Is Emma's Original Hybrid Pillow the most adaptable pillow on the market? I put it to the test to find out

My Emma Original Hybrid Pillow review puts the brand's 2-in-1 hybrid pillow through its paces to find out how it compares to the best pillows the Ideal Home team has tested.

In a nutshell

The Emma Original Hybrid Pillow attempts to do a lot. The brand says it's suitable for side, back, and front sleepers – something not many pillows attempt as each sleeping position requires a different height pillow. Emma also says the pillow offers both a firm and soft sleep surface.

Having tested the pillow in all three sleeping positions and flipped it over to experience the firmer and softer feel, I agree that its adjustable filling makes it very versatile.

However, I don't think it's the best pillow in any one of these categories. I've tested better pillows for side sleepers and better pillows for back sleepers, as well as firmer and softer options. So, although this pillow offers a lot, it perhaps tries to do a bit too much at once.

Emma Original Hybrid Pillow review

Specifications

• Best for: side, back, and front sleepers
• RRP: £55
• Support: medium-firm
• Height: medium
• Materials: outer: polyester and microfibre, inner: visco memory foam
• Dimensions: L70 x W50cm
• Washable: the removable cover is machine-washable at 40°c, the memory foam core can't be washed
• Manufacturer sleep trial: 30 nights

Comfort

When I first laid my head on the Emma Original Hybrid Pillow I thought I might have found my ideal pillow for side sleeping.

The Original Hybrid is an adjustable pillow that features a layer of removable memory foam sandwiched in between a cover that has a layer of microfibre on each side. With the memory foam inserted, this pillow was just the right height to fit neatly in between my shoulder and head when I was laid on my side.

This is subjective of course, because the trickiest part about how to choose a pillow is that we're all built differently. For reference, the distance from my neck to the edge of my shoulder is around 17cm, and I tested this pillow on a medium-firm mattress that my shoulder sinks into a little.

The two sides of the pillowcase both have different amounts of microfibre inside, making one feel more cushioned than the other, although this remains a medium-firm feeling pillow thanks to that memory foam core.

After testing both, I decided I preferred the softer side so got to work getting comfortable, and at this point I noticed four things.

One, I didn't really like the feel of the pillowcase. It's 100% polyester and has a strange suede-like texture. Obviously, this can be solved by popping the pillow into a pillowcase, but the pillow was a very tight fit to squeeze into any of my pillowcases and that suede texture made it really difficult to slide the pillow into a case against the friction it created.

Two, I soon realised I could still smell strong chemical off-gassing from the memory foam core, even though I'd aired the pillow outside after unboxing it the day before.

Three, that microfibre padding soon bunched up and became quite lumpy under my head, making the pillow surface uneven. Because the padded pillow case is also quite loose, I had to keep pushing the cushioning down so it didn't bulge up around my face.

And four, as well as making my head feel very hot, after 10 minutes or so with my head resting on this pillow my body heat had caused the memory foam core to compress.

This is a feature of memory foam and could have worked well in that it might have cradled my head, but what happened in reality was that the pillow edge next to my neck compressed and the top of the pillow did not, which meant I soon didn't have enough pillow height for comfortable side sleeping.

I switched to my back instead, and found the pillow a decent height for back sleeping, although I did find it quite firm. And again, the memory foam soon caused issues as it moulded around my head, but didn't bounce back very quickly if I shifted position slightly. That meant there was a dip where my head had just been and the pillow felt lumpy in my new posture.

You can also take that memory foam core out and use just the padded pillow case as a very low loft pillow if you're a front sleeper. It was then the right height for me to sleep on my stomach, but I still found the microfibre filling bunched up and felt lumpy.

All in all, this pillow was OK comfort-wise. Its adaptability meant it did a decent job of allowing me to alter it to sleep on my side, back, or front. It just wasn't the most comfortable pillow I've slept on in any of those positions.

Temperature regulation

As mentioned, I also found this pillow hot to sleep on. Emma says that this pillow is breathable, but I didn't notice much breathability in its design.

I only needed to rest my head on the pillow for ten minutes and it soon felt very warm to the touch, and made me want to flip the pillow over in search of a cooler side.

Memory foam mattresses are notorious for reflecting body heat back toward the sleeper unless they have cooling technolgies added, and I definitely found that to be the case with this memory foam pillow.

Granted I'm a hot sleeper, but my bedroom was only 17°C during my tests, so had I been testing this pillow during the summer, I think I would have woken up with a very hot and sweaty head by the morning.

Ease of care

Although you can't wash the memory foam core, you can unzip the pillowcase, remove the memory foam insert, and wash the outer case of this pillow.

As for how to wash a pillow, in the case of the Emma Original Hybrid, the care label says it can be machine-washed at 40°C and tumble-dried on low.

I only tested washing it once, and it came out of the machine fine and dried quickly. But I did find it made the microfibre filling bunch up more and required a lot of shaking and reshuffling of the fibres to try and make the pillow surface even again.

Sleep trial

If you buy direct from Emma, then the Emma Original Hybrid Pillow comes with a 30-night sleep trial. This is useful as pillows are very subjective, and it can be hard to guess whether an option is right for you without actually sleeping on it.

A sleep trial allows you a set number of nights to test out sleeping on the pillow in your own home. Terms and conditions apply, but Emma says it will collect the pillow and refund your money if you decide the pillow doesn't suit your needs within this time.

The only thing the brand doesn't make clear on its website is what happens to products returned during a sleep trial. Most bedding retailers recycle or donate returned products to charity, but Emma is less clear on what happens to end-of-life products.

Value for money

As of writing, the Emma Original Hybrid Pillow costs £55. I'd say that's a mid-range price point for a pillow, and considering its versatility, it's not a bad price.

However, although this adjustable pillow is very adaptable, I didn't find it the best at any one of its claims. If you're looking for the best pillow for a side sleeper, I found the Panda Memory Foam Pillow performed much better, and it's cheaper at £44.95.

Similarly, if you're looking for the best pillow for back sleeping I much prefer either the medium-firm Panda Hybrid Bamboo Pillow or the soft and plump The White Company Luxury Hungarian Goose Down Pillow. As for front sleeping, I still don't think microfibre can beat the malleability of a low loft feather and down pillow, like the Dorma Hungarian Goose Down Soft Support Pillow.

However, if I've learned anything about pillows in my four years as Ideal Home's Sleep Editor, it's that they're like marmite. One person's 'not-right' can be another's 'best-thing-I-ever-slept-on', so, Emma's 30-night sleep trial is a great way to test out whether this adaptable pillow is a good fit for you.