Neck Pillows

A neck pillow is two different products

"Neck pillow" gets used for two products that have almost nothing in common except the word "neck".

• Bed neck pillows. Shaped pillows you lie down on. A raised roll sits under your neck while your head rests in a lower area. Cervical, contour and neck-roll designs.
• Travel neck pillows. Pillows you wear around your neck while sitting up in a plane, train or passenger seat. U-shapes, wraps, hooks and inflatables.

The table on this page lists both, and every row says which kind it is. So the first decision is simple. Will you be lying down or sitting up?

If you're lying down, skip ahead to the bed pillow section. If you're sitting up, the travel section is yours.

Bed neck pillows hold one height all night

A bed neck pillow is built so your neck doesn't hang in the air while your head is on the pillow. The common designs:

• Cervical. A center cradle for the head and a raised edge for the neck, often with two edges at different heights. See cervical pillows.
• Contour. A smooth wave across the top, usually molded memory foam. See contour pillows.
• Neck roll. A firm cylinder you put under your neck or in front of your regular pillow. See neck roll pillows.
• Butterfly. A center dip with raised wings at the ends. See butterfly pillows.

They suit back and side sleepers who want the same height from bedtime to morning. They're a poor fit for stomach sleepers, because a raised roll tilts the head back when you're face down.

The choice that matters is the roll height. Back sleepers usually want a lower roll; side sleepers usually want a higher one, more so with broad shoulders. Many bed neck pillows are sold in body sizes, small to large, and the bigger sizes mean a taller roll. All of these sit in the wider ergonomic pillows family.

Travel neck pillows keep your head from dropping

A travel neck pillow has one job: when you fall asleep sitting up, your head shouldn't drop forward or to the side. The shapes go about it differently.

U-shape: the classic

The horseshoe you see in every airport. The open end goes at the front, the thick part behind your neck, and the sides catch your head when it tips. Simple and familiar. The front is the weak spot: if your chin drops forward, a U-shape doesn't do much about it.

Wrap or 360: support all the way round

A wrap goes fully around the neck, sometimes with a raised front or an internal brace. It's for people whose head falls forward. It can feel warmer and closer than a U-shape.

J or hook: one side, one support

An asymmetric shape with extra support under the chin on one side. Good if you always lean the same way, toward the window, for example. Less useful if you switch sides.

Inflatable: tiny when packed

A plastic or fabric bladder you blow up. It packs down very small and you choose the firmness by how much air you add. It can feel less padded than foam, and the valve is the part to check.

Rectangular or camping: a small pillow, not a collar

A small flat or contoured pillow for a car seat, a camp pad or a hotel bed. Not worn around the neck at all, but sold under the same name.

How to read the table

Every field shows only what the maker or listing states. A blank means nobody said, not that the answer is no.

Pillow type says bed or travel

The first thing to read. Bed rows show a shape such as cervical, contour or neck roll. Travel rows show a travel type: U-shape, wrap, hook, inflatable or rectangular.

Fill: foam, fiber, beads or air

Memory foam, shredded foam, fiber, microbeads or air. A memory foam neck pillow holds a steady shape and usually feels firmer. Fiber is softer and squashes more. Microbeads move around and fill gaps. Air is the lightest. More on foam is on the memory foam pillows page.

Loft and dimensions

For bed rows, loft is the height of the neck roll in inches. For travel rows, the dimensions tell you how thick the padding is and roughly how big the opening is. Travel pillows are usually one size, sometimes called "universal". That word carries no measurement, so look for the numbers.

Weight and packability

Travel rows can show weight in ounces and whether the pillow comes with a carry bag, compresses or clips to luggage. Shopping pages sometimes list the weight with the case and packaging included, so the maker's figure comes first in our table. If you carry on only, weight and packed size matter more than anything else on the listing.

Firmness and care

Firmness is the maker's word, with no shared scale behind it. The care field shows what's washable. Often it's the cover only.

Certifications and health wording

CertiPUR-US covers flexible polyurethane foam: accredited labs test foam samples for certain chemicals, heavy metals and emissions. The table shows it only when the maker names it. When a listing uses health words, the table quotes them as the maker's own wording. A neck pillow is a shape, not a treatment, and we don't rank by claimed relief.

Picking a travel neck pillow by trip

My one opinion here: buy a travel pillow for the way your head falls, not for the color of the cover. Here's how that plays out.

• Head drops forward. A wrap or 360 style with front support.
• Head tips to one side. A U-shape with thick sides, or a hook on your leaning side.
• Carry-on only. An inflatable, or foam with a stated compression bag.
• Long drives as a passenger. A U-shape or wrap, and a pillow that won't slide down the seat belt.
• Camping or a hotel with flat pillows. A small rectangular pillow does more than any collar.

For lists picked for trips, see best travel pillows, and for foam versus air, memory foam travel pillows and inflatable travel pillows. The wider travel pillows page covers the whole group.

Using a neck pillow without fighting it

For a bed neck pillow, the neck roll faces the foot of the bed, under your neck, and the maker's instructions decide which roll to start on. Give it about a week before you decide the height is wrong. The how to use a cervical pillow guide walks through it.

For a travel pillow, sit back fully in the seat first, then put the pillow on. If you put it on and then slide down, the pillow ends up around your ears. Snug is better than loose. A pillow that spins around your neck every time you nod off is just a scarf with ambitions.

A neck pillow on the couch or in the reading chair

There's a third place neck pillows end up: the living room. A firm neck roll tucked behind the neck in a recliner, or a U-shape worn while reading on the couch, does the same thing a travel pillow does on a plane. It keeps your head from tipping when you doze off over a book.

If that's the main use, look at the shapes made for it. Reading pillows have arms and a high back for sitting up in bed. Lumbar support pillows sit behind the lower back in a chair. A neck roll does both jobs reasonably well and takes up the least room. (Dev keeps one on his desk chair for long calls. He says it's for posture. It's for napping on mute.)

Bed neck pillows and pillowcases don't always get along

Bed neck pillows are often smaller than a regular bed pillow and come with their own fitted zip cover. That's on purpose. A loose pillowcase slides around a shaped pillow, the fabric fills the dip, and the roll you chose stops being a roll.

Check the stated dimensions before you buy, and check whether the maker sells spare covers. One on the pillow, one in the wash, and nobody ends up sleeping on a bare foam core on laundry day.

Care: covers wash, cores mostly don't

Read the care tag first. Bed neck pillows in molded foam usually have a washable cover over a spot-clean core. Travel pillows vary. Foam ones often have a removable cover; inflatables wipe clean; some fiber ones go in the washer whole.

Travel pillows rest on airline seats, train windows and the back of rental cars. Housekeeping rule: wash the cover after every trip, not every season. The how to wash pillows guide has the details.

Neck pain and neck pillows

Some people shop for a neck pillow because their neck hurts after a night or a flight. A pillow can be the right or wrong height for how you sleep or sit, and the right height is more comfortable. That's the extent of it. A neck pillow isn't a treatment, and nothing on this page promises relief. If neck pain keeps up, see your doctor; the how to sleep with neck pain guide has general information.

Who should skip a neck pillow

You probably don't need one if:

• You sleep on your stomach in bed
• You never sleep on planes, trains or long drives
• You're the driver (the pillow belongs to the passenger)
• Your current bed pillow is comfortable and just needs replacing

For a straight swap, go back to the pillows section and pick by sleep position and fill. For general position notes, read best sleeping positions. And if you're shopping for someone who travels, the travel gifts page puts pillows next to the rest of the carry-on.