Best for dust mites
Organic Wool Pillow
Turns mites away through the fiber, so the allergen never builds up where your face rests, and nothing has to be reapplied.
Best for dust mite allergies
From $99.00
Natural pillows for allergies
A pillow dust mites can't make a home in.
Most of what stuffs up your nose at night is dust mites. They live in ordinary bedding, feed on the skin you shed, and leave the allergen your face presses into for eight hours. These fills turn mites away through the fiber itself.
Handmade in New Jersey since 198160-night sleep trialFree shippingYou set the height
The short answer
Wool, for most people. Dust mites cannot drink, so they take water from the air around them, and they need it above roughly 50 percent humidity to hold their balance. Wool holds the air around your head too dry for them to settle in, and nothing was applied to the fiber to make that happen. If your problem is chemical sensitivity rather than mites, take the kapok instead.
- For dust mites
- Organic wool, three mechanisms and none of them a coating
- For chemical sensitivity
- Wild-Harvested Kapok, no chemical step between pod and pillow
- For a washable cover
- Organic cotton, machine wash as often as you need
- Humidity wool holds
- 40 to 50%, below the ~50% mites need to live
- What you never buy
- An allergen cover, or a treatment to reapply
- Honest limit
- This lowers the allergen at your face. It does not cure an allergy
Five natural fills, handmade in New Jersey.
Each card says how the pillow keeps allergens down and who it suits. Every one opens at a full-length zipper, so you can set your height and keep the cover fresh.
Nothing applied to it
Wild-Harvested Kapok Pillow
Goes from tree pod to pillow without a single chemical step, and the waxy fiber resists mold on its own.
Best for chemical sensitivities and mold
From $79.00
Most washable
Organic Cotton Pillow
A cover you can machine wash as often as your allergies want, over a dense fiber that holds its shape for years.
Best for a clean, washable, no-fuss pillow
From $89.00
Nothing to feed on
Buckwheat Pillow
Dried hulls hold no moisture and give mites nothing to eat, under an organic cotton cover.
Best for firm hold with a low allergen load
From $89.00
Firm, with a wool side
Buckwool Hybrid Pillow
The wool side holds the air just as dry, paired with a firm buckwheat side you can build up.
Best for allergy sufferers who want a firm pillow
From $99.00
Under the case
Waterproof Organic Cotton Pillow Protector - GOTS + GreenGuard Gold
Organic cotton both faces with a bio-based waterproof layer between, so skin oil and moisture never reach the fill. No crinkle when you turn over.
Best for keeping the fill clean for years
From $69.00
Why your nose is worst in bed
Most nighttime allergies are dust mites, and they live in your pillow.
Dust mites live in bedding. They feed on the dead skin every one of us sheds, and their waste is the allergen your body reacts to. Your face spends about eight hours a night pressed directly into it.
1
You shed skin all night
Everyone does, and most of it lands within a few inches of where your face rests.
2
Mites eat it
An ordinary pillow gives them food, warmth and enough humidity from your breath and skin to thrive.
3
Their waste is the allergen
What sets you off is the waste rather than the mite itself, and it accumulates in the fill.
4
You breathe it in for eight hours
Which is why the stuffy nose, the sneezing and the itchy eyes are worst in bed and worst first thing.
Take the mites out of the one place you breathe against all night and your nose stays open, your breathing stays deep, and the unbroken sleep your body repairs itself in comes back. You never buy an allergen cover and you never reapply a treatment, because the resistance is the fiber.
Why your nose is worst in bed
Dust mites need damp air, and wool never gives them any.
Dust mites cannot drink. They take water straight out of the air around them, and they need humidity above roughly 50 percent to hold their water balance. Wool moves the moisture your skin gives off up into the fiber, so the air right at your face stays drier than that all night.
Lanolin, the natural fatty coating on the fiber, keeps dust mites out, and the fiber carries microscopic keratin scales rather than a smooth surface. Not one of those is a finish that washes out, because all of it is the material.
