Feather pillows, also called down pillows, have long been considered one of those essential luxuries.

If you need a few tips on what to look for, then feel free to use this handy little guide to help out.

First off, feather pillows are typically made of various amounts of both feathers and down. Because down is so exclusive and expensive, you’ll find that in most pillows that are called down, there are actually small feathers mixed in for loft and support- usually goose or duck feathers. The more down in the pillow, the more expensive you can expect it to be.

Down is defined as the undercoating of geese or ducks. The best quality down is widely considered to be from the white geese from Siberia.

Down pillows are available in the typical sizes:

Standard 20 x 26″     Queen 20 x 30″    King 20 x 36″    European 26 x 26″

Some pillow manufacturers will make their pillows with a core of feathers inside so that you have some extra support.

Some use a wool, latex or cotton and even a gel core for the same purpose. I’m not sure I like the gel idea cause the one I tried recently seemed like it was fighting me to bounce back into it’s original shape.

The folks with allergies have tended to avoid down pillows, but now it’s widely known that when down is cleaned properly, the pillow can be allergy free. The position you sleep in will tell you how high or lofty your pillow should be.

Most good quality merchants will label the pillows according to these sleeping positions.

Basically, when sleeping on your back, go for a medium high pillow for the best neck support.

For side sleepers, get the more substantial pillow so that your neck and spine are aligned throughout the night for the best sleep possible.

And for the stomach sleeper, get the thinner down pillow, so that your neck and spine aren’t thrown into positions that are sure to cause back and neck pain.

It used to be a challenge to find these pillows in most local retail outlets at a reasonable cost, but now with online shopping, we can all find the best possible deals for pillows and have them delivered right to our front door! Can’t beat that.