Bamboo Grand Adjustable Firm Shredded Memory Foam Pillow Review

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Your pillow choices are almost as important as your mattress choices when it comes to proper nighttime sleep comfort. Choosing a mattress that fits both your preferences and physical health in reference to spinal alignment is an important process that often requires a lot of thought and research. But what many people forget about it is that their comfort is also dependent on the types of pillows they choose.

Your head and neck are a major part of your central nervous system and protect your spinal column. Strain upon your neck often results in back discomfort, poor posture, headaches, or other side effects that may create long term health problems.

You may have seen or heard about on television or at local trade shows about a Bamboo Grand pillow, and wondered, exactly, this was all about. The Sleep Judge purchased one in order to give you our honest rundown of its use and comfort.

Breakdown of the Bamboo Grand Adjustable Shredded Memory Foam Pillow

The Bamboo Grand Pillow is an “as seen on TV” product that has become widely available in many venues, and from the hundreds of positive reviews it has collected seems to be a popular comfort pick. The product claims to provide the best cervical nerve support possible through correct head and neck support.

The shredded memory foam design is also fully adjustable, making this an ideal choice for any type of sleeper. The product also claims it will solve issues with allergens, heat, and pillow compression. Below we’ve addressed these claims and detailed the benefits and features that makes this pillow a worthwhile choice for certain types of sleepers.

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Unpacking

This pillow comes wrapped up tight in a roll and sealed in plastic. Upon opening you may smell a slight offgassing, which is typical of memory foam. I really didn’t notice anything much unless I pressed my nose to it, and by the time I slept upon it that evening even that was gone.

When you unroll the pillow it is VERY flat. But with a bit of plumping and leaving it to ‘inflate’ you get a pretty decent sized pillow within a few hours. Mine fluffed up pretty well to about a 5 inch loft (see explanation below), from which I was able to adjust to my liking.

Features & Benefits

Like most ‘seen on TV’ products, this products comes with a long list of benefits to help convince you of its worth. We’ve run this pillow through the gamete, per se, to see how well these claims have held up,and what to expect if you choose to purchase a Bamboo Adjustable Pillow. Our results are explained below!

Sizes

The Bamboo Grand Adjustable Shredded Memory Foam Pillow comes in three sizes: standard, queen, and king in order to better accommodate your sleep styles and personal preferences in accordance to your weight and height. A standard pillow size is what most people purchase, but queen and king sized pillows are excellent choices to span the width of broad shouldered bodies, and provide the extra support needed for larger, and taller people.

The Bamboo Grand brand provides a slightly smaller pillow measurement, however, in comparison to the general accepted pillow sizes. Instead of a 20×26, 20×30, and 20×36 inch sized standard, queen, and king sized pillows, the Bamboo pillows measure 17×23, 17×29, and 17×34 inches respectively.

I honestly found no problem with the standard sized pillow I received, and although I figure it is a bit smaller than what I am used to, it honestly is not at all noticeable when in use.

Shredded Memory Foam Filling

The claims that a shredded memory foam provides the best filling is based on the fact that a solid memory foam pillow often is too firm and unyielding to pressure, whereas a polyfill too quickly compresses and creates to little support. Shredded memory foam is supposed to both plump up and provide contouring where needed without sacrificing support.

The use of a shredded memory foam also allows you to remove (or add) what fill you need to find the perfect loft and firmness level for your sleep preferences. The pillow comes tightly rolled and compressed to allow for you to “fluff it up” and allow it to fill over the period of 4 hours. It is also able to be thrown in the dryer on low heat for about 20 minutes to fluff back up if it ever seems to become too compressed and solid when in use.

Since I don’t feel as if this is is a very ‘fluffy’ pillow to begin with (see my trial comments below), I actually tried this after a few night’s sleep to see if it gained any loft. I saw absolutely no difference after attempting this in either height or feel. It wasn’t any flatter, but it also wasn’t any more ‘fluffy’ which makes me think I am right about my earlier assumption if this not being a very high lift pillow to begin with.

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Adjustable Loft

As mentioned, the shredded memory foam provides the opportunity to remove or add back as much shredded memory foam as you prefer for comfort. This is what allows you to create a thinner surface for stomach sleepers, or a more lofty, yielding choice for side sleepers. Although it may take a few tries to get it just right, many users claim this is a huge selling point as no other pillow type allows this sort of customization.

