Natures Pillows HBM-P Sobakawa Cloud Pillow, Standard

I'm writing this the morning after receiving my Sobakawa Cloud Pillow from Amazon. One night was all I needed for this review.

Like everyone, I think of my bedroom as a sanctuary from the world's stress and that's why I want it to be as comfortable and soothing as possible. I've suffered from head/neck/back pain for years from sleeping on pillows that lost their shape way too soon and went flat on me. Before last night, I slept on a combination of a regular pillow, a body pillow (which was wrapped around the reg. pillow), and a huge European-style square pillow to top everything off.

In a nutshell, neither that elaborate setup or the many pillows that came before it gave me even one fraction of the PEACE that the Sobakawa gave me in one night of testing. It cradles my head and neck perfectly, and it keeps my spine aligned when I shift during the night. The micro-beads move when you move in order to provide proper cushioning at all times. At the risk of sounding too "New Age," the Sobakawa Cloud Pillow gave a level of comfort that was almost like being back in the womb. My first night's sleep with this pillow was truly the best I've had in years, and when I had to wake up in the middle of the night to *cough cough*, all I could think of was how much I wanted to go back to bed! :O)

I've noticed a lot of complaints elsewhere on Amazon about this pillow's size, firmness, and the noise of the micro-beads. Yes, the pillow is slightly smaller than the standard bed pillow, but in my opinion it more than pulls its weight on the job. I admit that I was surprised and disappointed about the size when I first opened the box (because I was used to big luxury pillows), but I changed my mind very quickly once I used the Sobakawa. Appearances can be deceiving. What looks like a "dinky travel pillow" to some, turns out to be a great sleep investment for others (namely me). Another complaint is that the pillow is too hard/too noisy. I did not experience these problems. The micro-beads crinkle a little when you move, but not enough to seriously disturb the person or wake him/her up. As for the hardness, if you love ultra-soft down pillows and others of that type, then the Sobakawa Cloud Pillow would probably be too experimental for you to try. The way others have described this pillow, you'd think the reviews were written by "The Princess & The Pea." The Sobakawa is NOT a glorified brick, and its micro-beads didn't stab me to death in my sleep. Instead, they gave me the support I needed after years of pain that came from using those royal, ultra-soft pillows. To each his/her own.

One last thing about this product that struck me as funny: The tag that comes with the pillow & case set has a bunch of underlined warnings on it, saying that the pillowcase must ONLY be used with the SOBAKAWA PILLOW! Only the PILLOWCASE can be washed! One must NEVER get the Sobakawa pillow WET! The only things missing on this way too serious tag were the words, "Or else!" I suspect that wetting the pillow would ruin the micro-beads, but would it kill them to actually explain that instead of screaming "Don't do it"? Or does the pillow turn into a gremlin when wet? I call dibs on Gizmo! LOL

I wish I hadn't purchased this pillow. When it arrived it had so much off gassing that it made me sick. The instructions stated that the smell would fade after a while, but you can still smell it when you're sleeping on it and you're breathing in the gasses all night. This has to be a health hazard. I threw the Soba Kawa pillow away and started my search for an organic option. I would recommend the Buckwheat pillows. They keep you cool without the the bad smell.

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I bought 2 of these for my Grandson. He was playing and hitting me with it and I saw 'sparks' coming from the pillow. I grabbed it from him and started hitting it with my hand. It sparked VERY BAD. It scared me, so the next day I took it to the fire department. They did not know what was inside, but they said it was a potenial 'fire hazard'. I took both of them back to Bed, Bath and Beyond. The pillow gives off a strange 'gas' and with the sparking, it is down right scary what it is really made of. It is made in china and who knows what is really in it!

Don't buy it.

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We've had ours for a couple of months, and they work as advertised: comfortable, sturdy, never lose shape, amazingly provides plenty of support in spite of the size, and hasn't appeared to lose any of its quality over time. The instructions are correct in that you have to use the pillow case that comes with it (machine washable & good to keep it clean)for it to work as advertised. We didn't use that case the first 2 nights, then did, and noticed a big difference.

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I've been on a quest for the last few years to find the perfect pillow, actually I've been on a quest for a solid 8 hours of sleep, and I think I narrowed my problem down to my choice of pillow. My quest made me think of the sobakawa buckwheat pillow commercials I saw as a kid, and I ended up purchasing the cloud pillow. I gave it about 2 nights before I had to move back to my old pillows because it was just too firm. if you move the beads around with your hand or fist you can maybe get a pocket for your head to fit, but I tend to move from back and forth between my side and back all night and it just never felt comfortable.

I finally tried a Tempur-pedic Symphony pillow, and for the first time in years felt like I wasn't tossing and turning all night trying to get in a comfortable position. It has a 2 side design, one side for sleeping on your side, that's got a little lift to it so your shoulder slightly fits under the pillow, and you flip it over to a more tapered design if you sleeping on your back. it worked pretty well and was pretty comfortable, it definitely has become my travel pillow. Since I change so often between sleeping on my side, and sleeping on my back I decided to step up to the next Tempur-pedic pillow. Technically for my height and weight, Tempur-pedic recommended a larger pillow for me anyway.

I recently moved onto the Tempur-pedic ComfortPillow. I'm not 100% sold on it yet. It does a great job of forming to my head neck and shoulders, but sometimes I feel like I'm too low on it, and the part of the pillow closet to the headboard is too inflated and thus kind of pushing me off of it. I'll say 75% of the time it's been great, 25%, I have to flip it around and try to get a little higher on it before I fall asleep. Sleeping on my side, I don't feel that my ear is smashed into the pillow, and temperature wise, it seems pretty cool. I use a satin pillow protector that I think lowers the temperature of my pillows a few degrees anyway.

I will also say that I've had one of the greatest naps on the couch with this pillow that I can remember. Overall I'd give both of my Tempur-pedic pillows 4.5 stars, and will never touch my sobakawa again.

The last few nights I've began experimenting going back to the Symphony to see if I can tell which give me the better sleep. Right now the jury is still out.

I got my ComfortPillow from BedBath&Beyond for $130, I don't recall what I paid for my Symphony, maybe 75. never thought I'd pay so much for a pillow, but a good night's sleep is definitely worth the money. Don't waste your money on the sobakawa unless you need total firmness. To me it just wasn't worth the hype.

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