and a pillow with too much support will feel like sleeping on top of a rock. The TEMPUR-Breeze Neck Pillow is perfectly balanced for side sleepers, as it cradles the head, supports the neck, and even provides a place for the shoulder to nestle in underneath, without providing too much pushback. I never felt like my head was sitting on top of this pillow, but felt instead that it fit right into its middle groove just enough. My neck and shoulders never felt out of wack while using this pillow, and I didn't suffer any body pains.
However, I have a cartilage piercing, and found when I slept on that particular side, the gentle, constant pressing of this pillow into my ear would leave me with slight soreness. This is not a deal-breaker by any means, but it's worth mentioning to anyone else with piercings that they sleep in.
Weight
When evaluating this memory-foam pillow, I was really surprised at its light weight: approximately 3 pounds. The detriment of many similar pillows is that a dense material adds weight to the product — if you are a side sleeper who tends to sleep with a shoulder or part of your arm under your head pillow, a heavy pillow can feel uncomfortable. Not only did I never find the pillow to be crushing my hand, but the memory foam adapts so well, even underneath the pillow, that it simply form-fit to that body part without any problem.
While I still favor light-as air pillows, the weight of the TEMPUR-Breeze Neck Pillow was seriously impressive and a major selling point to me.
Heat Retention
Memory foam, whether in pillow or in mattress form, tends to retain heat. However, newer memory-foam products are getting better at lessening or eliminating heat retention by design. The TEMPUR-Breeze Neck Pillow has two major cooling elements: its cool-to-the-touch, performance-material cover and its layer of cooling gel that sits atop its memory-foam core.
When lying on this pillow as I tucked into bed, the cool feeling is incredibly refreshing — it also transfers effectively through a pillowcase. What's great is that any part of the pillow that my body was not touching stayed cool. After hours of sleeping on one particular spot, the pillow will feel warm, but shifting the pillow very slightly to one side will solve this issue. I simply haven't found that any pillow feels ice-cold when making body contact with it all night long, but as far as cooling pillows go, this one does a great job of dispelling body heat.
Overall Score
Closing Argument: The balanced feel of the TEMPUR-Breeze Neck Pillow, combined with its pleasantly light weight and all-over cooling features, helped me sleep incredibly well during the month that I tested it. In fact, when my head hit this pillow most nights, I wouldn't shift position or toss-and-turn at all and would wake up exactly how I fell asleep. While I am still not a fan of how its sloped design looks, I admit that this silhouette definitely helps me as a side-sleeper feel supported and comfortable each night.
Read More:
We Tested Out the Highly Supportive Purple Harmony Pillow
Here’s How Brooklinen’s Luxe Sateen Sheets Have Held Up Over Time
Should You Buy the Parachute or the Casper Down Pillow?
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