Even if you have scored the most perfect mattress for your unique sleep style, you may still not be getting the best night’s sleep possible if you have neglected to take care of your choice of pillow.
A comfortable mattress properly supports your body to keep your spine in alignment in the position you sleep in. Since your neck is a crucial part of your spine and supports your head, care should be taken to keep it just as cradled and relaxed as the rest of your body. Just like a mattress, various pillow comfort choices are available for this purpose.
The Perfect Fit, extra firm, standard sized pillow is created specifically for side sleepers to help support the soft tissues of your neck while you sleep each night. Our Sleep Judge team personally purchased and reviewed this pillow and gave it a good trial run to provide you with our honest feedback, and suggestions for your sleep comfort.
Perfect Fit Extra Firm Pillow Specs
- Loft (Pillow Height): ~ 5 inches
- Firmness Level: medium firm (6)
- Durability: machine washable (10)
- Side Neck Support: good (7)
- Back Neck Support: excellent (9)
Breakdown of the Perfect Fit Extra Firm Standard Pillow
While you sleep certain points on your body are more prone to pressure points that need proper support to help keep your spine straight and relaxed. When your hips, shoulders, or head are incorrectly supported, your muscles and other soft tissues strain to keep your spine in alignment- often resulting in stiff or sore movements the next morning.
Firm pillows are a necessity to help cradle the head, and provide the proper uplifting support of the space between the head and shoulders to allow the neck to rest. Back and side sleepers often struggle with finding a pillow that keeps the head at the proper height and fills this gap correctly.
The Perfect Fit Extra Firm standard size pillow is created specifically for side sleepers, or anyone needing a medium loft, firm pillow choice, and is constructed with long lasting comfort in mind.
Features & Benefits
This simple pillow design is created with comfort in mind without any bells and whistles. The company offers a variety of pillow sizes, as well as comfort needs, although this particular pillow may work well for combination sleepers depending on comfort preferences.
Sizes
The standard size pillow measures, 20 by 26 inches and fits a standard pillowcase. This size is by far the most popular pick although both queen and king size pillows are also available- measuring 20×30 and 20×36 respectfully. Most pillows are chosen for the space they take up. For example, a standard sized pillow is perfect for a twin sized bed, with 2 spanning the width of a queen size quite well for 2 sleepers.
However, there are some other factors to consider as well before making your size choice. Larger sized pillows may be a good choice if you have a tendency to roll from side to side during the night to give you the added room for continuous support. But too large a pillow can also be a source of poor posture or provide too much filling to redistribute with added weight, resulting in pushing upon the neck and shoulders.
As an average sized woman who typically sleeps in one position through the night, I found the standard pillow to be a comfortable size and more than wide enough if I turned at all while getting myself situated for sleep.
Hypoallergenic Polyfill
Each pillow is filled with 34 ounces of soft Slumbersoft polyester fiberfill that is a slick, hollow conjugate that keeps its shape and is considered very lightweight. The Slumbersoft patent describes a poly filling that should keep its loft (described below) through its use as well as washing. Plus, it is a hypoallergenic material which naturally helps to repel dust mites and other allergens, which often can become problematic in pillows due to their density- and how they are kept within a darker, more closed casing.
Polyfill is also very breathable and allows air to pass through with ease, helping you get a cooler night’s sleep. I do not sleep hot, and my pillow breathability has never been an issue before, therefore I’m unsure how true this is but I found the polyfill to be supportive, yet very yielding to my head weight despite it being an overall thinner pillow.
Gusseted Sidewall
Gusseted, quilted sidewalls measure 2.5 inches in height to help the pillow keep its shape while you sleep on it. This is what allows the polyfill to redistribute to support your neck correctly without bunching up in the sides or corners. The quilting of the sidewalls are also supposed to help the gussets better keep their shape under pressure as an added support, but I found they bowed out just like almost all other similar products of this type have a tendency to do.
233 Thread-Count
Most people associate a high thread count with a higher quality item, but that isn’t true at all. What the threads are made of determine the quality, and these pillows are covered in 100% cotton. A high thread count may call for a heavier, softer fabric feel due to how more threads are woven more closely together, but this tighter weave also means it isn’t as breathable.
Besides, pillow are used within pillowcases, so your head isn’t coming in direct contact with a pillow regardless of how closely together the threads are woven. The 223 thread count allows for air to pass more easily through the pillow, making it breathable, and allowing for the polyfill to plump up more easily after every use. In my time with these pillows I found them to easily regain shape after use without any sort of uneven wear or compression being noticeable.
Medium Loft
The loft of a pillow is referring to how high a pillow sits when lying upon a flat surface and the Perfect Fit is about 5 inches tall when plumped up. The Perfect Fit extra firm pillow is a mid-range loft and lays fairly flat across its 2.5 inch gussets. This calls for a pretty dense filling to keep it firm, but the polyfill does a good job to make it feel fairly plush and keep weight contouring- feeling as if you are laying on something much thicker.
Because it is a fairly thin, firm pillow, I can imagine that a larger or more heavier head may not get the support they need and may feel as if the pillow is very flat with very little cushioning. I found the pillow to be comfortably ‘lofty’ upon my back while allowing my head to sink in comfortably, and reasonably supportive while on my side as well with the fill nicely filling in the space between my head and shoulders.
