Pillow talk: we test out the adjustable Cloudpillo

Finding the perfect pillow is a bit like finding the perfect pair of jeans: baffling, time consuming, and something a lot of people (including me) are liable to put off for as long as possible. There are so many considerations to bear in mind – do you want natural fillings or synthetic, does the material need to be hypoallergenic, are you a side, back or front sleeper, and how firm do you want the pillow to be in any of those positions? The folks at Cloudpillo (a pair of young Dutch entrepreneurs) have had a bright idea to get round some of these difficulties – make a pillow that is adjustable to different people's preferences, and then let them sort it out for themselves.

The unique selling point of the Cloudpillo is that you can remove as much of the filling as you want to get the firmness (or softness) to the point that works for you. When you buy one, it is packed with shredded memory foam, which you can then remove in handfuls to make it softer if you so desire. It's an interesting theory, but how does it work in practice?

The Cloudpillo comes tightly rolled in a small (but surprisingly heavy) box. Once freed from its plastic covering (be careful that you don't rip the pillow while cutting it loose), it expands into its plumper form. The instructions say it could take up to 48 hours to fully get up to normal, so I left it to relax for a bit before getting down to experimenting. Like many memory foam products, it comes with a bit of a plasticky smell, and that does stick around for a while (it's still going three days later), so be prepared.

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The Cloudpillo has two covers – a quilted washable outer cover (made from cooling polyethylene and recycled polyester) and the inner cover for the memory foam itself. Both unzip easily at the same end, allowing you to get at the memory foam inside. In theory you should sleep without an extra pillowcase, in order to get the full benefits of the cooling outer cover, but I like a coherent looking bed so this wasn't particularly appealing. I decided to try it for one night with all the filling intact, but as soon as I laid my head down I realised it was a no-go. This is a seriously firm pillow in its original form, and as someone who is used to a squashy down pillow, I just couldn't hack it.

Clearly I had to start experimenting with removing the filling, but I will admit to a bit of a mental block here. There's something about the idea of faffing about trying to get the perfect pillow firmness that just put me off, and it was a while before I summoned the will to sit down with the Cloudpillo and spend some time figuring it out. There is a guide to how much you should remove depending on the position you like to sleep in, but this isn't an exact science so you'll probably, like me, end up with a process of trial and error. Unzipping the pillow, I removed maybe an eighth of the filling into an old shoe bag. One important note – be careful how you do this, or you'll end up finding bits of blue memory foam in your carpets days later. I then tried lying down on the pillow – and voila, it was much more comfortable. Sleeping on it that night, though, I felt it was still a little on the firm side, and tried removing another few handfuls the next day, and finally I think I found the perfect softness. The supportiveness of the memory foam, even at the softer level, was really welcome and although the persistent neck pain I suffer from hasn't gone away, it's possible it's eased up a little since sleeping on the Cloudpillo.

Cloudpillo recommend that you keep the excess filling in the box the pillow came in, which I don't think is the ideal solution as the box is not a particularly convenient size for storing, so you might be better off with a ziplock bag or a shoe bag to keep it in. Quite why you'd want to keep it, unless you're planning on refilling the pillow for someone who wants a firmer sleeping surface, I'm not sure. It's not easy to recycle memory foam, so I suspect the company just wants to discourage people from throwing away the material.

Is the Cloudpillo worth buying?

Overall I'd say yes – if you like a firm, supportive pillow and you're prepared to put in the effort to try and get the pillow to the perfect firmness for you, it will reward you. Just be prepared that this is a pillow that demands a bit more effort from you than your normal bedding.

Fact File

Delivery

The delivery was free, fast and easy, in a conveniently sized box. Cloudpillo also offers a 100-night trial, so it's easy (and free) to return the pillow if it doesn't suit you.