Organic cotton bedding for skin that reacts
About a third of your life, with no shirt in between. If your skin flares at night and calms in the day, the first suspect is what the sheet went through before it reached you, and the second is what you wash it in.
Sheets that skipped the finishing steps. Ours are 300 thread count long-staple organic cotton sateen in the natural colour of the cotton, which means the cloth was never bleached white, never dyed, and never given the anti-wrinkle resin, softening agent or stain repellent that most bedding leaves the factory with. Those finishes are the usual reason a sheet that says cotton on the label still makes skin itch, and the second usual reason is fabric softener in your own wash. The cloth is certified organic as a finished product under licence GOTS-10229, which limits every input to a pre-approved list, and it is cut and sewn by hand in New Jersey.
The pillowcase, the fitted sheet, the flat sheet and the duvet cover are all the same sateen, so there is no piece of the bed that went through a different process.
Fitted sheet, flat sheet and pillowcases together, so every surface you lie on tonight is the same undyed, unfinished cloth.
Best for replacing everything that touches you in one go
The layer your cheek rests on for eight hours. Slip-on, no zip, and sized to our pillows so it does not grip and crease.
Best for a face that flares by morning
The sheet your body is on all night, with elastic all the way round so it stays smooth over a deep mattress instead of creeping into folds.
Best for replacing the one sheet that matters most
Puts a layer of the same cloth between you and the duvet cover, and it is the layer you can wash every week without touching the duvet.
Best for people who react to their duvet cover
No thin underside against you. Zipper along one side rather than buttons, and internal ties so the duvet stays put.
Best for the layer over your arms and shoulders
Cut to the full length of a body pillow, in the same sateen, so the pillow you hug all night is wearing the same cloth as the rest of the bed.
Best for side sleepers with a body pillow
Organic cotton inside an organic cotton cover, and the finished pillow carries the same certification as the case over it.
Best for wanting the whole stack to match
What happens to a sheet before it reaches you
Cotton itself is one of the gentlest fibers there is. The trouble is what gets done to it between the field and the shelf.
1
Raw cotton is a soft cream. A bright white sheet has been through a chlorine or peroxide bath to get there, and traces of it stay in the cloth.
2
Every colour on the shelf is a dye bath plus the fixing agents that keep the colour in through washing, and those agents are chosen for the dye, not for you.
3
Anti-wrinkle resins that release formaldehyde, softening agents that coat the fiber to fake a hand it does not have, and stain repellents from the family now known as PFAS.
4
Fabric softener and dryer sheets add another coat on top, and many people who blame the sheet are reacting to the wash.
Our sheets skip all four. The cotton is the colour it grew, nothing was sprayed on it to fake softness, and the sateen weave is what gives it the hand. The only thing left to control is what you wash it in.
Why it is only one colour
Everything here is the natural colour of the cotton, a soft off-white rather than a bright one. Bleaching to a true white and dyeing to anything else are the two heaviest chemical steps in making a sheet, and they are also the two steps most likely to leave something in the cloth that a sensitive skin notices. We do neither, which is why there is no white option and no colour chart.
The organic certification on the finished product works the same way. Rather than banning a list of known bad inputs, it keeps a list of pre-approved ones and nothing outside that list may be used at any stage, and every wet-processing facility in the chain has to treat its wastewater. The licence is GOTS-10229 through Oregon Tilth.
Where the softness comes from
A sheet can be soft for two reasons. Either the cloth is soft, or something was sprayed on to make it feel that way in the shop, and the second kind goes down the drain on the first wash. Ours gets its hand from the cloth. The cotton is long-staple, so the yarn has fewer short ends sticking out to catch on skin and pill, and the sateen weave floats four of every five threads across the surface, which is where the smooth slide comes from.
That is a structural softness, so it survives washing and gets better rather than worse. The one thing that undoes it is fabric softener, which coats the fiber and closes the weave. Skip it, use a plain detergent, and the sheet stays the way it arrived.
The wash
For skin that reacts, the sheet you are on tonight should have been washed inside the week, and washed plainly. Warm or cool water and a detergent without fragrance, then tumble low or hang, and leave the softener and the dryer sheets out of it. Softener is the most common cause of a sheet that used to be fine and is now itchy, because it leaves a waxy film on every fiber.
New sheets smell faintly of the plant when they arrive, a sweet, slightly dusty cotton smell that fades within a wash or two. Nothing was added to create it and nothing was added to cover it, which is why you can smell the material at all. If a flare persists after the sheets and the wash have both changed, that is worth raising with a doctor rather than with more bedding.
