The world of wellness products is vast and confusing. In our new series, Well Spent,听国产吃瓜黑料听staffers听recommend the hidden gems that they鈥re unabashedly obsessed with.
Whenever I make a purchase, a trail of spreadsheets,听notes, and bookmarks usually leads to that moment. Last summer听the object of my听fixation was pillows. I had upgraded my mattress the year before听because of听nagging neck pain, ditching my $80 hard-as-brick mattress in a box for听a 鈥減roper鈥 $400 model. This provided some relief, but I was still waking up with unexplainable stiffness. After a bit of听Googling, I learned that the lingering aches could also be caused by my pillow.
For months听I waded through reviews from 听and听, saving dozens of options to online shopping carts. I even asked my mom about my childhood pillows after deducing that the pain didn鈥檛 start until after I moved out. (They were some听variety of Macy鈥檚 down alternative.)听But the decision fatigue was paralyzing鈥攁s was the idea of dropping a hundred bucks on an听item I wasn鈥檛 convinced about.
Then听a 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.听I walked in the听next day,听and听after telling the woman at the counter what I was looking for, I laid down on a she prescribed. It featured two fillings鈥攁 layer of soft, comfortable wool on top of beanbag-like听buckwheat hulls鈥攅ncased in smooth sateen made from organic cotton. After about six minutes of听being cradled in the pillow鈥檚 slight sink, I threw down $90 to take it home, sold on its instant proof of comfort and solid neck support.
In the ten听months since, my daily neck pain has completely dissipated. The buckwheat hulls provide听better ventilation than other materials, meaning no head sweats鈥攅ven in the dead of summer.听The company recommends removing some of the hulls to get the loft that鈥檚 perfect for you (and to听save those听you听don鈥檛 use at first听to听give your pillow some new life down the line). It took me some time to get used to fluffing听my pillow, but听once I found the听perfect distribution of hulls, it felt like the pillow was custom-fitted to my head and spine. (Of course,听while this pillow helped ease my discomfort, it鈥檚 certainly not a cure-all for more serious afflictions鈥攕ee your doctor if you have chronic neck pain.)
At the end of my听quest for the best pillow, it turned out my pile of research amounted to nothing more than too many options. While that probably won鈥檛 change my ways, it was a听reminder that sometimes a personal recommendation听trumps weeks of online research.听
