Purple Harmony Pillow Review: A Cushy Pillow For All Sleep Positions
I’ve been recovering from a couple of sports injuries the past two years, so getting a good night’s sleep has become challenging on some nights. It’s been especially difficult to find a pillow that keeps my spine aligned in all sleep positions. Recently, I discovered the Purple Harmony Pillow, which uses the same proprietary gel-grid technology developed for Purple’s mattresses.
After six weeks of testing, the Purple Harmony Pillow is my new favorite to sleep with every night.
As someone who spends most of the night on my back and side, with an occasional hour or so of stomach sleeping, this pillow has eliminated my need to flip, stack and squash multiple pillows into shape every time I turn over to get comfortable. While I’ve tested (and even loved) other pillows, the Purple Harmony has become my new favorite pillow for its versatility, pressure-relieving abilities and cooling qualities. I’ll detail my full experience sleeping on it for six weeks, its standout features and minor downsides in this Purple Harmony Pillow review.
Purple Harmony Pillow Features
A Design That Adapts to All Sleep Positions
Pillows are supposed to help keep your neck and spine aligned, but some pillows only do so when you’re sleeping in a certain position. For example, I love my Eli & Elm Side Sleeper Pillow, but it doesn’t offer the right kind of support when sleeping on my back. The Purple Harmony Pillow, however, conforms to any sleep style, offering a cushy yet supportive feel which I found ideal in every position, including on my back, side and stomach. And because it’s so pliable, it accommodates different body types as well. Purple recommends those with small to medium frames choose the low height, people with medium to large frames choose the medium height and people with large to extra-large frames choose the tall height.
Height Options
Although this pillow does not contain adjustable fill, you can order the height that matches your preferred sleep position. This pillow is available in three heights: low (5.5 inches tall for stomach and back sleepers), medium (6.5 inches tall for side and combination sleepers) and tall (7.5 inches tall for side and combination sleepers).
The different height options for the Purple Harmony Pillow.
I’m a pillow stacker and have been known to pile up three budget pillows to give me the height I like, so I chose the tall height. It’s marketed as best for those of us who are side or combination sleepers, and I’d wholeheartedly agree. I found it worked equally well for the occasional hour or two on my stomach.
Cooling Features
One of the pillow’s key features is it uses the company’s proprietary hexagonal GelFlex Grid, which is the same technology developed for Purple’s mattresses. The pillow consists of a latex core surrounded by a removable outer cover, which contains the grid. These features promote a cooling sensation.
When you first lie down on this pillow, it feels ice cold—more so than any other cooling pillow I’ve tested. The cooling lasts longer than other pillows I’ve tried, though it doesn’t remain ice cold all night. After a few hours, my perception is that it warms to near body temperature, although it does not heat up to a level I find uncomfortably hot.
If you pull back the pillow’s cover, you can see the gel grid inside.
The removable cover is made from a moisture-wicking mesh material and is machine washable, but it must be dried flat, which takes a few days. I found this slightly annoying because I wash my sheets and pillowcases weekly, but I also prefer to launder the inner pillow case cover regularly, too. That means I couldn’t use this pillow for a few days while the cover dried thoroughly. One other slight inconvenience: the cover’s silky texture causes any outer pillowcase (the one that matches your sheets) to slip partially off by morning.
Cushy Feel
I tend to prefer firm pillows, so my first impression of this pillow was that it felt too “bouncy.” It seemed almost as if my head was floating on an inflatable raft. I wasn’t sure this was going to be a sensation I liked. However, after a few nights of sleeping on it, I realized I was no longer waking up multiple times in the middle of the night to flip or squash my pillow into shape every time I turned over.
The Purple Harmony Pillow has a bouncy feel at first.
My Expertise
I’ve been testing home and garden products for more than a decade. I’ve written pillow reviews, mattress reviews and numerous sleep product roundups for Forbes Vetted. With a background in health reporting, my focus includes health and lifestyle articles with bylines in other publications such as Good Housekeeping, Elle Decor and Prevention.
Final Thoughts
After using this pillow for six weeks, it’s definitely become my favorite for a good night’s sleep. I find I don’t have to keep flipping it and mashing it into shape every time I roll over because it’s equally supportive, no matter what my sleep position. It’s pricey, but as someone who’s healing from sports injuries, I consider it an investment for a restful night.
Although I don’t like that the cover must be dried flat for several days or that the cover’s silky texture causes my outer pillowcase to slide off most nights, these aren’t deal breakers for me. The benefits outweigh the minor downsides for a pillow that works for me in all sleep positions.
Is The Purple Harmony Pillow Worth It?
Retailing around $200, this is not a budget pillow, although the company does offer frequent sales and a lengthy trial period. With a generous 100 nights to test it out in your own bedroom (with a full refund if you’re not happy, though it needs to be clean and undamaged), this pillow is absolutely worth trying if you are a combination sleeper. When you consider the cost of all the pillows you’ve bought that ended up unused in the closet, this isn’t a huge outlay over time.
What Is The Lifespan Of A Purple Pillow?
Purple says its pillow will last for “several years” without losing its shape. It also comes with a one-year warranty where the company will replace it if there’s something wrong with it.
Is The Purple Pillow Soft Or Firm?
The Purple Harmony Pillow has a medium feel and comes in three different heights to suit different sleep positions. The feeling of weightlessness experienced when sleeping on this pillow is surprisingly appealing. After my initial impression that it was too “bouncy,” I discovered its unique pressure-relieving qualities actually were helping me stay asleep longer without having to turn or fluff my pillow every time I changed positions.