Chillow, the pillow that keeps your head cool
By Phillip Torrone 
posted June 23rd 2004 11:00AM
posted June 23rd 2004 11:00AM
Ya know, it's been kinda hot around here lately- and there's nothing worse than being hot at
sleepy time. But, there's a new pillow on the scene, the Chillow.
The Chillow requires no electricity and offers a noiseless, low cost cooling alternative that while dry itself, will not dry out the air around you or become too cold like traditional cooling methods. The Chillow is only activated one time for long term use. It is a non-toxic, non-gel product that is glove-leather soft and is manufactured to medical grade standards. It fits standard pillows and while it needs no refrigeration it can be refrigerated for an extremely cold sensation.
We're going to try one out and let you know how it works.
I got one of these about a year ago. It's actually not as fancy as they make it sound. It's a "plastic envelope" that has a kind of sponge material inside. You pour water in it which is sucked into the sponge. That basically keeps the water spread out instead of just flowing down to the bottom like would happen if you were jus usting a ziplock bag.
Basically the water absorbs the temperature around it, so when you first lay down it is at room temperature which feels very cool compared to your body temperature. I loved the heck out of it, but some nights by the morning the water had soaked up so much of my body heat that it was as warm as I was.
It did spring a leak or two, and that is the only real reason I stopped using it. Now that it's summer, maybe I'll bust out some duct tape and see if I can fix it ;)
My fiance got me one for Christmas as a way to try and ween me off a fan on the nightstand The thing does work I will give it that. I never had any problems with leaks, but every night after about 3 -4 hours of sleeping, I would wake up very hot and very grouchy. The chillow seems to absorb heat like a mo fo and get very sloshy. Happened every night until I would just turn over the pillow without thinking about it.
Refridgerating it works well. I gave it a try one night, but it was too dang cold and gave me a massive headache.
Back to the fan.
unfortunately, i can't try this out for myself...
I went to their site and tried to buy one, but they're only available for "hot headed americans" (not for sale any more outside the States!)
Thank God for air-conditioning!
;-)
After 5 days of use mine 1) Sprung a couple leaks and 2) Gave me a backache.
Tha backache was odd, lots of pain in the upper back that the ole internet search said was caused by poor posture. My guess is that the chillow made my soft pillow quite hard and changed my sleeping posture. This resulted in some pretty serious pain.
Been off it 2 weeks or so and I'm OK now.
Worked great, no sweaty neckband post sleep, except for the back pain.....
I used one for a couple of months, then got sick noticing the pillow equivalent of rubber sheets instead of a soft down pillow. Mine sprung a leak from being folded in half in my closet for 6 months. I immediately threw it away--I'll stick with my fan.
I saw the Chillo on TV months ago and I have been looking for one ever since. It's one of those things I've been meaning to google, but haven't. Now thanks to engadget my head will be cool.
I've gone through 3 so far, usually last only 6 months for me. The welded plastic seam is too slim, maybe a 1/16 of an inch, if it was a 1/4 inch it would last much longer. Shop around you can find them below $20 including shipping. I use a firm foam pillow which works great, I suspect on a soft fiber or down pillow it would fold around your ears. As the title says, I'm addicted and I fall asleep much quicker.
I've gone through 4 of them. All from leaks, I really like the product, but it's made too cheap. Sure hope the company makes some kind of improvement
Works great, really helps with hot flashes, etc. The only problem is that after about 6 months, all the foam settled in a diagonal blob down the center from corner to corner. Not too comfortable. Don't know if I will buy another one or not.
Still getting used to it. Slept like a baby for the first night, the second night felt like the Chillow sucked in all of the heat, but then again, I didn't have it exposed to any air. We'll see how she runs now that it's really hot out tonight.
I've been using mine for 3 or 4 years now. I have rosacea on my face. (Red Itchy Rash on face that never goes away) It really helped keep my face cooler and the rash at bay. I'm on my 3rd one that just sprung a leak 2 nights ago.....hence the google search for Chillow! I will be buying 2 or 3 more just so I NEVER have to go without!