The overall loft of the pillow when fully fluffed was approximately 5 inches. Although I could get it a little loftier by plumping it up, it did settle again when laid flat for any amount of time. This was used for the side and back trial periods in order to keep enough material in it to allow for correct head and neck support for my height and weight, as well as personal comfort.

I removed approximately a fourth of the foam to create the proper comfort for stomach which created a 3.5inch loft when plumped, but was probably closer to around 2 and a half inches when allowed to lay flat and settle.

There have been consumer complaints of the shredded foam feeling ‘lumpy’, so I paid particular attention to that when sleeping upon it and honestly never felt that the pillow was lumpy at all in any position. The shredded foam can be slightly felt, but each is so responsive to pressure that there is no sort of push back to cause a lumpy, or uneven feel, while laying upon it through the removable Bamboo cover.

Removable, Washable Bamboo Cover

This removable, washable cover is what allows the design to work as well as it does. This thick outer cover is made from 40% bamboo fiber, a natural, porous, and breathable material that is also naturally hypoallergenic and dust mite repellant. The remaining 60% is a polyester weave, resulting in a heavy casing that allow good airflow for breathability and moisture wicking, as well as a soft, plush like comfort.

I really liked the feel and heft of the material this cover is made from. The inside is double stitched for durability with a well sewn zipper that sits flush against the pillowcase. The overall weave seems to have a ‘pinprick’ look to it as part of how it is woven together which allows for additional air flow. All this is to claim it has a cooling effect, although most cooling claims are a result of thread count and fiber types.

The cover can work as a stand alone case, but the plush, almost flannel like feel of it wasn’t too my liking up against my face and I used my own cotton cover. In general, even when I do use flannel sheets in winter I still use a smooth cotton pillowcase. This has nothing to do with heat retention but simple personal comfort preferences.

Inner Casing

The inner casing is what holds the shredded memory foam all together. It too has a thick, almost brushed cotton feel to it and has a well placed zipper to access the memory foam for comfort level adjustment.

Even though there is very little information to be found concerning the materials used in this particular cover, I would hazard a guess that it is thick and fairly protective of moisture since memory foam can begin to break down when dampened. Pillows are capable of retaining body moisture if not protected correctly. This inner cover is also washable, but you must first remove all the memory foam in order to keep it from getting wet.

Machine Washable Cover

The OUTER cover, and outer cover only, is machine washable. The inner cover can be washed, but only AFTER you remove all the memory foam shreds within. Memory foam breaks down overtime when wet as moisture damages the cell structure of the foam construction. As you compress the material it will begin to fail to ‘spring’ back into shape, resulting in poor support and an uncomfortable surface.

You can dry the entire pillow at any time to fluff it up however, although in my experience all it really did was refresh it nicely.

30 Day Night Trial and 10 Year Warranty

The Bamboo Grand brand provides a hassle free 30 day sleep trial on their pillows, and also allows for a 10 warranty concerning manufacturers defects and workmanship. With in the 30 days you have time to play with adjustments and find your perfect sleep comfort, but if this proves impossible, you can return it for a full refund.

Consumer Reviews

This pillow truly seems like a love it or leave it type product, with the majority of consumers satisfied with their purchase. Because the shredded memory foam is adjustable, those who are willing to take the time and trial to find what works best for them generally ended up with the sleeping surface they craved. The loft of a more traditional pillow, and responsiveness of the foam combined with the contouring it provides against the weight of your head and neck was a popular selling point.

This is definitely a flatter, more firm pillow however, and some buyers were not impressed with the fact that there was hardly a ‘fluffy’, high loft-like feel. Heavier body types especially were not happy with the support provided for side sleepers, although back and stomach sleepers had very few complaints.

My Trial Experiences

I prefer sleeping on my stomach and often find myself in that position when I wake each morning, but I also am very comfortable sleeping on my side while drifting off to sleep. As an average size woman I was able to determine the overall comfort of sleeping in all positions and gauging the comfort and support within each.

Stomach Trial

As mentioned, I prefer sleeping on my stomach. This is a difficult position to get truly comfortable in, and usually puts a lot of strain on your back due to the fact that you always will have some sort of curve in your neck. Because of this a flatter, more firm, but responsive pillow is the best choice to sleep upon if sleeping without a pillow is not an option.