Reinforced Corded Edges
Because the filling of a pillow is supposed to redistribute, it does put stress upon the seems. These seem edges are reinforced with a double sticking cording to keep the polyfill from pressing too much against any one spot, and to also provide longevity to the pillow itself.
I found the design to be well executed and of high quality. The stitching is tight, the pillow id not overfilled, and when weight is laid upon it the filling does not press out and strain against the workmanship at all.
Machine Washable
It’s not always suggested to put your pillows through a washing machine, even though some events call for that kind of care. The thickness of pillows and the type of fill they use determines whether your pillow can wash well without losing its loft and support. These pillows are made to wash well and fluff back up nicely on low heat in the dryer without getting lumpy or breaking down.
Although we do suggest using pillow protection to help keep body oils and moisture from working their way into your pillows, knowing your pillow is washable provides a peace of mind. I did go ahead and try out how well this pillow washed and dried using two pillows to keep the load balanced. I used a delicate setting and a tumble dry low heat and found they came out looking the same as they did upon arrival.
Consumer Reviews
Overall, consumers are happy with their purchase with this brand despite the many comments that state that the pillow is not as firm as many other comparative choices, but that it does support the head and neck well.
Back and side sleepers alike were happy with this choice. The loft was a perfect balance for the average sized adult to provide support without raising the head or neck into an uncomfortable position. Many reviewers also state how well it keeps its shape over time.
Negative feedback comes from those who were looking for a firmer, harder choice- which this just doesn’t deliver. Plus, heavier adults did find that it bottomed out with use and was not as supportive as they would have liked.
My Trial Experiences
I’m an average sized woman in both weight and height, and also prefer to sleep on my stomach and side, although enjoy quick afternoon naps on my back on the living room floor when I get the chance. I do struggle with some spinal disk degeneration and it has been suggested to me to pay close attention to how I sleep to help keep my spine aligned and healthy– hence the cat naps on the floor. This attention to my sleep patterns allowed me to really give this pillow a good rundown concerning its comfort.
Stomach and Side Trial
Stomach sleepers need a flat, low loft pillow, or no pillow at all in order to keep the back straight. In trying to use this while on my stomach, my initial comfort quickly was replaced with how noticeably high my head and neck was sitting despite the plush filling that did contour to my head. Not surprised with this, I moved into a side position and found it to be just about right as long as I did not rest my shoulders upon the bottom edge of the pillow. If I did rest my shoulder upon the pillow, my head then felt as if it was too low and sitting more upon the mattress than the pillow.
The filling did move well into the space between my shoulder and head when my shoulder was on the mattress, and even though I felt that it may have been a bit too thin for sleeping on my side- my head was comfortably cradled without any pressure points noticeable. It is also often suggested to sleep with a pillow between your legs to reduce joint pressure when on your side. I took advantage of the second pillow and tried that out as well and found it to be of the perfect thickness for placing it between your legs.
Back
I absolutely adored this pillow while sleeping on my back. To me this was the perfect thickness and loft to cradle my head and neck, but keep my head well aligned between my shoulders. The use of this pillow in this manner truly made me consider if sleeping on my stomach and side wasn’t in an attempt to get comfortable as I have never owned a pillow that has made sleeping on my back this relaxed.
When sleeping on your back you should also provide a pillow beneath your knees to help take the strain off your lower back muscles. I tried this out as well and did find it to be a good choice for this purpose if a bolster pillow is just too narrow and firm, as many are.
Other Uses
As a stomach sleeper I often lace a pillow beneath my hips to keep my back better aligned and to relieve pressure. This pillow does a good job with this as well without keeping too much of an uplifting support, but also allow for my weight to distribute over it nicely.
I did mention that it washed well above, which is a nice perk even if you do keep your pillows well protected. I liked how the pillow kept its shape as well no matter how I took advantage of it. It always sprang back into shape even after washing, and I had to do very little in the way of ‘plumping’ it back up as the fill never showed any sign of compression.
Conclusion
If searching for a pillow to match your sleep comfort, then taking your time to research your choices and even test out a few may be worth your while. I was pleasantly surprised by this pillow choice and found it to be very comfortable overall despite it not necessarily meeting the company details surrounding it. The washability was also a perk since I have children and even with the most care, accidents happen.
Overall I would categorize this pillow as a thin, medium firm choice that is an excellent choice for back sleepers, and a good choice for side sleepers if you sleep light. Since it is marketed as an extra firm choice, I honestly cannot say it compares well to other firm pillows in the industry. Although it is firmer, falling around a 6 on a scale of 1 through 10, there are many more firmer choices available with a similar polyfill. Nor does it perform as well for adult side sleepers as it does for back sleepers despite its claims..
It really is a nice pillow to have around due to its versatility however. I would highly recommend this pillow to any sleeper due to how well it conforms to weight and allows for supportive contouring. I found a good use for it in any position, of which I take advantage of, and highly recommend it for back sleepers.
If you are looking for a good pillow that provide a well-rounded comfort, look no further than the Perfect Fit Extra Firm Density Standard Size pillow choice. The firmness of the pillow provides excellent support while the loft does well to fill the gap between your head and neck for muscle relaxation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What sleep position is this best suited for?
Back and side.
What is the loft?
5"
Will I experience a lot of offgassing?
Offgassing is minimal.
Is it organic?
No.
What’s the warranty?
Limited manufacturer’s warranty.