50%roughly the humidity dust mites need to survive
3things doing the work, all of them the fiber itself
When the problem is chemicals
Nothing was ever applied to the kapok.
For people whose reaction is to finishes rather than to mites, the question changes. It stops being what the pillow keeps out and becomes what went into it in the first place.
Kapok grows in a seed pod, gets collected by hand, and goes into the pillow having never been bleached, scoured or given a finish of any kind. It is the only fill we sell that can say that, and it is what we hand to people who tell us they react to everything.
Zerochemical processing between pod and pillow
The part people skip
Wash the cover, and put something under it.
Whatever the fill, the cover is what your skin touches, and it is the piece that needs washing. Every pillow here has a removable organic cotton cover you can machine wash cold and hang to dry as often as your symptoms want.
A protector under the pillowcase is the other half. It keeps skin oil and moisture out of the fill entirely, which is what gives mites somewhere to live in the first place, and ours is organic cotton on both faces so it does not undo the breathability you paid for.
Cold washthe cover, as often as you like
What each fill does about allergens.
Mites and chemical sensitivity are two different problems, and the right pillow is different for each.
| Fill | What it does | Best when your trigger is |
|---|---|---|
| Organic Wool | A dry microclimate the fiber holds all night | Dust mites |
| Wild-Harvested Kapok | No chemical processing at any stage, and a waxy fiber that resists mold | Chemical sensitivity, finishes, mold |
| Organic Cotton | A cover you can wash constantly, over organic fiber | General dust, and wanting everything washable |
| Buckwheat | Dry hulls hold no moisture and offer nothing to eat | Mites, when you also want a firm pillow |
| Buckwool Hybrid | The wool side holds the air just as dry | Mites, when you want firm on the reverse |
| Treated synthetic | An antimicrobial finish applied to the fiber | Nothing, once the finish has washed out |
| Down and feather | Absorbs moisture, which is what mites need to thrive | Not a pillow to reach for with mite allergies |
Find yours by what sets you off.
Your nose blocks up in bed and clears by mid-morning.
That pattern is dust mites almost every time. Wool is the one to take, and none of its resistance washes out.
Organic Wool Pillow ›New things smell wrong to you and set you off.
Kapok. Nothing was applied to the fiber at any point between the seed pod and your bed, so there is nothing on it to react to.
Wild-Harvested Kapok Pillow ›You want to wash everything, often.
Organic cotton. The cover comes off and goes in the machine as often as you like, and the pillow underneath holds its shape for years.
Organic Cotton Pillow ›You want the fill kept clean for the long run.
Add a protector under your pillowcase. Skin oil and moisture are what make a pillow habitable for mites, and this keeps both out of the fill.
Pillow Protector ›The ones we hear most.
What is the best hypoallergenic pillow?
Wool, for most people. Dust mites need humidity above about half to survive, and wool holds the air around your head too dry for them to settle in. Lanolin keeps them out as well. Nothing was applied to the fiber to do either, so there is nothing to wash out.
Are wool pillows good for allergies?
Yes. Dust mites need humidity above about half to survive, and wool never lets the air around your head get there. Because that comes from the fiber rather than from a spray, it lasts the life of the pillow with no allergen cover.
What pillow is best for chemical sensitivities or MCS?
Kapok. The fiber grows in a seed pod and goes into the pillow without bleaching, chemical softening or any synthetic treatment, so there is nothing on it to react to. Very few pillows in this category can make that claim without an asterisk.
Can you wash these pillows?
The cover, yes, and for allergies the cover is the piece doing the work. Every pillow has a removable organic cotton cover you can machine wash cold and air dry. The fills should not be soaked. Wool and buckwheat both prefer a few hours of sun to a washing machine.
Do natural pillows really help with dust mite allergies?
The right ones do. Wool holds the air too dry for mites to settle in, and dried buckwheat hulls carry no moisture at all, which keeps the allergen from building up where your face rests. It is not a cure for an allergy, and reducing the load in the one place you breathe for eight hours is a real change for most people.
