This £25 pillow is one of the best I've tested if you're a side sleeper – I found it the perfect mix of comfort and support

My Sealy Side Sleeper pillow review puts this affordable option through its paces to see how it measures up to the best pillows on the market.

In a nutshell

As a side sleeper, I found this the perfect pillow. And I've tested a fair few, so that's really saying something.

I found the supportive foam centre cushioned my head and neck at just the right height, enabling my spine to remain in a straight and neutral position when I lay on my side.

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And because that foam core is wrapped in hollow fibre polyester strands, it also has a nice degree of softness. Not a firm block like many side sleeping pillows I've tested.

What's more, this pillow is very reasonably priced. Sealy advertises it as £59.99 on its own website, but I've found the Sealy Side Sleeper Pillow sold at Argos for just £25.

The downsides are that there's no sleep trial to test it out before you commit to keeping it, plus, it's only available in one height, and the filling isn't adjustable. That means that, although it suited me perfectly, smaller or larger body frames may find it doesn't fit the gap between their ear and the mattress quite as perfectly as it did me.

Still, if you can snap it up at its £25 price point, I think this pillow certainly gives the best pillows for side sleepers a run for their money, and it's definitely the best value side sleeping pillow we've tested at Ideal Home.

Sealy Side Sleeper Pillow review

Specifications

• RRP: £59.99
• Best for: side sleepers
• Materials: inner: hollowfibre polyester with polyurethane foam core, cover: cotton
• Dimensions: H19 x W50 x L78cm
• Care instructions: cover is removable and machine washable at 40°C (on a delicate cycle) and can be cool tumble dried
• Manufacturer sleep trial: none

Comfort

The Sealy Side Sleeper Pillow has a foam centre, which the brand says is designed to cushion and support the neck and spine in an optimal position for side-sleeping.

That foam core is then surrounded by hollow fibre polyester fibres and a quilted cotton cover. When I unzipped the pillow outer and looked inside, these fibres looked like candy floss and felt as soft, but were bouncier to the touch.

The effect is that I found this pillow had a softer, bouncier feel than most memory foam pillows I've tested, which can tend to feel a bit block-like under the head.

I’m a very fussy pillow person, fuelled by years of testing them! And, personally, I don’t like a pillow to feel too hard, so a lot of the dense memory foam pillows are too rigid for me. However, as a side (and occasionally a back) sleeper, I also like a pillow that isn’t too soft, otherwise, my head and neck dip too low, and the neck and spine lose their alignment.

According to Sealy, this pillow offers a medium level of firmness – ideal for people who side-sleep. And overall, I'd agree.

When I lay on this pillow for the first time, my overriding impression was how soft and comfortable it felt, whilst also being supportive enough to keep my neck and spine aligned (thanks to the foam centre).

One of my sons described it as like a piece of giant sponge wrapped in cotton wool, because the outside was so springy and light, but the inside was firmer and more supportive!

My head sank into the pillow a bit and didn’t sit on top of it as it has with other side-sleeping pillows I’ve tested. Overall, I found it offered the perfect combination of comfort and support for side sleeping, and it didn’t let my head sink too far down towards the mattress - just enough to feel comfortable whilst also keeping my neck and spine in alignment.

I often wake up in the morning with neck and shoulder aches, but when I slept on this pillow, I didn’t notice any pain in the morning.

The only downside is that, unlike pillows such as the firmer Levitex Sleep Posture Pillow, or softer Simba Hybrid Pillow or Cloudpillo Original Pillow, this pillow isn't adjustable. So, although its height suited me perfectly when side sleeping, sleepers with different body frames may find it a little too low or too high, and there's no option to tweak its height to suit individual users.

Temperature regulation

The Sealy Side Sleeper Pillow does have a cotton cover, but the rest of the pillow is synthetic, so I wasn't sure how warm it would get under my head.

However, the foam comfort layer inside the pillow is ventilated to encourage air to move around the pillow to keep you fresh and comfortable, and the hollow fibre outer has air pockets to add some breathability too.

I often wake up in the night feeling hot and clammy around my neck and head but when I slept on this pillow I noticed that I didn’t wake up during the night, and my head and neck area didn’t feel as hot and clammy as usual.

Whether that breathability will change over time as the fibres become a little more compressed, I'll have to keep you updated on, but during my testing period this pillow offered decent temperature regulation. It's not as cool as a feather and down or wool-filled pillow, but I didn't overheat, either.

Ease of care

The foam core of the Sealy Side Sleeper Pillow can't be washed, but it does have a removable cover that is machine washable at 40 degrees. The cover can also be tumble dried on cool.

The zip is so well concealed and discreetly tucked under the edge of the piping on one side that I initially struggled to find it but once I did it was easy to remove.

The fact that the cover can go in the washing machine makes it very easy to care for, and will definitely help to extend its life in terms of keeping it fresh and clean. It came up well after washing and looked as good as it did before. It was easy to put the cover back on too.

Sleep trial

The one downside of this pillow is that unlike a lot of its competition, there is no sleep trial offered.

It can be hard to gauge whether a pillow is right for you before you actually sleep on it, so it is a shame there isn't the option to test it out before you commit to keeping it, especially because its £59.99 retail price – although not the most expensive pillow I've tested – is still a significant outlay.

This said, as we'll come onto below, I have found it on sale for significantly less at a few retailers, in which case you may be more willing to take a punt and see how it works for you.

Value for money

As I mentioned, the Sealy website lists the retail price of this pillow as £59.99. However, I've found the Sealy Side Sleeper Pillow sold at Argos for just £25, and the Sealy Side Sleeper Pillow is currently available at Dreams for £35.

Compared to most side sleeping pillows I've tested, this is very reasonable. For comparison, Panda's Memory Foam Bamboo Pillow costs £44.95, the Woolroom Natural Latex Washable Wool Pillow costs £113.99, and the Levitex Sleep Posture Pillow retails at £80.

Overall, I think it's a very good buy. It's certainly one of the best pillows I've found for comfortable side sleeping, and although it isn't adjustable (so may not suit everyone height-wise), if you can snap it up at £25 then I think it's a good all-rounder that's well worth a try.

How I tested

Rachel Tompkins

I’m Rachel, a mother of two and a product reviewer who helps the Ideal Home team put all manner of products through their paces to find the top recommendations for our readers. For this review, I tested the Sealy Side Sleeper Pillow.

In order to test out this pillow, I slept on it for two weeks on my own bed to assess its comfort and temperature regulation. 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 offers good value for money.