Dunelm's £25 'anti-wrinkle' pillow is the strangest I've tested – but as a 46-year-old woman, it reduced sleep lines on my face

My Dunelm Hotel Bamboo Anti-Wrinkle Pillow review puts this unusual-looking pillow through its paces to see if it can really deliver a wrinkle-free sleep, and to see how it compares to the best pillows Ideal Home has tested.

In a nutshell

The first thing you're likely to notice about this pillow is its *very* unusual shape. This is not a traditional rectangular pillow in any sense, but there’s a reason for this.

Dunelm says that its unconventional shape is intended to ‘cradle your face without creasing skin to help minimise sleep lines’. The brand also claims that it ‘keeps creams and oils on your face and not on your pillowcase’ and helps to ‘protect hair and lashes.’

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Pair its odd shape with a silky soft bamboo-viscose cover that Dunelm says is ‘smooth and gentle on your skin and hair,’ and you have a pillow that boasts of its 'anti-wrinkle' properties.

As a 46-year-old mother of two, I’m very familiar with a bit of face creasing, and not just at nighttime! So I was intrigued to find out if this innovative shaped pillow would not only feel gentle on my skin and hair but also offer anti-wrinkle benefits, and feel comfortable to sleep on.

Overall, I was fairly impressed. Whilst I haven’t seen an immediate impact on my wrinkles, it’s reduced the usual creasing that I often wake up with on my face. It also keeps my hair smoother than my usual pillow, and I wake up without looking like I’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards!

The main downside was that I found it tricky to keep my head within the 'cradle' of the pillows' arms throughout the night, but if you're a less wriggly sleeper than me, you might have more success!

Specifications

• Best for: anti-wrinkling
• Materials: cover: 100% viscose derived from bamboo, inner: 100% polyester
• Dimensions: 45cm x 35cm x 25cm
• Care instructions: outer cover can be washed at 40 degrees
• Manufacturer sleep trial: n/a

Comfort

As I've mentioned, the first thing you're likely to notice about this pillow is its unusual shape. It resembles a starfish of sorts (minus a few limbs), and it's certainly the most oddly shaped pillow I've tested.

This unconventional shape is intended to ‘cradle your face without creasing skin to help minimise sleep lines.’ And, luckily, it comes with a pillowcase included, as there's no chance you'd get a normal rectangular pillowcase onto this pillow!

The pillowcase itself also contributes to the anti-wrinkle mission. It's made from 100% viscose ‘derived from bamboo’, and I found it felt incredibly soft to the touch, almost like silk.

Inside the cover, the pillow itself feels soft and springy, with good bounce back when squashed or pushed.

I’m a fussy pillow person; my pillow can’t be too hard, so some of the brick-like memory foam ones I’ve tested previously are too rigid for my preference, and they can’t be so soft that they don’t offer enough support for my neck and spine.

Overall, I'd say this pillow has a medium-firm feel that I felt comfortable with, but otherwise this pillow is like nothing I’ve ever tried before!

I’m usually a side sleeper, although I sometimes sleep on my back, and I usually prefer a mid-height pillow with a medium level of firmness.

When I first lay on this pillow, my initial thoughts were that the cover felt incredibly soft and smooth on my skin, but it definitely took me a moment to work out exactly how I should be lying on it!

On my back, it felt very different from my usual pillow; higher and also with a smaller surface area. I could feel the ‘arms’ on either side of my head, too, which I didn't mind, but I think could be a red flag if you suffer from any level of claustrophobia!

When I rolled onto my side, I found the unusual shape cupped my head nicely, allowing my face to fit through the gaps in the arms and my arm to nestle under what I’m going to call the arms of the pillow. This also meant that my nightly moisturiser wasn’t rubbed off.

Overall, I found it offered me enough support to keep my neck and spine in alignment when I went to sleep on my side, with the added benefit of making sure my face wasn’t squashed.

However, I could feel the ‘arms’ pressing against my chin and forehead, though when lying on my side, which I didn’t love. Plus, on some of the nights that I slept on this pillow, I woke up to find that my face had moved from the original position, and I was either off the pillow completely or had my face squashed into it like my normal pillow. Whether that’s a reflection of me being a wriggly sleeper or the pillow itself, I’m not sure!