What does an anti-allergy label mean on a pillow?
Less than you would hope. Neither that term nor its cousins are regulated, which is why almost every pillow on the market carries one. What is worth asking is the mechanism. Ours is the fiber, and we will tell you exactly what each one does. A polyester pillow with a finish sprayed on is making a claim with a shelf life.
Do I still need an allergen cover?
You do not need one to make these pillows work, since the resistance is in the fill rather than in a barrier over it. A waterproof protector still earns its place by keeping skin oil and moisture out of the fill, which is what makes any pillow habitable over years.
How often should I replace a pillow if I have allergies?
Go by the fill rather than by a rule of thumb. Wool runs 3 to 5 years, cotton and kapok 2 to 4, buckwheat 3 to 5 with the hulls refreshed after that, and latex up to a decade. Washing the cover regularly and using a protector both push those toward the top of the range.
Can wool cause allergies itself?
Wool allergy in the true sense is rare. What people usually react to is the prickle of short-staple wool against skin, which is mechanical rather than an immune response. In our pillows the wool never touches you at all, because it sits inside a sateen-weave organic cotton cover, so what your cheek rests on is cotton. If you have a diagnosed wool allergy, take the kapok or the cotton.
Wool or kapok if I have both allergies and sensitivities?
Start with wool if mites are the bigger problem and kapok if chemicals are. If you cannot separate the two, kapok is the safer first move, because it removes the variable of anything having been applied at all, and you can add a wool pillow later once you know.
The cleanest air in your home may be right above this pillow.
Nothing sprayed on, nothing to reapply, and a cover you can wash as often as your nose wants. Sixty nights to be sure.
See the pillows185 verified reviews
The pillow people keep.
If you've sent more pillows back than you've kept, you're our customer.
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“I have owned more pillows than I have owned houses and I have owned 12 houses.” This is by far the only pillow to use if you don’t want to wake up with sore shoulders or neck. I have replaced all the pillows in my house with this pillow.
I have compressed discs in my neck, and I have spent hundreds of dollars over the past 6 months trying to find one that will help me sleep. Every pillow I bought caused me to wake up in even more pain than the night before!! The buckwheat pillow is life-changing!! I have slept through the night and wake up with no pain!!
I was leery to try another expensive pillow without some sort of trial period after being very let down by a different company's natural fiber pillow… I don't hear anything at all with the buckwheat! It does stay fresh and cool as well, but most importantly it actually holds my head/neck up and in place. Which allows me to actually get rest instead of always adjusting.
I've been a buckwheat pillow customer for the last 7 years and I can say that Circadian has the highest standards of quality paired with incredible customer service. Very very impressed and would not hesitate to send anyone their way.
I have spent years searching for a pillow that feels supportive and comfortable all night. I have finally found it. I absolutely love the Buckwool pillow. I removed a bit of the material to get it to exactly how I want it… I rarely wake up with neck pain now.
I find myself switching between the two and loving the feel of both. I haven't woken up with a sweaty head with either and that's an amazing feeling especially in the AZ summer. The buckwheat side is a lot quieter and more comfy/soft than others I've tried in the past.
I have tried at least 10 different pillows in the last 3 years. Nothing has worked out except for this wool pillow. I have chronic neck pain which has been greatly reduced. I am very happy with my new pillow.
I have pretty bad chemical sensitivity (housebound most of the time)… I try to only buy totally safe, non-toxic products. I found this pillow to be very safe and non-toxic, and the packaging was fragrance free which is always a huge plus.
I ordered this pillow to replace my very old (but beloved) down pillow and I'm so glad I did. It is heavenly!… I advise you to heed the recommendation given by the quiz. I ordered cotton initially despite the quiz giving me kapok as a result… the quiz was right.
The quality craftsmanship and materials is evident… when I asked if extra stuffing were available for the second one I'm using as a knee pillow, they not only pointed me to the right place on their site, but also created a new, smaller 1-lb. refill size based on my request.
The three-star ones are in there too. Read all of them
