Alternatives to Plastic Pillows

(NB: I had to use all my willpower not to go down Cliche Avenue and call this post "Pillow Talk"! Every second pillow article on the internet is called PILLOW TALK!)

There are many reasons to avoid sleeping on a plastic pillow. Not only is the pillow made of petrochemicals, it can be infused with a host of other chemicals, such as anti-mould, anti-stain, and anti-dustmite agents. And at the end of its life, it's not biodegradable. There is very little to love about a plastic pillow. Indeed, it's not even so hypoallergenic, as has often been claimed.

I've listed some alternative fillings below, and highlighted some of their properties. The list isn't exhaustive, but it's a start.

Feather /Down
Probably the classic pillow filler - hence all those cliched pillow fight scenes. Now try doing THAT with a polyester pillow! Actually, turns out some idiot has:

Feather pillows have the advantage of being extremely soft, and often contain a mix of feathers and down. They can be on the expensive side but, considering how well they will last compared to a synthetic pillow, they are worth it. A feather pillow may have been treated with all manner of chemicals to sanitise the feathers, so choose organic!

Allergy and asthma sufferers have often been advised to avoid feather pillows due to the presumed increased presence of the house dust mite allergen (Der p 1). However, according to a 1996 study from the British Medical Journal, the reverse is true. The study showed that polyester fibre pillows contained more than 8 times the total weight of Der p I and 3.57 times more micrograms of Der p I per gram of fine dust than feather pillows! A study in 1999 found similar results.

Some people can be allergic to feather dander, even if the feathers have been treated with said chemicals. There are also shocking stories that emerge from time to time of geese being plucked alive in China to provide cheap feathers to the industry.

It's worth mentioning that the rise in allergies coincides with the rise in the use of synthetics in our world. Correlation not causation. But surely the treatments in these pillows must be questioned too. 

Wool
Wool is breathable, naturally dustmite resistant and naturally flame resistant and dries fast, you would want to ensure to choose a cruelty free (mulesing free) variety of organic wool. This will also ensure you avoid wool that has been mixed with synthetics such as Dakron or synthetic resin.

Dustmites are apparently repelled by the lanoline in the wool.Wool is also an excellent heat regulator, unlike synthetics. Cool in summer, warm in winter. 

Wool can absorb moisture from the body and breath up to 30% of its own weight BUT it can dissipate it naturally into the atmosphere - it's considered a fibre that "breathes".


Non-animal options 
If you're vegan or just prefer to avoid animal cruelty, you may want to steer clear of wool or feather pillows. There's a great variety of non-animal pillow fillings out there. You don't have to sleep on plastic!

Cotton

Cotton is probably the closest you can get to wool. It doesn't have the anti-wicking or flame resistance of wool. But the benefits of knowing it's a natural product are many. If you choose cotton, make sure you choose the organic variety due to the large amounts of pesticides used in conventional cotton.

The South-east Asian triangular pillow
is often filled with kapok (OK, this isn't for
sleeping on!)

Kapok
Kapok is a white fluff, a little like cotton, that grows on a tall, Brazilian tree. Pillows have traditionally been stuffed with this, particularly in tropical countries where the tree grows well, such as in South East Asia. Kapok is quite flammable, but... who smokes in bed these days. I have one of these pillows and found it a little too soft. The traditional Thai triangle pillow is often stuffed with kapok.

Be aware that if you're buying one of these in Australia, they will be AQIS fumigated with methyl bromide due to Australia's strict quarantine laws.

Tea tree

.

Australian tea tree bark (Melaleuca, paperbark) has been used for many thousands of years by Australian Aboriginal people in all manner of ways, not least among them as a bedding material for babies. Tea tree bark is antibacterial, antifungal and lovely and soft like tissue paper. I also have one of these pillows (OK, I'm a bit of a pillow freak). I bought it for my girl when she was 1. She seemed to like it but one night I slept on it for a bit and it was really NOISY (shhp, shhp, shhp). So I bought her a wool pillow, and now the tea tree replaces some yucky old PET cushion stuffing that was on the couch.

Hemp
Care for hemp pillows is similar to cotton pillows. They will dry slower and be more prone to attracting moisture than feathers or wool, so they do need to be placed outside in the sun regularly. The benefits of hemp as a fibre is that it isn't relying on animal husbandry, and hemp uses a fraction of the water and pesticides of conventional cotton. Hemp in its raw fluffy state looks a lot like cotton and is called batting (as it is with cotton).

Buckwheat husks have long been a
popular filling in Asia.

Buckwheat
Buckwheat is still common in China and Japan, where it is regarded for its health properties, including  breathability.

Unfortunately, I have seen Japanese ads for a plastic version of this, with the same feel of buckwheat. In one case, it was chopped up drinking straws. Yuck! 

I think you know what I'm going to say. I have one of these... well, I have a buckwheat filling in an outdoor cushion. It's nice, but I'm not sure about sleeping on it.

Bulrush cattail

Here's one you might not have heard of. We have these on our property in our greywater system. People traditionally gathered these to make pillows out of the fluff that grows on them in summer. Typha are used as thermal insulation in buildings as an organic alternative to conventional insulating materials such as glass wool.


Latex and rubber
Natural rubber and latex has also made a big comeback in recent years. A plus ça change! So much so that the big pillow companies are their biggest marketers. As the ad below, from the 1950s shows, it's not such a new invention. These days everyone is all about memory foam, although most memory foam is plastic - NASA designed viscoelastic polyurethane. I'm not a huge fan of the stuff myself. There are some toxic processes in its production (some less so), and I find the smell a bit offputting, but I've been told it goes with time. There are also some people who have latex allergies, and claims of its dustmite resistance are really just that.

Dayton's "Koolfoam" pillow from the 1950s. Pillow technology had become a "thing"
and was just about to really take off with the introduction of the plastic pillow in the 1960s.

Conclusion
Well, I hope I've provided you with some useful alternatives to EVER having to choose a plastic pillow to rest your head on. As you can see, the range of natural pillow fillers is huge. There is also straw, corn and wheat which I haven't covered. Horsehair has also been used in the past too. So, while not exhaustive, it will hopefully set you on the path to purchasing a plastic-free pillow if you haven't already. Or when you need to replace the one/s you've got, you'll have a bit more of an idea of where to go. 

For those in Australia, I have discovered a great website, Ecofilling.com,  where you can order your own cushion cover and a range of natural fabrics.

Related posts
Synthetic pillow marketing and health concerns with synthetic pillows