A little late, but it seems like time just slips away!  The pillow I tried for January was the Natura Lavender Pillow, another of the "aromatherapy" pillows that they offer, along with the Ylang Ylang.

Unlike the Ylang Ylang, however, the Lavender fragrance in this pillow is not from microencapsulation.  The pillow fabric has a small amount of the lavender oil infused in it, but the real core of the fragrance comes from a sachet of dried lavender within the pillow itself.

Lavender has been used for centuries as a relaxing fragrance and even today many will put a little lavender oil on their regular pillows to help them relax at the end of the day. 

The pillow is completely different from the Ylang Ylang.  The core of the Lavender Pillow is dual in nature, a solid latex center with granulated around it.  This creates a firmer feeling pillow while still allowing for some shaping.  The cover is quilted with a small amount of Natura Smart Wool quilting and has a cotton/poly blend fabric.  The cover is zippered and the sachet of dried lavender is found just inside the zipper in a tailored pocket.  The lavender is securely sewn in a fabric pouch so there is no chance of it leaking out. 

Where a microencapsulated fragrance will wear out eventually, the Lavender Pillow offers the option of having the fragrance stay around indefinately.  Since the sachet is accessible, it is easily replaced by calling Natura customer service via their toll free number and getting a new one.

The pillow has a resting loft of about 8 inches.  As always, I tried the Standard size, however the pillow is also available in Queen and King sizes.  The pillow comes packaged in a colorful box in all sizes. 

I found this pillow to be excellent when it came to head and neck support.  The dual core offered an extremely unique feel of firm support with soft cushioing, which brings up the question of why Natura doesn't make any other pillows with this type of core.

The fragrance was not overwhelming at all, but rather light and yes, I did find it relaxing.  One thing that I have noticed is that the intensity of the fragrance can vary from pillow to pillow because, although each pillow contains the same amount of lavender, some of the batches are more fragrant than others.

The combination of the wool in the cover and the latex core allowed me to sleep on it comfortably throughout the night without having to wake up and turn the pillow to the colder side.  This combination also creates a very durable and sanitary pillow that should last for years - definately worth the investment.

While I can't say that this was the absolute best pillow I've tried, I definately will put this in the top 5.  I often find out how much I miss a pillow when I switch to a new one for the next month's review.  This is one I'm not giving up, however, although I may have to wrestle it back from my wife!