I’m always on the lookout for new CBD trends and products that hit the market. Early last year, one US trend, in particular, caught my eye – CBD infused bedding and mattresses. I even found CBD-infused garments! Now on a whole, the UK is a little behind with these kinds of things but you can only imagine my excitement when I did a cheeky Google only to find that the UK’s 1st CBD infused pillow has finally arrived. Now, the scientist in me is a little bit sceptic at the concept of being able to microdose through a pillowcase, but that’s why I’m here – to put it to the test and give you my most honest and educated CBD Pillow review.
Because the folk over at CBD Pillow are super generous they’re giving you all 20% off any purchase made via their site using the code GREENS20 at the checkout!
Disclaimer: Please note that this is a sponsored post. I was sent a free product and compensated in return for an honest review. Any payment received I use to pay my bills, keep this blog up and running, and most importantly to keep creating quality content for you all. I am not an affiliate of CBD Pillow and any purchases you make via them I will not be compensated for. I am not influenced by the company in any way and all opinions, ramblings, and thoughts are my own and 100% honest. If you’d like to know more, feel free to contact me.
About CBD Pillow
CBD Pillow is a Southern Californian based family-owned company on a mission to provide the highest quality sleep to its customers in the easiest, safest, and least intrusive way possible.
Knowing that 67% of UK adults suffer from disrupted sleep they wanted to find a better, safer, and natural way to promote deep sleep and so they set about to create something that would leave customers feeling invigorated, and give the most restful sleep they’ve ever experienced. With CBD having none of those groggy after-effects synonymous with sleeping pills it was a no brainer and the CBD Pillow was born.
All of their materials are hand-sourced and made in the USA, from farm to pillow, in their very own factory and all CBD is THC, heavy metal, mycotoxin and pesticide-free. It’s also free from microbial impurities and has been lab-tested – to see their most recent lab tests click here.
The CBD Pillow Review
CBD Pillow, RRP £119.99
There’s so much to write about this little squishy pocket of wonder that I’ve decided to split my review into various categories. Like I said above I’m a little bit sceptical as to how this pillow is going to perform from a scientific standpoint and so I think it’s important to discuss every element – from microencapsulation technology, materials used, price point, and lastly the overall performance in order to give you guys an honest picture.
Microencapsulation Technology
When applied topically (to the skin) CBD cannot pass the blood-brain barrier meaning it won’t be able to permeate further than the sebaceous glands. This is great for helping balance surface layer skin health but not much else. Thankfully transdermal CBD can pass through to the lower layers, beneath the epidermis, and eventually reach the bloodstream. When CBD is taken orally its effects can wear off after a few hours and so CBD Pillow wanted to create something that was capable of delivering a continual steady dose of transdermal CBD – and that’s where microencapsulation technology comes in.
Microcap CBD is essentially an oil in water suspension which encapsulates the CBD oil to enhance its performance…
Microencapsulated CBD is like the liposomal CBD of the oral CBD supplement world, allowing for a higher absorption rate transdermally. Microcap CBD is essentially an oil in water suspension which encapsulates the CBD oil to enhance its performance (CBD Pillow calls theirs a polymeric coating). The CBD extract is released on touch, and encapsulation also provides protection against oxidation and UV corruption of the CBD extract – this allows manufacturers to create products with extended shelf life and improved performance. Due to the reduced oxidation, the bioavailability of CBD through the skin is therefore increased.
There’s always a lot of antibacterial and anti-inflammatory benefits of topically using CBD and can even be used as an effective part of your anti-ageing skincare regime. But the CBD Pillow’s sole focus is on sleep. They have applied 170mg of microencapsulated CBD to the fabric pillowcase of the CBD Pillow and the friction of your hair and skin gently breaks the micro-capsules as you sleep, releasing the CBD. It’s been specifically designed for micro-dosing the CBD over an extended period of time so that you have a more well-rested sleep.
They also state that it is ‘formulated with specific ingredients that enhance transdermal penetration at the cellular level’. I’m not sure if this means they have used an absorption enhancer or not or if it’s more marketing jargon for microencapsulation. Anyway, if you want to learn more just click on the video below.
