Forget expensive bedding. Buy this pillow instead

Tech companies love to sell us expensive gadgets to solve life’s little problems. Sleepbuds sold by the likes of Anker and Ozlo it is a good example. These little marvels of engineering sit in the ears, allowing side sleepers to listen to podcasts, audiobooks, music, or white noise without annoying their friends. But why pay $200 for a second pair of super special blades when you can use a fraction of the cost of something that doesn’t need to be charged, doesn’t lose Bluetooth connectivity, and won’t need to be replaced after a few years of battery life?

Ear piercing, as the name suggests, promises pain relief for anyone with a newly pierced ear. They have cutouts that stop the ear while sleeping, to avoid putting pressure on the sensitive muscles. I’m here to tell you that they also work well with AirPods, Galaxy Buds, Pixel Buds, and any other modern earbuds you may already own.

There are many piercing pillows that you can choose from in different colors, sizes, and firmness. I bought it $55 Ear Pillow from Blissbury for a number of reasons, mainly because it has two ears cut out for flexibility.

I sleep on two sides. One I like to call the dominance hug, where my lower arm is stretched out under one side of the pillow while my upper arm favors the other side. The second is simply the unsprung fetal position. The Blissbury perforated pillow accommodates both areas well.

I also like that the cutouts fall below the midline which allows the holes to fit naturally around my ears when the pillow is resting on my shoulder. This makes the ears easier to find when they toss and turn at night.

The memory foam used in the Ear Pillow also matches my preference for a thick, firm pillow – although I wish it was as firm as $59.99 Ikea Club spur pillow instead. The thickness of the Blissbury can be adjusted between 4 and 5 inches using a removable insert. The outer cover of the Ear Pillow can be removed and washed as needed.

The Ear Pillow is 26 inches (66cm) long and 15 inches (38cm) wide, making it smaller than a US Standard pillow. This means that the regular pillowcase will shake a little, which is good because the extra fabric can be placed in the ears. I use mine with a pillowcase that matches my bedding because I was told that’s what adults do. Blissbury sends a pillow with foam filling for the holes if the Ear Pillow can be converted into a guest pillow.

I’ve been a devotee of Anker’s A30 sleepbuds for about a year. After a rough start, several firmware updates fixed many of the initial problems. But no amount of software can overcome the limitations of devices that require drivers and batteries that are smaller than headphones. After spending a week with the Blissbury pillow, I now feel like a fool for using 4x the amount of headphones that are inferior to the AirPods Pro I had before.

Consumer electronics manufacturers would have us believe that they are the only ones who can solve the problems of modern life. But sometimes, all you need is some amazing foam.

All photos by Thomas Ricker / The Verge