The 3 Benefits of a Buckwheat Pillow (What Convinced Me to Switch)

Buckwheat Pillo

A pile of Hullo™ buckwheat pillows

It took me a long time to realize just how important a pillow can be to a good night’s sleep.

I grew up with traditional soft pillows and assumed that I was getting the best rest possible. I thought any pillow was sufficient and not terribly unique.

Then a friend introduced me to buckwheat pillows. 

He enthusiastically told me about his recent purchase and proclaimed it the “the best pillow ever.” He convinced me to order a small 14×20″ buckwheat pillow. When it arrived, I was very skeptical. It was hefty: it weighed about 4 pounds. I unzipped the pillowcase and found it full of thousands of tiny three-sided brown shells. The buckwheat hull fill made it feel unlike any pillow I’d ever tried before.

I didn’t take to this interesting new pillow immediately. In fact, it took awhile for me to really appreciate it. I’m really glad I gave it a chance because I fell in love with it.

Buckwheat pillows helped me understand what a good pillow truly is.

After years of sleeping on my magical buckwheat pillow, exhaustively comparing other pillow types, and finally selling them, I’ve become a bit of a pillow pundit. I’ve distilled buckwheat pillows benefits down to three main points. Prepare to be educated / (bored to sleep?)!

The 3 Benefits of a Buckwheat Pillow


pillows with too little and too much loft

If your pillow doesn’t keep your head at the correct level, you may experience back and neck pain.

1. Superior Support

Your pillow’s most important job is to comfortably and consistently support your head and neck. A good pillow will cradle your body all night in what’s called “neutral alignment.” It will help to keep all the bits and pieces in your spine in in their ideal positions, preventing unnecessary pressure on your discs, muscles and nerves. Proper support=comfort.

Soft squishy traditional pillow types can collapse under the weight of your head, or are inevitably too thin/thick. They aren’t conducive to good rest!

Ideal support is accomplished with:

  • proper elevation of your head. Your head isn’t positioned too high or too low, preventing uncomfortable bends and twists in your spine.
  • even distribution of your head’s weight. Your head’s mass is uniformly spread across the pillow’s surface; there are no uncomfortable pressure points.
  • consistent fill density. Your pillow’s fill will not collapse or flatten under the pressure of your body, keeping your head and neck consistently aligned all night.

A buckwheat pillow’s adjustable loft provides ideal support for everyone regardless of body type or sleep position.

It’s quite likely that any non-adjustable pillow you buy will be either too thick or thin for you. Fortunately most buckwheat pillows allow you to adjust the thickness, or loft, by adding or removing fill via a zippered opening (don’t get a buckwheat pillow without this feature). It doesn’t matter what size you are or what sleeping position you prefer, a buckwheat pillow can support your head at the correct elevation. You’ll be able to fine-tune the loft so that your head and neck are positioned just right.

A buckwheat pillow’s filling will conform perfectly to the shape of your head, evenly distributing your head’s weight.

Most soft pillows cannot not support your head as completely as a buckwheat pillow does. A buckwheat pillow’s unique hull filling will conform to the shape of your head and neck precisely. Its malleable character allows it to firmly and evenly distribute your head’s weight eliminating pain-causing pressure points.

The individual buckwheat hulls’ irregular shape causes friction between them that enables the pillow to hold its shape.

A buckwheat pillow won’t collapse in the middle of the night.

Unfortunately most traditional soft pillows slowly flatten out under the weight of your head while you sleep. This will result in an uncomfortable downward bend in your neck. Folding your pillow in half is popular solution. Unfortunately this often creates the opposite problem: an upward bend in your neck.

Continually re-fluffing or adjusting your in the middle of the night to get a bit more loft (thickness) out of your pillow, isn’t the best way to sleep!


no flipping to the cool side of the pillow required

A breathable pillow is a cool pillow.

2. Stays Cool

Down, foam and other pillow types retain body heat and can quickly become hot and uncomfortable. Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and had to flip your pillow to the cool side? That doesn’t happen with buckwheat pillows. You’re on the cool side all night.

Buckwheat pillows’ cooling ability is due to the breathable nature of buckwheat hull fill. lt allows warm humid air absorbed from your body to quickly escape the pillow, preventing uncomfortable heat build-up.


photo of buckwheat hulls

Buckwheat hulls are an all-natural option that’s safe for both you and the environment.

3. Good For You, Your Family, and Mother Earth

Many popular pillow types contain polyurethane or polyester foam that can emit toxins and carcinogens that aren’t good for you or our environment. There’s no sense in risking your health or filling our landfills with potentially toxic waste!

The comfort of buckwheat pillows comes with no strings attached.

Buckwheat pillows are safe for your family and the environment. Buckwheat crops benefit little from chemical fertilizers, thus it is free of many of the contaminants that are present in other crop types. The hulls are also compostable, which helps to reduce unnecessary waste in our landfills and keeps our soil healthy and nutrient rich for future generations. Additionally, buckwheat pillows contain no animal products for those interested in a vegan lifestyle.


Consider trying Hullo™ buckwheat pillow.

If you’ve decided a buckwheat pillow is worth giving a shot, please consider our product, Hullo™. We think it’s the best buckwheat pillow available, but don’t take our word for it, check out these customer reviews.