Because of occasional neck problems, I bought a Microbead Massage Neck Roll Pillow several months ago. It was an impulse buy, because it looked good in the store. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to the hype.
Product Description
The pillow is made specifically for the neck. The packaging reads Squeeze Me in large letters, and the soft stretchy fabric does feel really cushion like. It is made by a company called Relaxen.
The unit has a zipper, and inside is a small motorized massager that’s supposed to relax sore neck muscles. You can turn it on or off.
The pillow is filled with millions of tiny microbeads, (they are encased separately so they don’t come out when you unzip to change batteries for the massager). These beads move and compress inside the pillow, allowing it to contour to your body. I believe the beads are made of polystyrene.
The outer material is very stretchy nylon/spandex blend of fabric, which is very soft.
The unit takes four AA batteries.
Pillow measures 13 1/2″ by 7 1/2″ by 7 1/2″.
Thoughts
I thought I was really going to love this pillow, and that it would give my neck good support. I especially felt it would be great to take on an airplane, since I am always uncomfortable and have a hard time falling asleep when flying.
The first thing I noticed was a very foul outgassing coming from this pillow. It wasn’t as noticeable in the store, but when I brought it home it really smelled bad. I thought it would dissipate, but the odor really never went away. It did fade some, but didn’t disappear. I don’t think the odor is coming from the fabric, but rather from the microbeads inside the pillow.
The massager wasn’t very soothing, it provided a constant mild vibration that didn’t do anything for a sore neck. I could feel the little box that held the batteries when I laid on the pillow in a certain way, and that wasn’t comfortable either, so I cut the wires and removed the box completely, but I still didn’t find this very comfortable or soothing.
Last week I fell on the ice and I have slight whiplash in my neck. I pulled out this pillow, hoping it would help relax my neck muscles, but it failed again. It wasn’t any better then when I first bought and used it.
I was so excited when I purchased this pillow in the store, but it just never lived up to the hype, and it is too bulky to pack for taking on an airplane. We ended up keeping one in our car to use as a lumbar support on long drives. It actually works better in this fashion than it did for a neck support.
I have since purchased a memory foam lumbar support that is similar in shape to this Microbead Pillow, and the memory foam provides much more support!
I would be very careful about letting young children use this Microbead pillow. You might be tempted to because of it’s small size, but my personal feeling is that it could cause a suffocation hazard to small children. I take a SIDS class every year for my daycare license, and they always warn moms not to put anything soft in the crib with your child, not even stuffed animals. I would classify this pillow in the same way.
I believe I paid $12 for it, but have been very disappointed in it’s performance for anything other than the occasional lumbar back support.
