Styrofoam Bead Pillow

 For Christmas, I wanted a new pillow. I asked for either a memory foam or Sobakawa pillow thinking it may help me sleep better and toss and turn less. I received the latter.

Christmas night, I tore the pillow out of the box and tried it out. It came with the bonus pillow case which saved me when the little styrofoam beads began to leak out of the pillow--a week after I first got it. I can't seem to find a hole anywhere and just assumed they work their way out of the seams. It can be messy when taking the pillow case off to wash it as the beads go everywhere, including all over the inside of the washer and onto your clean clothes.

I was surprised by the size of the pillow. The box seemed a lot larger than what I pulled out of it. Also, the commercials on television show the woman lying on what appears to be a full-sized pillow. The Sobakawa pillow was actually much smaller. My head fits right in the middle of it, leaving a few inches left on both sides that tend to fold up around my cheeks. I did feel the extra supposrt but only when my head was perfectly situated in the middle of the pillow. Sleeping on my side was not very comfortable with the pillow.

It definitely took a couple weeks to get used to sleeping on the pillow. My back and neck ached twice as bad as using my regular pillow until I adjusted. I really didn't feel much of a difference with my body between the Sobakawa pillow and my regular TJ Maxx cheapie pillow.

As for the claim that the pillow stays cool, I really didn't feel any difference I still woke up with sweat on the nape pf my neck and my hair damp and matted.

Rotating the Sobakawa with my regular pillow seemed to work the best for me in terms of comfort. It's sort of like rotating your shoes so your feet don't hurt. Overall, I would give the $19.99 Sobakawa pillow a B-.

Who needs an iron? Call Mr. Steamy

It's a new year, and I am armed with an arsenal of "As Seen on TV" products. It's time for a fresh, dedicated start to this new year. I hope you are as ready as I am.

To kick off the new year and the first of many new posts-I am going to try for a new product once a week-let me introduce you to Mister Steamy.

I was shopping at Target and decided to check out the section of the store with the "AS Seen" products. I saw a blue box that caught my eye. It was a two pack of balls that claimed to do the work of an iron. I hate to iron so I thought the $14.99 would be an investment in time saving.

As soon as I got home, I opened the box and read the instructions. The ball inside the box reminded me of one of those bumble ball toys minus the bumble motor part. I then ran to the closet. I hate ironing dress shirts so I pulled one out of my boyfriend's side of the closet. It was one that had the wrinkles from being stuffed in a tightly packed closet.  I threw it in the dryer with the steamy ball and in 15 minutes it was wrinkle free. Now, for some dress clothes and severe wrinkles, you're going to have to bust out the iron and ironing board. Mister Steamy is for the little wrinkles and the person on the go.

The box said the Mister Steamy ball could do the work of fabric softener as well. It showed a picture of a stack of towels dried with the ball. I decided to duplicate this. To my surprise, the towels came out of the dryer fluffier than when dried with a dryer sheet. I had also been having problems with soured towels. I don't know if it's the fact that I have well water or not, but I tried vinegar which yielded ok results. A few drops of fabric softener added to the water in the Mister Steamy ball helped with the smell.

I have been using the Mister Steamy ball for about two months now. I haven't used an iron for anything. Beyond using it to get the wrinkles out of clothing, I have used it as an at home dry cleaning solution. For my sweaters and dress clothes that I am not quite ready to pay to have cleaned or my jacket that I wore out to a smokey bar. I just add a few drops of fabric softener to the steamy ball with water and in 15 minutes, my clothes smell fresh and are ready to be worn again.


I find the price to be fair, especially when you get two steamy balls. The ball will eventually wear out because the sponge like material inside shrinks over time. After two months, mine appears to still have quite a bit of life to go. If you're one of those people that hates to iron and wants a quick, freshening up of your clothes, the the Mister Steamy ball is perfect for you.