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- Very comfortable
- Fully adjustable
- Natural materials
- Expensive at full price
- Zip could be better
When it comes to comfort and insulation that will keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer, wool is an excellent bedding material. Simba, for instance, uses layers of wool in many of its hybrid mattresses.
There are no prizes for guessing what the key ingredient is in Woolroom’s range of mattresses and bedding. The Deluxe Washable Wool pillow is filled with “100% British Wool traceable back to UK farms”. It’s a very comfortable, fully adjustable option that I wouldn’t hesitate recommending to those looking for a plush, all-natural pillow – provided you’re happy to plump it up every now and then.
Woolroom Deluxe Washable Wool Pillow: What do you get for the money?
The Deluxe Washable Wool Pillow’s filling is housed in a smooth, 200 thread-count, quilted cotton cover, which itself has a thin layer of wool stitched into it for padding. It’s available in three sizes – Standard (48x74cm), Kingsize (48x90cm) and Euro (60x60cm) – priced at £95, £116 and £120 respectively. I was sent the Standard size to review.
You can adjust the height of the pillow by removing as much or as little of the filling as you like. Unlike the Otty Adjustable Pillow, it doesn’t come with a bag in which to store any wool you remove: this is available for an additional £26, alongside 250g of extra wool should you want to plump the pillow up further.
The Woolroom Deluxe Washable Wool Pillow is, indeed, washable. But to do this, you’ll need to separate the wool filling from its case before you can put the latter in the washing machine. According to the pillow’s care label, this can be washed at 40°C but you should wash on a wool cycle using wool-friendly detergent, and it can’t be ironed or tumble dried.
What did we like?
Woolroom’s Deluxe Washable Wool Pillow offers a nice amount of cushioned comfort without compromising on support. The wool sidesteps the problem I had with the Odd Company’s feather-stuffed Luxury Pillows, which were so soft that they collapsed under my head without offering sufficient support. You might think that all that wool might feel like sinking your head into a big fluffy sheep but, while it is very comfy, it’s a much denser alternative to feathers and down.
I’d argue that the Deluxe Washable Pillow offers a medium, verging on medium-firm, feel. I usually sleep on my side as well as my back, and found it comfortable in both positions – though those that prefer sink-in comfort might find it a bit too dense. You’ll also benefit from regularly fluffing up this pillow. Woolroom recommends opening it up before use and loosening the wool filling where it has clumped together, but giving it a quick fluffing in the morning and evening should be sufficient thereafter. This might be irritating for some, but it’s hardly the greatest burden of responsibility.
Having reviewed plenty of microfibre and memory foam pillows over the years, It’s lovely to get my hands (and head) on all-natural bedding such as The Deluxe Washable Wool Pillow. While wool won’t be suitable for vegans, the pillow feels much more considerately made than those full of polyester and polyurethane. The 100% cotton cover is soft and the pillow feels breathable. I did note a “sheepish” smell when I unzipped it to look at its filling, but this is very slight and certainly no more offensive than memory foam offgassing.
I found the loft of the pillow comfortable without needing to make any tweaks, but I have to admit that the adjustability of Woolroom’s Deluxe Washable Wool Pillow is a great perk. Given the arrangement of the pillow’s “wool balls”, you can take out as much or as little as you want, offering a great amount of versatility – which is what also made the Otty Adjustable Pillow so appealing. Sure, Woolroom doesn’t give you the little bag to put the spare bits in, but the calico bag that the pillow itself comes in is a decent enough stand-in.
What could be improved?
What’s more disappointing is that you don’t get any spare filling included with the pillow. As I mentioned above, £26 will get you an extra 250g of wool in a little drawstring bag. This isn’t a huge cost to bear, but add it to what is already a significant investment for the pillow and you’re looking at paying as little as £121 all told.
This rather steep price will likely put a lot of people off the Woolroom Deluxe Washable Wool Pillow. Again, allow me to compare it to the Otty Adjustable Pillow, which – while not a budget option – is comparably cheaper at £70. Of course, bedding made from natural materials is usually pricier than synthetic options, and you can make a very convincing argument that it’s worth the investment. For example, our favourite down pillow – the Scooms Hungarian Goose Down Pillow – will cost you £100. On the other hand, all-natural pillows aren’t always so expensive: the Piglet in Bed British Wool Pillow is priced at £65,while Odd Company’s Luxury Pillow bundle, made from feather and cotton, is £120 for two pillows.
However, I’ve noticed that Woolroom regularly offers discounts on its bedding, so there’s a good chance that you won’t need to worry about paying full price for the Deluxe Washable Wool Pillow. In fact, at the time of writing, a 30% discount brings the price down to a much more competitive £66.
A slightly more trifling issue I had with the pillow is that the zipper doesn’t have a tag on it, which can make opening and closing the cover quite awkward. You’ll also need to take care when doing this, as the wool balls are prone to getting caught in the teeth of the zip.
Should you buy the Woolroom Deluxe Washable Wool Pillow
Ultimately, I can look past a slightly awkward zipper, which leaves the main question being: is the Woolroom Deluxe Washable Pillow worth £95? For the quality of its materials, the convenience of its washable cover and the versatility of its fully adjustable design, I would answer yes. If you’re going to invest in something, why shouldn’t it be something you’re going to be lying your face on for seven hours every night?
It was Benjamin Franklin who said: “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.” Yes, the Woolroom Deluxe Washable Wool Pillow is expensive. Potential discounts aside, I appreciate that it simply won’t factor into a lot of people’s budgets (if that’s the case, we’ve reviewed plenty of very good alternatives). But it’s also a very good-quality pillow, and if you do have the means, I highly recommend it.
