2-Star Hullo Reviews (15)

Not Worth the Money and Icky Business Practices

The pillow wasn’t for me. After trying it out for over a month and waking up with a headache every day I gave up on the pillow. But hey, that’s how they market the pillow. You may like it, you may not.

What’s more annoying is the fact that they sell this “60-day risk free trial period” and yet, to initiate a return you have to email the company only to have them try to guilt you into keeping the pillow due to environmental harm. “Hullos returned to us can not be resold. Despite our best efforts, the return process is harmful to the environment. Please consider giving your pillow to a friend, relative or pet to prevent waste.” Not to mention if you do choose to send it back, it will cost about $30 in shipping.

Just some things for you to consider before spending $90+ on a pillow.

From Hullo: We do our best to balance customer service and our environmental footprint and try to be as transparent as possible about our return policy. Shipping should not cost $30, unless you’re using a highly marked-up vendor to return your pillow.

February 6, 2024

Read the 60 Night Trial Prior to Purchasing if You Aren’t Sure You’ll Like It

Pros:

• Pillow arrived exactly as advertised within a few days from shipping
• Plenty of filling in the pillow, and the pillow casing itself seems to be made of good quality
• Pillow stayed cool throughout the night

Cons:

• Most uncomfortable week of sleep in my entire life, woke up with horrific neck and back pain. Removing hulls each night helped slightly, but even with the pillow at 1/3 of its initial loft, it was extremely firm.
• Refund policy. Although they offer a 60 night trial window, when you purchase the pillow it states:
  “If you are not satisfied with Hullo for any reason, send it back to us and we’ll refund your purchase. No questions asked.”This wording is different than the wording on the 60 Night Trial page which states:
  “Shipping charges for returned products are the responsibility of the purchaser and are not covered by our free shipping policy.”

  If I had read that page first and known that the refund would be minus the return shipping cost, I would have purchased a buckwheat pillow from another company that had a more favorable return policy. I would have appreciated the return/refund policy being clearer, but I suppose that is my fault for not reading the 60 night trial page prior to purchasing.

TLDR:
It is exactly as advertised and feels like sleeping on a pile of sand or a beanbag, as others have mentioned. For $90+, consider putting your head on a beanbag or sandbag for a few nights and see if you like how that feels before purchasing. Be sure you read the entirety of the 60 night trial page so you are aware of the terms.

January 3, 2024

Not Cooling

It’s ok. Quite expensive and worse in most ways than my $20 pillows.

August 15, 2021

It Was Worth a Try

I have had neck pain for years. A physical therapist suggested that I try a buckwheat pillow. So I ordered the Hullo small and have used it for months now to thoroughly give it a try. Unfortunately, my neck pain increased and I began having headaches which I am certain was associated with the pillow use. Removing  some of the fill didn’t help. I stopped using the pillow and though my chronic neck issues are still present the increased neck pain and headaches are gone.

June 27, 2021

Gave It a Good Try

I’ve given up on the Hullo pillow for a number of reasons.  1. If I was having a restless night the sound became annoying. 2.  I subtracted hulls and added hulls but never achieved lasting comfort.  3.  Where do I find pillow cases to fit? Unfortunately, I passed the return window of 60days, so I may turn into several small bags to heat for sore muscles.

November 8, 2020

Bad if You Sleep with an Arm Under the Pillow?

I like the concept of a well structured pillow, especially for sitting, but for sleeping I found it dangerous… apparently my natural sleep position is to put an arm under my head (and pillow) and as i sleep the Hullo puts too much pressure on it and the arm gets tingly etc. I’m not sure if removing hulls would help or not.

December 8, 2017

Large Zippered Sack, 60% Filled with Black Hulls

The bag/case/pillowcase that the hulls are in should be 60% smaller in order for it to hold the loft, shape and cooling properties of a genuine Japanese Buckwheat pillow. I now need to either manufacture a pillow case with the correct circumference for this pillow or else buy a less expensive but correctly filled and proportioned pillow on another site.