Most sheets are judged by feel in the shop. For skin that reacts, judge them by the steps they went through.
| Sheet | What was done to it | What that leaves against your skin |
|---|---|---|
| Circadian organic cotton sateen | Spun, woven, cut and sewn. Never bleached, dyed or finished | Cotton, in the colour it grew |
| Bright white cotton | Chlorine or peroxide bleached, usually resin-finished for wrinkles | Bleach residue and a formaldehyde-releasing finish |
| Coloured cotton | Bleached, then dyed, then fixed so the colour survives washing | Dye plus the fixing agents chosen for the dye |
| Wrinkle-free or easy-care cotton | Cross-linked with a resin so the fiber cannot crease | The resin, which releases formaldehyde as it ages |
| Bamboo or eucalyptus lyocell | Wood pulp dissolved in solvent and spun into fiber | A smooth surface, and whatever the finishing line added after |
| Polyester or microfiber | Spun from petroleum, often with a softening and anti-static finish | A fiber that cannot absorb moisture, so sweat stays on your skin |
| Any sheet washed in softener | Coated with a waxy film every wash | The film, which is what many people are reacting to |
Change the pillowcase first, then the wash. A slip-on organic cotton case with no finish, washed weekly in plain detergent, changes the surface your cheek is on for eight hours.
Organic Cotton Pillowcases ›The fitted sheet. It is the largest surface you are in contact with, and the 15 inch pocket keeps it smooth over a deep mattress instead of bunching into creases.
Organic Cotton Fitted Sheet ›The duvet cover, which is the same sateen on both faces so there is no thin underside, and a flat sheet under it if you want a layer you can wash every week.
Organic Cotton Duvet Cover ›The sheet set, and change the wash at the same time. Fitted, flat and pillowcases in one undyed cloth, with a plain detergent and no softener.
Organic Cotton Sheet Set ›Sheets that skipped the finishing steps. Look for cotton that was never bleached white, never dyed and never given a wrinkle or stain finish, because those are the steps that leave something in the cloth. Ours are 300 thread count long-staple organic cotton sateen in the natural colour of the cotton, certified organic as a finished product under licence GOTS-10229.
Bedding cannot treat a skin condition, and what it can do is take a common irritant out of the night. Organic certification on the finished product limits every input to a pre-approved list, and ours go a step further by skipping bleach, dye and finishes altogether. The other change worth making at the same time is the wash, because fabric softener is a common trigger. If a flare continues after both have changed, see a doctor rather than buying more bedding.
Because we do not bleach them. Raw cotton is a soft cream, and a bright white sheet has been through a chlorine or peroxide bath to get there. We leave the cotton the colour it grew, which also means there is no dye and no colour range.
Ours do not. Most bedding leaves the factory with an anti-wrinkle resin, a softening agent or a stain repellent, and sometimes all three. We do not run any of those processes, so what arrives is cotton that was spun, woven, cut and sewn and nothing else.
That is what cotton smells like. Unbleached, unscented cotton has a faint sweet, slightly dusty smell of the plant, and it fades within a wash or two. Nothing was added to create it and nothing was added to cover it, which is the reason you can smell the material at all.
Warm or cool water, a detergent without fragrance, and nothing else. Skip fabric softener and dryer sheets, which leave a waxy film on every fiber and are a common cause of itching that gets blamed on the sheet. Tumble low or hang to dry. Sateen softens with washing rather than wearing out.
Either can be, and the finish matters more than the weave. Sateen floats more yarn across the surface, so it is smoother against skin and drapes soft without needing a softening agent. Percale is crisper. What to avoid is a sheet of either weave that has been resin-finished or dyed.
Yes, the same 300 thread count organic cotton sateen, undyed and unfinished, in a slip-on style with no zip against your face. They are sewn to the same dimensions as our pillows in standard, queen and king, so the case fits the pillow rather than gripping it.
The Organic Cotton Pillow is the obvious match, because the cotton inside and the cover around it went through the same organic rules as the sheet. The Organic Wool Pillow is the other one people with skin trouble choose, and the wool sits inside an organic cotton cover so what your face touches is cotton.
Send the sheets back inside 60 nights, and free shipping applies. Then talk to a doctor, because bedding can remove a common irritant but it cannot treat a skin condition, and we would rather say so than sell you a third set.
300 thread count organic sateen, unbleached, undyed and unfinished, cut and sewn by hand in our New Jersey workshop.
See the sheets178 verified reviews
If you've sent more pillows back than you've kept, you're our customer.
“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
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