Overall, though, I found this pillow offered a good combination of comfort and support, and it didn’t let my head sink too far down towards the mattress.

Anti-wrinkle powers

One of the unique selling points of this pillow is that Dunelm describes it as an ‘anti-wrinkle’ pillow. Apparently, this is achieved by a combination of factors, such as the ‘ergonomic’ design which ‘cradles your face without creasing skin to help minimise sleep lines,’ and helps to ‘keep creams and oils on your face and not on your pillowcase’, plus the silky pillowcase that ‘helps protect hair and lashes’.

This pillow definitely felt softer and smoother on my face than my existing embossed cotton pillowcase, from which I often wake up with an imprint on my skin! And, on the mornings that I woke up on my side with my face still in the correct position between the ‘arms’ of the pillow, I did notice that my face didn’t have as many sleep lines and indents as it usually does.

However, I couldn't guarantee my head would remain in the 'right' position all night long, so on those nights I moved in my sleep, I still had a smushed face the pillow couldn't help.

Overall, my existing wrinkles definitely didn’t vanish overnight, but at 46, I wasn’t expecting miracles! However, I think that over a longer period of time, this reduction in ‘sleep lines’ and skin creasing when sleeping on it might well be more beneficial to my skin than my usual pillow.

I also liked that I could apply moisturiser before bed without it being absorbed by the pillow. The 'hole' in the pillow meant my creams absorbed into my face instead of the fabric. And as far as I’m concerned, that's definitely a good thing!

Temperature regulation

Although the pillowcase of the Dunelm Hotel Bamboo Anti-Wrinkle Pillow is made of silky viscose bamboo, which is cool to the touch, the inside of the pillow is filled with polyester, so I was a bit concerned it might make me feel hot during the night.

However, during testing, I found this pillow felt instantly cool and refreshing when I lay on it, and I didn’t wake up in the night with a sweaty neck and head like I sometimes do on my usual pillow.

My hair wasn’t damp or tangled when I woke up, like it sometimes is on my normal cotton pillowcase, either, suggesting that the fabric may, as Dunelm says, be ‘smooth and gentle on your skin and hair.’

My sons, who regularly turn their pillow over to find the cool side when getting to sleep, also loved the temperature regulation of this pillow and said it felt very cool to the touch. That said, after the initial novelty of testing it out, neither of them wanted to spend the whole night sleeping on it.

Ease of care

The Dunelm Hotel Touch of Bamboo Anti-Wrinkle pillowcase is machine washable but not suitable for ironing. It can be tumble-dried on a low heat.

The cover has a zip down the back, which makes it easy to remove, and I found it washed and dried well in my washing machine.

The only downside is that the unusual shape of the pillow and pillowcase makes it a bit fiddly and time-consuming to get the pillowcase back on after washing, so you’ll need to allow additional time for this.

Sleep trial

There's no sleep trial available on this pillow, so that does mean that once you've unboxed it it's non-returnable.

However, most of us aren't too far away from a Dunelm store, so there is the option to go test it out in person before you shop.

Value for money

Costing just £25, the Dunelm Hotel Touch of Bamboo Anti-Wrinkle Pillow is very affordable and much cheaper than many other pillows I’ve tested.

In fact, I was surprised by how affordable it is, considering how much more work must go into manufacturing its unusual shape than a standard rectangular pillow, and I thought its silky bamboo viscose cover also looked simple but luxurious.

Would I buy it again? I'm not sure. I thought its arms were clever, and the theory was good, but in practice, I found it hard to keep my head aligned in its 'cradle' all night to get the benefit of 'uncreased' skin.

It has definitely convinced me to invest in one of the best silk pillowcases, so I continue to enjoy the smoothing benefits of a non-cotton pillowcase, though!

How I tested

Rachel Tompkins

I’m Rachel, a 40-something-year-old mother of two and a product tester who helps the Ideal Home team put all manner of sleep aids through their paces to find the top recommendations for our readers. For this review, I tested out the Dunelm Hotel Bamboo Anti-Wrinkle Pillow.

In order to test out this pillow, I slept on it for two weeks on my own bed to assess its comfort, temperature regulation, and those anti-wrinkle claims. I also assessed its ease of care, any sleep trials available, and how it compares to similar products on the market to see if it offered good value for money.