It’s important to note however that the amount of CBD you absorb transdermally will be much less than your original dose and so if you suffer from any health conditions you’d probably still be best to keep on dosing CBD oromucosally (under the tongue or inside the cheeks) in addition to the transdermal delivery of the CBD Pillow.
The Materials
The CBD Pillow features a durable and supportive gel memory foam core and a removable hypoallergenic certified shredded memory foam and plush microfibre fill. When at full capacity the pillow weighs 1.1kg and gives a medium-firm level of support but this can be customised by the user by removing as much fill as is required. The outer liner is fully machine washable and made from a cooling bamboo-derived breathable rayon which also acts as a built-in pillowcase. Both the inner and outer case have zips for easy access and closure.
No matter if you’re a side, stomach, or and back sleeper the CBD Pillow should be super comfortable due to its ultimate comfort formula fill and adjustable nature. You’ll also be pleased to know that the pillow has been Certified by CertiPUR-US® and GREENGUARD Gold meaning that chemical emissions are negligible and you’ll be free from nasty headaches and dizziness. To be honest I didn’t even realise this was a thing!
The Price
The first thing that hit me was the price tag of the pillow, but then I remembered there are companies out there charging roughly £100 for 8ml of transdermal CBD pillow spray, so the price didn’t seem that bad after all. There are decent adjustable memory foam pillows out there with a similar price tag that aren’t infused with CBD so that’s something to note as well. For the sheer comfort alone I would definitely fork out £120 for a pillow. I mean can you really put a price on sleep and comfort anyway?!
With the CBD-infused pillowcase claiming to last you between 3 to 6 months, you’d have to purchase the CBD Pillowcase 2 to 4 times a year and each time it would set you back £59.99 each pop – that’s anywhere from £10 to £20 a month depending upon how often you’d like to replace it. As far as monthly CBD costs go that’s pretty cheap. Of course, you’re probably thinking you could just grab the CBD Pillowcase instead and place it over your existing pillow but unfortunately only customers that have already bought the CBD PIllow itself are allowed to do this.
The Performance
When you unpack the CBD Pillow there are some fab instructions in the box – the pillow and the case are separate. All you have to do is adjust the fill if you wish, then pop the inner memory fill pillow into the dryer on a low heat for about 20 minutes – I used a wool cycle – and hey presto! A fluffy, squishy pillow of dreams. After this just simply cover with the CBD pillowcase and get snuggling.
I tried my first night with the pillow complete with all of its fill as I didn’t want to shoot a flat pillow and I was too tired to do anything about it at this point. But alas it was too high up and felt like my neck was being cranked into the most uncomfortable position. So, I opted for hugging the pillow because after all, it was still going to be touching the skin right? I did feel pretty relaxed but I couldn’t figure out if this was due to the sheer squishiness of the pillow or the CBD. Either way, I had a pretty great night of sleep and enjoyed hugging my new friend.
This time I was certain I had a first-class ticket to the land of nod, and boy was I right! This had to be the comfiest thing my head had ever met – I fell asleep like a baby and didn’t wake through the night once.
The following night I removed roughly half of the fill and found the pillow far more comfortable to lay on but I felt like I had to pop it back into the dryer to fluff it up because it felt a tad on the lumpy side but it was late and I was ridiculously tired so I opted for sleep. It took me a little while to fall asleep this time as the fill wasn’t quite as comfy as I’d have liked it to be and I’m a pretty difficult person to soothe to sleep as it is. Eventually, I nodded off and woke up in the morning feeling great. I did another night without removing any more fill or fluffing up the pillow in the dryer because I completely forgot to. The next morning I was shocked to wake up with literally the smoothest, shiniest hair ever. I couldn’t understand how or why but I certainly wasn’t complaining.
I was determined to find my optimal fill level for my pillow, so I removed a handful or so more, then popped it in the dryer on low again but this time only for about 5 minutes. This time I was certain I had a first-class ticket to the land of nod, and boy was I right! This had to be the comfiest thing my head had ever met – I fell asleep like a baby and didn’t wake through the night once. In fact, I’d only just started to realise that since I’d been using the CBD Pillow I was in fact no longer waking through the night like I usually do.
