Organic Wool · Hot Sleepers

Why an organic wool pillow keeps hot sleepers cool

Written and reviewed by Jacob Katz and Kris Estigoy · Circadian, New Jersey

If you sleep hot, the cooling pillows that go warm after twenty minutes have probably let you down. This conversation explains why an organic wool pillow keeps you cool by managing moisture, how wool resists dust mites with nothing sprayed on, and how to tell a fully certified organic pillow from one that only prints the word on the label.

Watch on YouTube. Full transcript below.

Why organic wool works for hot sleepers

Organic wool is the best natural pillow for hot sleepers because it regulates temperature by managing moisture, wicking sweat off your skin while the surface stays dry.

  • Wicks up to 30% of its weight in moisture while staying dry to the touch
  • Heat of sorption keeps it regulating all night, while cooling gels fade in 15 to 20 minutes
  • Naturally resists dust mites three ways, with nothing sprayed on
  • Long-staple fiber stays soft against your face

What this video covers

How to spot a real organic pillow

  1. Check that the fill is certified, not just the cover. Most brands certify only the cover fabric.
  2. Look for the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), the strictest textile standard, covering the fill, cover, thread, and dye.
  3. Find the license number and search it yourself. Ours is GOTS-10229 in the public GOTS database.
  4. Confirm the certifier is independent. Ours is Oregon Tilth.

Full transcript

Why hot sleepers should consider wool

HostOkay, so. If you're a hot sleeper, you've probably bought one of those cooling pillows, right? And you get that nice cold side for, like, twenty minutes... and then you're flipping it over the rest of the night. So what's the one that works?

ExpertWool. Hands down.

Host...Wool? Yeah, that sounds backwards to me. I hear wool, I think sweater. I think warm.

ExpertMm. That's the part most people get backwards. Wool keeps you cool by keeping you dry. That's... that's the whole trick.

HostOkay, you gotta walk me through that one.

How wool cools you by staying dry

ExpertSure. So, think about why you wake up hot in the first place. Most of the time? It's not the room temperature. Turning the thermostat down doesn't really fix it. It's moisture. Your body's giving off heat and humidity all night, and when that moisture's got nowhere to go, it just... sits there. Against your skin, against the pillow. And you feel it as heat. So what wool does, it pulls that moisture off your skin and locks it into the core of the fiber. Up to thirty percent of the fiber's own weight. And the surface you're lying on? Stays dry.

HostOh. So the pillow's not getting colder. The sweat just... stops sitting on my face.

ExpertThat's it. The clammy feeling goes away. And that's what your body reads as cool.

HostSo how's that different from, like, a regular cooling pillow? The gel kind.

Wool vs cooling gel pillows

ExpertRight. So a gel pillow works by absorbing heat. It starts cool, and then it warms up to match your body. Usually in about fifteen, twenty minutes. You get one good flip... and you're back to warm. Wool keeps working because it's reacting to moisture all night, instead of just storing up cold. There's a property of wool called heat of sorption. When it takes on moisture, it gives off a little heat. And when it releases that moisture back into the air, it pulls heat in. Around 1.1 kilojoules per gram. And that exchange just runs the whole night. It keeps adjusting as your body temperature rises and falls.

HostSo it's keeping up with me. It's not cooling once and then quitting.

ExpertThat's the difference. One cool moment that fades... versus a pillow that stays with you till morning.

HostOkay, let me ask the obvious one. Wool, right against your face. Doesn't that get scratchy?

Long-staple wool and how it feels

ExpertIt can. If it's cheap wool. The cheaper pillows use short-staple fiber, which has a lot of loose ends poking out per inch of yarn. And those ends, that's what feels scratchy. Circadian uses long-staple wool. Fewer exposed ends. So the surface stays soft, right where your cheek rests.

HostWhat about the smell? Because people hear wool, they think... sheep.

The lanolin smell, and how long it lasts

ExpertYeah. So, when you first open one, there's a faint earthy scent. That's lanolin. It's the natural wax that comes with the wool. And it airs out in about a week. But while it's there? It's kind of earning its keep. Because lanolin is a big part of how wool handles dust mites.

HostWait. Wool handles dust mites?

Three ways wool resists dust mites

ExpertThree different ways. And this is the part the allergy folks really care about. So the first one's chemical. The fatty acids in lanolin are toxic to dust mites. And they coat the little flakes of dead skin that the mites feed on. So there's just... nothing left for them to digest. The second one's moisture. Wool keeps its own surface dry, holding the humidity right around forty to fifty percent. And dust mites? They need it above fifty to survive. So they never really get established. And the third one's physical. Every wool fiber is wrapped in these microscopic scales that block the mites from burrowing in.

HostHuh. So that's just... the wool itself doing all that. Nothing sprayed on.

ExpertIt's built right into the fiber. So it doesn't wash out, it doesn't wear off. And the wool comes from sheep raised without synthetic pesticides, on certified organic farms in New Zealand.

HostOkay. Let's talk about that word. Organic. Because everybody slaps it on a label. How do I know it's real here?

What GOTS certification covers

ExpertGood instinct. Because a lot of pillows that get called organic? They only certify the outer cover. The fill inside, the part you're sleeping on, that can still be conventional cotton, or some synthetic blend. The standard that matters here is the Global Organic Textile Standard. GOTS. And on this pillow, GOTS covers the whole thing. The wool fill, the organic cotton cover, the thread, the dye process... and the New Jersey workshop where it's sewn. All of it, audited together, by an independent certifier called Oregon Tilth. Under license number GOTS-10229.

HostAnd I can check that myself?

ExpertThat's the whole point of putting a number on it. It's public. You look up GOTS-10229 in the GOTS database, and you read the certificate. And because the workshop itself carries the certification, the audit follows the pillow all the way to the last stitch. That workshop's been making natural bedding by hand, in New Jersey, since 1981.

HostSo who's this pillow really for?

Who an organic wool pillow is for

ExpertNight sweaters, first and foremost. If you're someone who wakes up with a damp pillow, or a damp face... wool changes that within about a week. Then anyone with dust mite allergies, for the three reasons we just went through. And people with multiple chemical sensitivities. MCS. Folks who need to know there are no synthetic pesticides, dyes, or finishes anywhere in it.

HostIs there anyone it's not for?

The one group it's not for

ExpertOne group. Wool comes from sheep. So it isn't vegan. If you want something plant-based, and you still sleep hot, then the wild-harvested kapok pillow is the one to look at. But if your main problem is heat, and night sweats? Wool's the most effective fill we make for it.

HostOkay, last thing. People always worry a pillow's gonna show up too tall, or too flat.

Adjustable fill and why it ships overstuffed

ExpertYeah. That part's handled. Every Circadian pillow ships overstuffed. More fill than most people want. And there's a zipper, right on the side. So you open it up, and you pull wool out, until the height matches how you sleep. Side sleeper keeps it tall. Back sleeper takes a handful out, for a lower profile. You're kind of... tuning it. To your own neck.

HostAnd where do people go to see it?

Expertcircadianrest.com. You can see the wool pillow there. And you can look up that GOTS certificate, by its number, before you spend a dollar.

HostLove it. So if you run hot at night, and you're tired of pillows that cool off and then quit on you halfway through, wool is where I'd start. Thanks for hanging out with us. We'll get into the next pillow soon.

See the organic wool pillow at circadianrest.com. Certified to the Global Organic Textile Standard, license GOTS-10229 (Oregon Tilth), covering the wool fill, organic cotton cover, thread, dye process, and the New Jersey workshop. Handmade in New Jersey since 1981.