How much hull you need

A buckwheat pillow is only as good as its fill level, and the right level depends on how you lie, how broad you are and how your mattress gives. Six questions, and you get a fill band, the reasons behind it, and the page that explains it.

The reasoning

Six questions set a fill band. Each answer moves the band in a way written out below, so you can check the reasoning rather than trust it.

The band is where to start with a pillow you can open. Hulls come out and go back in, so the right fill is the one you arrive at after two or three nights of adjusting.

Your answers stay in this browser. The site keeps your band so it can point you at the right pages, and one click clears it.

Each question and what it changes

1. How do you lie for most of the night?

On my side. On your side the pillow has to fill the gap between shoulder and ear, so height is the whole question.
On my back. On your back the pillow supports the curve of the neck, which asks for less height than any side position.
Face down. Face down, every inch of height tips your head back, so the useful pillow is a low one.
I move between positions. Moving between positions means a fixed height is right for only part of the night, so you want a fill you can reshape.

2. How broad are your shoulders? (only asked when you answer on my side or i move between positions)

Broad. Broad shoulders widen the gap the pillow has to fill, which pushes you toward a fuller pillow.
About average. Average shoulders put you in the middle band, where the mattress decides which way to lean.
Narrow. Narrow shoulders leave a smaller gap, so an over-full pillow will tilt your head up.

3. How far does your mattress let your shoulder sink?

A lot, it is soft. A soft mattress lets your body sink, which shrinks the gap and means less hull than the same shoulders need on a firm bed.
Some, it is medium. A medium mattress leaves the gap roughly as your frame makes it.
Barely, it is firm. A firm mattress holds you up, so the full width of the gap stays for the pillow to fill.

4. Hulls shift with a soft crunch whenever you move your head. How do you feel about a sound right under your ear?

It would not bother me. Hull sound will not decide anything for you.
I would probably get used to it. Most sleepers stop hearing the sound within a few nights, and polished hulls are quieter still.
I am not sure. Not being sure is the case where polished hulls, which slide more quietly, are worth reading about first.
I cannot sleep with any noise. If any sound under your ear keeps you awake, that is the thing to settle before anything else.

5. A full standard buckwheat pillow weighs around ten pounds. How do you handle a heavy pillow at night?

Fine, I leave it where it is. Weight will not decide anything for you.
I push it into shape during the night. Reshaping at night is exactly what hulls are good at, and a slightly lower fill makes it easier.
I would rather it were light. Wanting a light pillow is a reason to run a lower fill, or to look at hull with a wool layer.

6. What do you want your head to rest on?

Something firm that holds the shape I push it into. Firm and mouldable is what a pure hull pillow does and no other fill does.
Firm underneath, but softer on the surface. Softer on top with support underneath is the case for hull with a layer of wool.

How much hull you need

The reasoning

Each question and what it changes

The six fill bands

A full hull fill, for broad side sleepers on a firmer mattress

A middle fill, for average side sleepers and people who switch positions

A lower fill for back sleepers

The lowest fill, for sleeping face down

Hull with a wool layer, for support without the hardness

Hull sound may never stop bothering you