There was something so different about the way the CBD Pillow felt but I couldn’t ever suss out if it was the CBD or the fill that was doing the job. The pillow moulds to your face beautifully and kind of swaddles you. There is an element of instant relaxation that I’ve never experienced before from memory foam pillows. I used to have one and hated it because it was huge and clunky. It wasn’t as soft as the CBD Pillow and just felt awkward.
Was the CBD doing its job? The fill certainly was but I’m still undecided.
The Verdict
The idea behind using CBD in the first place is to maintain homeostasis (balance) by supporting our bodies natural endocannabinoid system (ECS). If your ECS isn’t out of kilter you theoretically shouldn’t feel any effects. However, with our modern-day lifestyles, I personally don’t think that any one of us will have a healthy ECS and supplementation in some form could be beneficial. But if you don’t suffer from any chronic health conditions, including mental health conditions, then the microdose the CBD Pillow supplies would in theory be acceptable for the majority.
Having said that there, isn’t much in the way of reliable scientific evidence to know exactly how much CBD our bodies absorb transdermally. To put things into perspective when you take say a 10mg dose of CBD oil orally – like in your coffee or an edible – your body will only absorb roughly 20% of this – about 2mg. This is due to the way your liver metabolises CBD. The methods with the highest absorption rate are vaping followed by oromucosal.
If we pretend that your CBD Pillow lasts 90 days you’d be, in theory, receiving a 1.89mg dose a night. Now, let’s say hypothetically your body only absorbs 20% of that – you’d be getting 0.38mg. But the problem doesn’t stop there – how do you know how much CBD you’re even receiving due to the way the CBD is released via pressure/friction? How much is absorbed through your skin and into your hair follicles? Some of us are light sleepers that toss and turn and others are literally dead to the world and wake up in the same position they fell asleep. With the pressure activated negligible doses supplied by the CBD Pillow in the first place, I’m not personally convinced that it’s worth it for the CBD alone.
Another thing that worried me was washing the pillowcase. I mean if the CBD is released via pressure and you’re advised to wash the case no more than twice a month then what’s happening to all of that CBD. Is it whizzing about in your washing machine? I would personally not want to wash it at all, and haven’t as of yet, which I realise is super gross. But genuinely there’s no way CBD isn’t going to be lost in the wash.
I absolutely loved the CBD Pillow for what it is – an amazingly comforting memory foam pillow but I just can’t get past the inaccuracy of the dosing. The concept to me is innovative and truly amazing so I really don’t want to take that hard work away from the company but we need to know how much CBD we can expect to get and I think the total in the pillow is too low, even for a micro-doser like myself. In light of this, it’s obvious that the industry needs accurate data from scientific studies on transdermal absorption rates in humans (which is severely lacking) and more studies on innovative absorption enhancers such as deoxycholic acid (DCA) are needed too.
In my honest opinion, there was so much more I wanted but The CBD Pillow is comfy AF and really did improve my sleep. Is this due to its innovative CBD transdermal delivery system? I highly doubt it, and I think a transdermal patch does a better job of giving you a steadily released dose, but having the option to adjust the fill of the pillow was a game-changer for me. The memory foam gel core really does help to keep you cool all night long and stopped me from waking and flipping my pillow over.
One thing that’s worth noting is that the CBD Pillow did help my skin to be less dehydrated when I woke up. Dry skin is something I suffer from in the winter and early spring due to being out in the cold and wind all of the time with the dogs. My hair also seemed a lot softer and shinier too. So, if anything I feel like the CBD Pillow could be marketed as a pretty good CBD beauty product!
Is the CBD Pillow worth it? Well, I’ll you guys be the judge of that, personally, I think I’ll be sticking to transdermal patches for my nightly dose of CBD but the pillow itself is staying for life. I guess overall more scientific research is required and ultimately it really depends on what you’re looking for in a pillow and what your CBD needs are.
For more of my CBD reviews click here. Oh, and if you want to keep up to date with my deliciousness then sign up for my newsletter and I’ll love you forever – who am I kidding? I already do!
DISCLAIMER: Please note that I am not a qualified health care professional or nutritionist, I only write about my experiences and sometimes include information from scientific studies. CBD products are food supplements, not medicine. They cannot diagnose, treat, or cure diseases. Please consult your GP before taking CBD if you are pregnant, lactating, or taking any medication. Please note that CBD is not intended for children under 18 years old.
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