"It's instantly icy cold" - the Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow works magic if you're a hot sleeper

If you want an icy cold pillow under your head at night, look no further than the Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow. It does exactly what it says in the name — and then some.

Some of the best cooling pillows are subtle: you don’t realise that they’ve regulated your temperature until you wake up with fresh-feeling skin. Other cooling pillows take a different tact, feeling cool, or even cold, when you press a hand against them. Hot sleepers, throw away your bowl of ice and flannel, the Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow is icy.

I’ve slept on my fair share of cooling pillows and none — I repeat none — have delivered just an instantly cool touch like this pillow. I’ve passed it round hot sleepers and women who have night sweats and we all agree. This is one special pillow.

Who would the Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow suit?

The beauty of the Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow is that it's actually really versatile. The pillow itself feels medium-firm, which is great if you're a back or side sleeper. However, if you have a pillow fill that you already know and love, you can unzip the cooling outside pillow case and wrap it around your preferred pillow. It's really clever.

It's also one of the best pillows for giving that instantly cool feeling. As soon as your head hits the pillow, you'll feel the cooling effects of the Silentnight. And, whilst it won't stay cool all night long, when you do find a cool patch, it'll be more extreme than any other pillow you've slept on.

There are, of course, other neat benefits, including the hypoallergenic fill and reasonable price tag, but this is really tailored to hot, back and side sleepers.

Unboxing the Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow

The Silentnight comes in a useful storage bag. It’s crafted from thick plastic and polyester, so it’s robust enough to hold onto as a storage bag for old pillows or sheets. You’ll see some simple care instructions and information printed on the Silentnight bag, so it’s packaging that does everything in one. I like it.

There's nothing else that you need to do to get this ready for bed. It comes plump, cool, and ready for a good night's sleep.

Composition of the Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow

The Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow has a few different elements that combine to make this the perfect cooling pillow for hot sleepers. Front, centre, and right under your head, you’ve got the gel pad. This is almost like bubble wrap across the whole top surface. It feels generally cool to touch, but with a deeper, more intense patch of coolness in the middle. The other side of the pillow is polyester, which just makes a neat, low maintenance case.

I wouldn’t recommend flipping the pillow and sleeping on this side, because polyester is actually really insulating. I imagine Silentnight have it there as a way to bring down the price of the pillow, whilst ensuing its hypoallergenic too.

Then, inside you’ll get a standard pillow filling. I’ve been using this for two weeks and have had to swap it out for one of my thinner pillows, transforming this into more of a pillow cover than a pillow. It was too lofty for me, as a side and back sleeper. I’ve read reviews that this flattens over time, which can be perceived as good or bad, depending on your sleep position. Overall, I think it’s good to hang on to your old pillow just in case you want to re-stuff it.

What was the Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow like to sleep on?

I’m a sensitive sleeper — it’s a blessing for testing, but also a curse for me when I change up my regimented sleep routine. The first night that I used the Silentnight Cool Touch pillow I loved how instantly cooling it was around my face. However, as a side and front sleeper the medium firm, and slightly solid gel underneath me, became a bit too supportive and resistant to keep me comfortable.

The next night, I removed the insert and placed my thin pillow inside the case, which did a lot of work to remedy my discomfort. With the new case on my trusty old pillows I had the perfect balance of cooling gel and my personal support. If you like a lofty pillow, you’ll be able to embrace the full thickness of the Silentnight Cool Touch. If not, you can treat this like a clever cooling case. It’s what I’ve ended up doing.

Is the Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow cooling?

The gel outer case is immediately cooling, which is great if your head often feels hot as soon as it hits the pillow. This is what I’m like and it’s often the reason that I struggle to sleep, so the Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow worked its magic from my perspective.

My mum, who suffers from night sweats, is the opposite to me. She can drift off feeling an easy, breezy temperature and she will wake up hot and sweaty. She found shifting her head on the gel pillow helped her to find a new, more extreme patch of coolness, which was helpful, but she still had to go through the pillow-flipping-face-shifting rigmarole. “It’s much better than my current pillow,” she says, “but in an ideal world, my pillow would stay cool underneath me anyway. I loved getting a blast of the gel coolness through and I definitely wouldn’t say no to another night on here.”

How does the Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow compare?

As far as cooling gel pillows go, this is one of my favourites. Most brands use a full gel pillow, which can be very dense and firm. A zippable cover means that you can enjoy the feel of a typical pillow, but with the added benefit of some cooling gel. If you don’t mind a little extra density and firmness, the Luff Gel Pillow is a seriously thick piece of kit. It’ll keep you cool, but only buy it if you know you really want a gel pillow: it’s expensive and I cannot stress the density enough.

This is an important place to point out that you don’t have to have a gel pillow to keep cool. My coolest night of sleep — and the favourite amongst women suffering from night sweats — continues to be the Woolroom Deluxe Wool Pillow. You can adjust the filling inside to make it the perfect height for you — a feature that the Silentnight really missed — and it naturally regulates your temperature overnight, so you’ll spend a lot less time in the early hours trying to find a cold patch on your pillow.

Should you buy the Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow?

If you want a pillow that has an instantly icy feel, the Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow is perfect. It's amazing for a cool blast and you can pick it up at a really reasonable price. However, if your night sweats are more slow and steady, you might want to opt for a wool pillow instead.

How we test

At woman&home, we have a rigorous process for how we test pillows. I make notes on everything from what the packaging, storage, and cleaning of your pillow is like right through to the loft, feel, and whether it's cooling to sleep on. Every body and sleep style is different, which is why I hand the pillow around to lots of different testers so that I can make sure we're giving you a good idea of what the pillow is like to sleep on.

If you want to find out more, you can visit our dedicated page for how we test pillows.