Dangerous, Dirty, and Unfun

The Infinity Pillow

As part of my never-ending quest to help you, my precious readers, find the products that are right for you, and particularly the best memory foam pillows, I’m very excited to present the first ever Dangerous, Dirty, and Unfun product review! The lucky item is the nifty-looking guy you see on the left, the Sleepjoy Infinity Pillow.

First, the specs. It’s a 24 inch by 18 inch pillow, made of plant-based materials. Those holes you see are top to bottom air channels which, combined with the Infinity’s ViscoFresh foam, are supposed to increase air circulation and keep the pillow cool. The primary feature of the pillow is the shape. That notch you see at the bottom is the neck cradle, designed to keep your neck and head in the proper position as you sleep, while the contour in the middle of the pillow is supposed to support your head and encourage spinal alignment.

A closer look at the Infinity's shape

The Sleepjoy folks gave me a complimentary Infinity pillow, which I’ve been sleeping on for about a month. If you clicked through above and checked out the product details, you might have seen the Infinity billed as “ideal for back sleepers.” This made reviewing the pillow a little tough, considering your favorite blogger is a belly sleeper. I did my best to fall asleep on my back and experience the pillow how it was meant to be experienced, but it didn’t often work. Fortunately, it still functions as a pillow, even if you sleep on your stomach; I just don’t have anything to say about how the neck cradle keeps one’s spine in line.

It’s also a pretty firm pillow; the website describes it as “medium firm.” I don’t have a firmness preference, so I wind up cycling through several pillows throughout the night, including another memory foam pillow I have which has much more give than the Infinity. No value judgment here; just letting you know that sometimes I started the night on the Infinity and ended it on another pillow, or vice versa.

When I first started reading the literature on the Infinity, I was definitely intrigued by the cooling air holes. Pillow coolness has been a problem that’s plagued mankind since pillows were invented. The other side of the pillow has always been a hallmark of coolness. Does the Sleepjoy Infinity serve to wrest some of the spotlight for the functioning side of the pillow?

At first, not so much. I was totally vexed by how warm the Infinity was. It wasn’t necessarily any hotter than any of my other pillows, but given that one of its primary virtues was a cooling system, I was disappointed. What I discovered, though, is that the Infinity comes from the factory with two pillowcases. The top one is a cotton/polyester velour cover; it’s not incredibly thick, but it does have a fuzziness to it that seems to retain heat. The inner cover is just a really thin cotton skin. Once I took the top cover off, those air holes really shined, which makes sense, since even the most potent cooling system would have a tough time breaking through two layers of pillowcase. I’m not saying there was a cool breeze blowing through my pillow all night, but the Infinity stayed noticeably cooler than my other pillows throughout the night. Of course, if you want things to match, you can certainly swap in whatever pillowcase you like.

Most of the use I’ve gotten from the Infinity has come while I’ve been awake, though. I’ve found it to be particularly effective when I’m reading in bed. Where I used to have to prop three or four pillows on top of one another and hope that I found a satisfactory position, now I just pop my neck into the Infinity’s cradle, and I’m in a very comfortable spot for reading, every time.

Now, I can’t tell you what the best memory foam pillow for you is. If you always sleep on your stomach, you might be better served by a regular-shaped pillow (which, as I’m probably obligated to tell you, Sleepjoy also makes). Not that you can’t sleep on your stomach with the Infinity, but the things that are supposed to make it a great pillow are things that cater to back sleepers. If you ARE a back sleeper, though, I think it’s worth it to check out the Infinity. It’s very comfy, it’s made of plant-based materials, and it actually stays pretty cool!