The world of wellness products is vast and confusing. In our new series, Well Spent,ϳԹstaffersrecommend the hidden gems that they’re unabashedly obsessed with.
Whenever I make a purchase, a trail of spreadsheets,notes, and bookmarks usually leads to that moment. Last summerthe object of myfixation was pillows. I had upgraded my mattress the year beforebecause ofnagging neck pain, ditching my $80 hard-as-brick mattress in a box fora “proper” $400 model. This provided some relief, but I was still waking up with unexplainable stiffness. After a bit ofGoogling, I learned that the lingering aches could also be caused by my pillow.
For monthsI waded through reviews from and, saving dozens of options to online shopping carts. I even asked my mom about my childhood pillows after deducing that the pain didn’t start until after I moved out. (They were somevariety of Macy’s down alternative.)But the decision fatigue was paralyzing—as was the idea of dropping a hundred bucks on anitem I wasn’t convinced about.
Thena friend suggested I visit a local store in Santa Fe called , a family-run company that specializes in mattresses, bedding, and pillows created with natural fibers, which they also sell online.I walked in thenext day,andafter telling the woman at the counter what I was looking for, I laid down on a she prescribed. It featured two fillings—a layer of soft, comfortable wool on top of beanbag-likebuckwheat hulls—encased in smooth sateen made from organic cotton. After about six minutes ofbeing cradled in the pillow’s slight sink, I threw down $90 to take it home, sold on its instant proof of comfort and solid neck support.
In the tenmonths since, my daily neck pain has completely dissipated. The buckwheat hulls providebetter ventilation than other materials, meaning no head sweats—even in the dead of summer.The company recommends removing some of the hulls to get the loft that’s perfect for you (and tosave thoseyoudon’t use at firsttogive your pillow some new life down the line). It took me some time to get used to fluffingmy pillow, butonce I found theperfect distribution of hulls, it felt like the pillow was custom-fitted to my head and spine. (Of course,while this pillow helped ease my discomfort, it’s certainly not a cure-all for more serious afflictions—see your doctor if you have chronic neck pain.)
At the end of myquest for the best pillow, it turned out my pile of research amounted to nothing more than too many options. While that probably won’t change my ways, it was areminder that sometimes a personal recommendationtrumps weeks of online research.