My opinion of this pillow is that it is fairly flat to begin with, and so I tried it out with the full amount of pilling within. Although this was not initially uncomfortable, I found myself inching my head closer and closer to the edge of the pillow where less filling had settled in order to get more comfortable. With a full filling this may not be the absolute best choice for stomach sleepers, but luckily, it is an adjustable pillow.

I removed approximately a third of the filling for my next stomach trial and found this much more comfortable and to my liking. My head was well cradled without any loft lifting up over my mouth or nose. The filling type is of such to provide a cushioning to the ear and side of head without sacrificing spinal alignment. I probably would end up removing a bit more filling if I made this a pillow I used daily for stomach sleeping as with any pillow you will have some slight head elevation and getting as close to mattress height as possible it was it best for spinal health.

Side Trial

When sleeping on your side you want a pillow that provides a supportive, slightly elevated support to your head, and a loftier support to fill the area between your head and shoulders to properly allow your head to rest in cervical alignment.

Although I found my head to be fairly supported and comfortable, I felt it was lacking the filling to help allow my neck to actually relax completely for any length of time. I actually had my 7 year old son try this out in a side sleeping position, and to me it seemed to better keep his head aligned and allow proper head and neck support. So although this was an okay trial run for sleeping on my side, I believe the pillow design is not necessarily the best choice for adult sized size sleepers. Smaller adults and children would best benefit from this pillow in this position.

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Back

When sleeping on your back you need a flatter, and firmer, surface to help cradle your head, but allow your neck to contour into the material for a proper cervical support. I love to nap upon the floor whenever I get the opportunity in order to give my back a rest as I have some slight spinal disk degeneration.

I thought this pillow was a good choice for this position without any removal of foam. I played with the loft slightly, and found it to be maybe a little more comfortable when slightly flatter (a few handfuls worth), but it was entirely acceptable without that adjustment. I would highly recommend this pillow for back sleepers as it firmly cradles your head but also allows your neck to rest comfortably as well.

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Other Uses

Many pillows can, and should, be used to proper sleep posture, as well as to help alleviate joint pain and provide added support. Due to the nature of how this pillow truly is fully adjustable, I ran it through the many different ways it can be used depending on your needs.

While sleeping on my side it made a perfect layer of comfort between my legs to help keep my knees from resting against one another, as well as helping to keep my upper leg slightly elevated to avoid pulling my hip downwards.

It also worked well beneath my knees when on my back, as well as my hips when sleeping on my stomach – both ways you can help reduce the strain your lower back can begin to feel when sleeping in either of those positions.

This really wasn’t the best pillow to simply just lean against as the flatter surface and lower loft keeps it from being ‘springy’ and responsive.

 

Conclusion

This really is a great pillow, although not necessarily for all the reasons the company claims. It really isn’t a very large pillow, nor does it have a lot of ‘fluff’ to it. As a choice for side sleeping support, honestly I would pass unless you are a smaller person or are looking for a good child’s pillow (the overall smaller size also is conducive to this).

But that is where anything negative really ends. I thought this was an excellent choice for both stomach and back sleepers due to its adjustability. Very few pillows properly provide support and comfort for either of these postures, and this pillow gets the job done – especially if you are willing to take the time to get it just right.

The memory foam is responsive, and despite some claims that it flattens and stops supporting over time, I didn’t find this to be true at all. The memory foam kept a consistent feel the entire time, and a quick run through the dryer seemed to refresh it, although it didn’t raise it’s loft any.

This really isn’t a high loft pillow and should be categorized as an average to thinner, firm support. Even though it is somewhat thinner than many other firm pillows, you can’t really press hard enough to feel the surface beneath. The foam contours well while allowing a bit of adjustability and cushioning support.

Paying attention to your pillow comfort is an important step to a better, and healthier, night’s rest. With the proper pillow choices come better cervical support and alignment, which helps keep your spine healthy and your body functioning as it should. Plus, your uninterrupted, comfortable sleep will allow you to wake feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day.

If you have been searching for a great stomach or back pillow, then you should definitely check the Bamboo Grande Adjustable Shredded Memory Foam Pillow. If you are looking for an affordable, but supportive pillow for a child, or are an adult of smaller stature, this also makes a good choice for any sleeping position.

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