It was time to buy a new pillow. This is an interesting time. One day, you wake up and decide the quality of your pillow is no longer up to snuff. This seems to happen overnight. One morning, you wake up convinced that your headache is due to that old pillow and you urgently need a new one. Everything wrong in your life can be traced back to that expired pillow, and a new one would solve all your problems. If you are like me, you drop everything you’re doing and begin researching pillows, because this is urgent. The first thing you may learn is that synthetic pillows should be replaced every 6-12 months. This was mind blowing news to me. I was sure pillows could last years, if not decades. I do not ever remember buying a single new pillow as a child. This was like learning that spaghetti sauce should be used within 3-4 days after opening. Crazy, right?

Anyway, there is no shortage of pillow information on the internet. In fact, there are currently 8.5 million pillow review videos on the web right now. I actually watched most of them. I will tell you why. Nice hotels have these magical pillows that you cannot find in stores anywhere, and I mean anywhere. They must have a secret pact. Hotels lose their luster if us plebs can just go to Amazon and buy the same pillows they use. I thought long and hard about booking a room at the local Hilton and just stealing their pillows, then dealing with whatever consequences came along with that. I decided to take the high road and start my research. Its difficult buying a pillow online. You can’t test it, which means you have to watch video reviews to see how it looks and trust peoples’ reviews. Speaking of reviews, they are a mess. If you go read the reviews for the Tempur-Down Precise Support Pillow, which I almost bought, you will literally find the following two reviews, back-to-back.

“This one is too soft for me. But it's a quality pillow if you like a feather pillow. My neck needs more support.”

“Pillow is made very well but it is too firm for my liking. I can’t imagine how anyone could fall asleep on this brick”

Researching pillows was giving me a far worse headache than the pillow itself. I almost gave up. But then I found multiple video reviews for the Casper Memory Foam Pillow. Each of these reviews was consistent. This pillow was thick but soft, which is exactly what I was looking for. I want a plush pillow that is thick enough to support my head, just like at the hotels. When I lay my head on a pillow, it shouldn’t sink all the way down to the mattress. This part of the review specifically won me over: “One layer of high-density foam is sandwiched between two layers of low-density foam to create a balanced, medium firm feel. The outer layers are softer, more plush, and provide cushy comfort for your head and neck, while the innermost layer is firmer, more dense, and works as the pillow’s support system.” This person was literally describing my dream pillow, word for word, and her inclusion of the word “sandwich” in the review sealed the deal. (I like sandwiches) Casper’s 100-Night Free Trial made this a risk-free chance for me to try an expensive pillow. I ordered the $109 Casper Memory Foam Pillow. I was confident my dream pillow would be on my doorstep in 3 days.

It came. And here I am one week later writing my review after I ultimately decided to return the pillow. I loved the pillow and I hated it. It was incredibly well made. It was stunningly heavy and it was super supportive. I knew I was sleeping on a high-quality pillow, but for me, it was overly supportive. After my first night sleeping on the pillow, my wife asked, “how was the pillow?”. I said, “it was always there”, which I know is a weird response but that is all I could come up with. Wherever my head went, the pillow was there waiting for it with all of its firmness. And if you rolled back to the spot you just were, you’d have no idea you were just there. The pillow is going to be absolutely amazing for some people, just not me. I need a little more give in a pillow, and a little more plushness, even if that means giving up some support.

As far as Casper goes, I highly recommend this company. Their 100-night return policy is indeed stress free. In fact, when you start the return process, you’re greeted with a nice message, “Second thoughts? No worries.” I didn’t even have to talk to anyone. I wouldn’t even hesitate to recommend the Casper Memory Foam Pillow, but only to someone looking for a firm, ultra-supportive pillow.