From Hullo: We immediately contacted the customer offering his choice of a full refund, a smaller size pillow, or some extra hulls to fill his pillow. The customer opted for additional hulls to address his concerns.

December 27, 2016

Good at First

I loved this pillow at first, the noise was nothing and the comfort level was high. It even looked really good, which is not something I normally notice.

However, after a few months, I started developing headaches and neck pain. I took out fill, added fill, and did what I could. It just wasn’t for me. I shift from my side to my back during the night and it’s not easy to readjust the pillow without waking up and doing it. Of course, I was outside the return window but that was my fault.

October 28, 2016

Anyone Want Mine?

It’s basically a bag of beans. It may keep temperature a bit cooler, but not very comfortable.

My wife & I both tried it over the course of 7 months. But now its in the closet waiting for the next garage sale. Most recently I used it for a gun rest to get sighted in for deer season. Worked great, but a pretty expensive gun rest.

October 24, 2016

Too Tough for Me

I like it when I’m on the couch watching TV- but I rarely do that anymore. Truthfully if I would have kept my receipt, I would have returned it within the 60 days. I wanted to give the pillow a fair shake by waiting the 60 days, but this added to my losing track of the receipt and original packaging which my wife tossed out by mistake.

March 3, 2016

Great Return Policy!

Imagine being on a beach, and building up a little pile of sand, and then putting a towel over it and laying down on it. You can smush your head into it and it’ll form a perfectly comfortable spot to lay, but if you want to move, you have to do the whole thing over again.

That’s what a hullo is like. It’s dense and much heavier than a normal pillow, which is fine, but you have to adjust it to get comfortable with it. I do find it to be a comfortable pillow, but if every time I get up to use the bathroom, change position or roll over, I need to fluff a noisy bag o’ buckwheat, I’d rather just use a normal pillow.

I returned the hullo months ago, and just got an email today asking for a review. That’s either poor programming by hullo, or a great and honest company who even wants the people who don’t enjoy their product to write reviews.

Terrific customer service. Meh pillow.

March 3, 2016

Really wanted to like this pillow!

As a public health professional, I’m striving to have the most natural (non-toxic) bedding possible, so was super excited to order and receive the hullo pillow. After the first night, woke up with noticeably sore neck. Adjusted the pillow by taking some filling out. After second night, same thing. Took more filling out. Started having not only a neck so sore I could barely turn it, but also tingling in my wrists and hands. Instead of getting better, just got worse. My partner tried it and also found it disappointingly less comfortable than our existing pillows, even after a week or two of experimenting with it. We unfortunately lost some precious sleep and didn’t see any upward trends in the weeks we tried it. I’m so glad it works well for some people! Did not for us.

January 11, 2016

Hullo Review

After doing some research and advice from friends, I decided to purchase the Hullo pillows. It took a little not to get used to, adjusting the amount of filler, and still can’t get it right for a sound sleep. I still wake up with tingling in my arms. Unfortunately It is past the return requirements so I am still trying to make it work. Many of my friends love it but me, not so much.

July 16, 2015

Pillow Size

I want a small sized pillow. The big ones have too much space for the hulls to float around in, making either way too large of a pillow or too small with a big bump in the back.

All the internet shops seem to sell only large sizes..for big americans, I presume.

I started with a  small size… about 11 by 7 inches. Loved it for 10 years, but left it at my sister’s house and her dogs chewed it up.

It looks like I’ll have to make my own.

Please think about offering a small size.

From Hullo: Thanks to customer feedback, we now offer Hullo in a traditional small size.

I would recommend Hullo to a friend.

March 1, 2014

It’s Different

It’s different. I would recommend hullo to a friend. It would be nice if it came with a little extra buckwheat to add more support in the pillow.

I would recommend Hullo to a friend.

July 8, 2013