The Pillow Review
Reader-supported · Independent · 2026
The latest review

The Best Pillows for Asthma and Allergies

A crisp white bed pillow on pale linen beside a folded white zippered allergen-barrier encasement with its zipper visible
Hands-on tested

The best pillow for asthma and allergies is a washable pillow you can seal inside a tested allergen-impermeable encasing, because the encasing is the part with randomized trial evidence behind it and the pillow is not a treatment ...

Image for Author Aimee Cannon
Reviewed by Aimee Cannon·
Read the full review
How we test
01

We buy every pillow

Each one is purchased at retail — never pulled from a brand’s press kit or sent as a sample.

02

We sleep on it for weeks

Loft, firmness, and how hot it runs are judged over real nights, in every sleep position.

03

We re-check before publishing

Every pick is verified in stock with current Amazon pricing before each update.

The reviews

Close-up of a white mattress seam with fine household dust in the weave beside a bed frame joint and mattress tag
Allergy Pillows

Dust Mites vs Bed Bugs: How to Tell Them Apart

If something is biting you, it is not house dust mites. That single fact does most of the work in the dust mites vs bed bugs question, because the two problems pull in opposite direction...

Aimee Cannon·
An older flattened and slightly yellowed bed pillow side by side with a fresh white plump one on pale linen
Allergy Pillows

How Often Should You Replace Your Pillow?

If you want a single number, it is every 1 to 2 years. That is the usable answer to how often to replace your pillow, and the honest second half of it is that the number is a rule of thu...

Aimee Cannon·
An uncluttered bedroom with white bedding, bare wood floor, a small digital hygrometer on the nightstand and a folded zippered mattress protector
Allergy Pillows

How to Prevent a Dust Mite Allergy Flare-Up

Hold indoor humidity at 35% to 50%, encase the mattress, box spring and pillow, wash the bedding weekly, and vacuum with HEPA filtration — all of it, together. That is the short version ...

Aimee Cannon·
Close view of the tightly woven cotton ticking of a white down pillow, with two loose goose feathers resting on the fabric
Allergy Pillows

Are Down Pillows Bad for Allergies?

Are down pillows bad for allergies? Mostly no, and the evidence points the other way from the advice. Published comparisons of pillows sharing the same beds have repeatedly measured *mor...

Aimee Cannon·
A single white pillow holding a faint head impression on rumpled pale linen in low early-morning light, a tissue at the edge of the nightstand
Allergy Pillows

Can Your Pillow Cause Allergies?

Can your pillow cause allergies? Almost never in the way the question implies. A pillow is far more often a reservoir than a cause: the thing you react to is not usually the pillow but what ...

Aimee Cannon·
A white bed pillow being slid into a zippered cotton encasement on pale oatmeal linen, the open zipper and its pull in sharp focus
Allergy Pillows

Dust Mite Pillow Protectors: What to Look For

What should you look for in a dust mite pillow protector? Five things, in this order: a named allergen test with a number attached, a woven fabric rather than a nonwoven one, a full-leng...

Aimee Cannon·
A freshly laundered white pillow and a folded zippered pillow protector stacked on pale linen beside a woven laundry basket
Allergy Pillows

How to Remove Dust Mites From Pillows

You cannot sterilise a pillow, and you do not need to. The job is lowering the allergen load: strip the bed, wash the pillowcase and the zippered cover, dry both completely, treat the pi...

Aimee Cannon·
Three crisp white bed pillows stacked on a pale oak bench beside a folded zippered pillow encasement in a bright bedroom
Allergy Pillows

The Best Pillows for Allergies (2026 Review)

The best pillow for allergies is the one you can seal inside a tested, tightly woven encasement, wash weekly, and keep in a room at the 35% to 50% humidity the allergy guidelines point to. F...

Aimee Cannon·
A white bed pillow on rumpled linen sheets lit by a shaft of morning sunlight with dust motes drifting in the beam
Allergy Pillows

Dust Mites in Pillows: What Is Actually Living in There

Are there dust mites in your pillow? Almost certainly a few, and for most people that is close to irrelevant. Dust mites are microscopic relatives of spiders that eat shed skin, do not bite,...

Aimee Cannon·