Throughout my career as a sleep writer, one pillow — the Purple Harmony — has always stood out among the dozens I’ve tested. I’ve written about it extensively at the Strategist, naming it our best pillow for back sleepers and the best latex pillow and including it in our guide to the best cooling pillows. I’ve also recommended it to every friend or family member who asks, convincing many of them to buy one of their own.
For the past two years, I’ve slept on this pillow nearly every single night; the only exceptions are when I’m testing another pillow for work or out of town — and even then, I sometimes bring it with me. My partner, Sam, sleeps on one too and regularly says it’s the best pillow he’s ever tried. It even has a bit of a cult following: It’s praised on Reddit and in online reviews, and multiple sleep experts have recommended it to me.
The Purple Harmony’s only real drawback is that it costs about $200 for a standard-size pillow, which many people aren’t willing or able to pay; that’s the reason I’ll likely never give it the very top spot in my guide to the best pillows. But if you’ve got the means to drop some coin, here’s why Purple Harmony is my personal top pick.
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It’s uniquely springy, squishy, and supportive
The Purple Harmony pillow comes from the makers of the Purple mattress, known for its flexible — and purple, hence the brand name — polymer comfort layer. It’s a squishy, 3-D grid that the company has christened the GelFlex grid; the Purple Harmony pillow has a version of this grid in the form of a thinner, honeycomb-patterned outer layer over a Talalay latex core. The combination of latex and the GelFlex grid is part of what makes the Harmony different from other latex pillows.
As a material, latex is supportive, like memory foam, but more springy and flexible. Latex pillows are my personal favorite pillow type for their combination of cushion and support. To that end, lots of pillows made of Talalay latex, like Naturepedic’s or Earthfoam’s, will have a similar feel to the Purple Harmony. But the Harmony’s GelFlex grid adds another dimension of flexibility, airiness, and pressure relief. I love how it adds just enough oomph to cradle my head and neck even better than latex alone.
That cradled feel is essential to what makes the Harmony so comfortable. Unlike almost any other pillow I’ve tried, it provides the perfect amount of structure to keep my head supported and my neck aligned without being so sturdy that it’s overly firm, stiff, or bulky. The Talalay latex core is pliant and flexible — I can easily fold the pillow in half, but it bounces right back into shape when I let go. It also never goes flat, like a down or down-alternative pillow might. When I lie on it, my head and neck feel like they are effortlessly floating, and I can easily rotate from my back to my side and feel well supported in both positions.
It naturally stays pretty cool
Even though it isn’t billed as a cooling pillow, the Purple Harmony still stays fairly cool. I think this is thanks to the latex and the GelFlex layer working together. Latex typically retains less heat than other types of foam, but the Harmony’s latex is also perforated for airflow. On top of that, the slightly raised honeycomb layer helps allow for more airflow between your head and the pillow’s core. I wouldn’t say cooling is the Harmony’s biggest selling point (and in general, I’d recommend tempering your expectations of what any one cooling pillow can do), but it is still noticeably cooler than other latex pillows I’ve tried.
It comes in three lofts to suit different sleepers
If you’re considering buying a Purple Harmony (and please accept my apologies to your wallet if you are), you should definitely take a close look at the pillow’s specs before you purchase. In addition to standard and king sizes, the pillow comes in three different lofts — pillowspeak for the height of a pillow — and they are labeled as low, medium, and high. However, I do think the brand’s measurements run on the lofty side. As a back and side sleeper, I sleep on the “low” version of the pillow, which, at 5.5 inches tall, I’d consider to be more of a medium-loft pillow. While the latex is soft enough to compress a bit under your head and neck, it won’t sink as much as a poofy down pillow might, so be sure you don’t buy an overly lofty pillow by accident. Your sleeping position and body size can help you decide on a size (if you have a larger frame, you may want a taller pillow), but loosely, I’d recommend most back sleepers and stomach sleepers choose the low version and side sleepers choose between the medium and high.
All that being said, do you need to spend $200 on this pillow? Probably not — we’ve reviewed dozens of other pillows that are cheaper and also excellent. Nevertheless, the Purple Harmony remains my go-to out of all the pillows I’ve tested thanks to its soft-but-supportive, bouncy feel and light cooling effects. I think it’s so worth the money that, when my pillow eventually needs replacing (which I think will take a while, since it’s still going strong two years in), I’ll probably shell out for another one.
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