Not a pillow but a pair of pillow cases which claim to keep you cool, reduce hair loss, alleviate insomnia and help you fall asleep quickly.  Really? A pillowcase can do all that?  Although I was sceptical of the claims, I was nonetheless very happy to try these.  I have to admit, the timing was perfect – their availability on Amazon UK coming just as the recent heatwave came along, so ideal for me to try out in my very hot south-facing bedroom.  There’s a blanket and duvet in the range too – details below.

Made with ‘Japanese Q-max cooling fibres’, I had to do a bit of a Google to find out whether this was ‘fake science’ or actually real technology.  I learnt quite a bit.  ‘Qmax’ in the textiles industry is apparently the measure of how warmth moves from the surface of a fabric to the skin.  It’s used to ‘assess the surface warm / cool sensations of a garment fabric’.  The higher the value, the quicker heat moves from the body to the surface of the material, resulting in it feeling cooler against your skin. An average garment has a Qmax value of 0.2m and this is 0.4, so does seem to be appreciably better for heat loss.  As with sports & gym gear, the fibres also wick away moisture from the skin, so that any heat evaporates quickly –  you’re not lying on a hot, damp pillow so it does actually feel cool.

To start with, I was impressed with the fact that you get two pillowcases for around £16, so good value. They come in 6 different colours and 5 different sizes, so a wide range & choice.  I tried the grey colour in a standard pillowcase size, which fitted perfectly around my medium-thickness down pillow and zipped up with a very neat finish.  I do like a zipper on my pillowcase, particularly a small, neatly sewed one which gives a snug and secure feeling to my pillow.

Packaged attractively, the pillowcases have two sides.  Initially confusing as no instructions on the package to see which side I needed to put next to my skin and which on the underside of my pillow.  After a quick email and response from their customer service department, the answer was the silky (Q-max fibre) side next to my skin if I wanted its cooling properties and the cotton side if I wanted a warmer pillowcase.

Verdict?  An excellent night’s sleep – actually several now as I haven’t taken the pillowcase off yet.  It’s not a ‘cool pillow’ but the pillowcase definitely feels slightly cooler to the hand compared to a cotton pillowcase.  Even though the nights have been hot, my head has kept cool and maybe I even woke up less because of it.  If you suffer from hot flushes or poor sleep from the menopause, these are a very good find.   I also have thin ‘baby’ hair, and I can vouch for their claim that it pulls hair less than a normal pillowcase – it’s slightly slippery, just like a soft gym top or similar material and hair doesn’t snag when you move or trap it when turning over.  So, all in all, despite being sceptical at first – there are a lot of claims – these are definitely keepers and not just for the hot weather either.

Elegear also make a ‘Cooling Blanket‘ and a ‘Cooling Duvet‘ – both available through Amazon.

* Price at time of reviewing

Update:  Vouchers available for this, take a chunk off the price: