How to fluff a pillow, and why the fill decides the method
By hand, for about 30 seconds, then let it rest. Hold diagonal corners and clap them together, massage the fill with your fingers, punch it to break up clumps. Those three movements and the 30 second figure are Boll and Branch's. DOWN inc., which manufactures down and feather bedding, adds the step people skip: after shaking and compressing, leave the pillow for five to 10 minutes to regain its fullness.
Then the warning, which is the reason this page exists. The most repeated tip for this question is the tumble dryer with tennis balls, and for a memory foam or latex pillow that advice is destructive rather than useless.
Casper publishes the rule plainly: memory foam pillows, solid and shredded alike, should never go in the dryer, and latex is the same because it is sensitive to heat. Down, feather and polyester are the fills that trick was written for.
Which leaves the awkward overlap nobody spells out: the fill most likely to clump is a shredded one, and a shredded foam pillow is exactly the pillow you must never put in a dryer. For that pillow, hands are not the cheap alternative, they are the only method. Fluffing is a property of the fill rather than a technique, and the table below is the whole answer.
Fill by fill, including what not to do
Every method below is attributed to the company that published it, read on 12 August 2026 and named here in text rather than linked. The dryer column is Casper's published rule, and it is the column worth reading first, because it is the one that can cost you the pillow.
| Fill | By hand | In the dryer | Who says so |
|---|---|---|---|
| Down and feather | Responds fastest | Yes, low or no heat | Boll and Branch says natural fibres return to their original shape quickly |
| Polyester fiberfill | Responds, with more effort | Yes, generally dryer safe | Boll and Branch says synthetic fill can take more time or effort than natural |
| Shredded memory foam | The fill that most needs it | NEVER | Casper says memory foam, solid and shredded alike, should never go in the dryer |
| Solid memory foam | Nothing to redistribute | NEVER | One moulded piece, so there is no loose fill to move in the first place |
| Shredded latex | Needs an occasional fluff | NEVER | Casper says latex is sensitive to heat; our own pick states an occasional fluff stops it clumping |
| Solid latex | Its maker says it needs none | NEVER | PlushBeds states this pillow maintains its shape with no need for fluffing |
The RestVerdict fluffing overlap. On the left, the fills the usual advice was written for: down, feather and polyester fiberfill respond quickly by hand and are safe in a dryer on low or no heat. On the right, the fills Casper says must never go in a dryer, because foam and latex are sensitive to heat.
The problem sits in the second group: shredded memory foam and shredded latex are the fills most likely to clump and therefore most in need of fluffing, and they are also the fills for which the tennis ball tip is destructive, so hands are not the cheap option but the only one.
A solid core of either material has no loose fill to redistribute, so fluffing does little to it in any case, and PlushBeds says exactly that about its own solid latex pillow.
The hand method, as its publishers give it
Two companies publish a sequence for this and they differ slightly, so both are given rather than blended into one invented method.
- Boll and Branch, three movements, at least 30 seconds. Hold diagonal corners of the pillow and clap them together. Massage the fill with your fingers. Punch the pillow with your fist to break up material that has clumped or stuck together.
- DOWN inc., a down and feather manufacturer, three steps in order. Shake the pillow held firmly at both ends to move the fill into place. Press inward from all sides with quick, firm compressions to loosen compacted fill, repeating as needed. Then let it rest for five to 10 minutes to regain fullness.
The resting step is the one worth borrowing whichever method you use, because it answers the question people usually ask after judging the result too early. Boll and Branch also names a third route that needs no equipment at all: leave the pillow in direct sunlight where the weather allows, so air circulates through it.
When the dryer is right
Where the fill allows it, Casper and Boll and Branch describe the same approach: tumble the pillow with dryer balls or clean tennis balls, which keep it moving so the fill cannot settle back into lumps. Boll and Branch suggests a 20 minute cycle on medium to low heat as a baseline. Casper adds that dryer balls shorten the time and maximise the result.
That is genuinely good advice for the fills it applies to, and we are not arguing with it. What is missing wherever it gets repeated is the sentence next to it.
In Casper's own words, memory foam pillows including solid and shredded varieties should never go in the dryer, and latex is the same because it is sensitive to heat. Down and feather are typically safe on low or no heat, and polyester fiberfill is generally dryer safe.
Our own guide to washing pillows reaches the same place from the other direction, and has done since long before this page existed: foam and latex pillows are spot clean only, and never go in the machine at either end of the process. Two separate questions, one answer, which is the sort of agreement worth pointing at rather than hiding.
When fluffing cannot fix it
Fluffing moves fill around. It does not replace fill that has broken down, and the distinction decides whether you are doing maintenance or postponing a purchase.
- Clumped is fixable. A shredded fill compresses into dense pockets with air between them. Breaking those up restores the loft that the clumping took away, and it is a task you repeat rather than a repair.
- Collapsed is not. Boll and Branch puts it plainly for its own products: sometimes, even after your best efforts, the pillow is still too flat, and that is usually a sign it should be replaced. Casper lists what to look for, including a lack of support, visible clumps that will not disperse, and flatness.
- A pillow that stays folded has told you. Our own long-standing rule across the pillow pages: if it stays folded instead of springing back, or carries a permanent flat spot, the support is gone and no amount of fluffing brings it back.
- Some pillows will never look fluffy. Boll and Branch notes that soft or lightweight pillows might not attain a fluffy shape at all, while firmer, more filled densities will. That is a property of what you bought rather than a failure of method.
Where this page stops
Fluffing sits next to two questions this page deliberately does not take over. Washing, drying and the yellowing that comes with age all belong to our guide to washing pillows, which covers the machine fill by fill and is the page to read before anything goes near water.
And whether your pillow is the right one in the first place, which is a different problem from a flat one, belongs to how to choose a pillow.
There is also a purchase-time version of everything above. If a pillow's fill decides how much maintenance it asks of you, that is worth knowing before you own it rather than after.
Our comparison of solid against shredded latex is built on exactly that trade, with one pillow whose maker says it never needs fluffing and one whose maker says an occasional fluff stops it clumping. The rest of the section is on the pillow guides hub.
Common questions
How do you fluff a pillow by hand?
Boll and Branch publishes three hand movements and asks for at least 30 seconds of it: hold diagonal corners and clap them together, massage the fill with your fingers, and punch the pillow with your fist to break up material that has clumped.
DOWN inc., which manufactures down and feather bedding, gives a slightly different sequence for its own products: shake the pillow held firmly at both ends to move the fill into place, then press inward from all sides with quick firm compressions, then let it rest for five to 10 minutes to regain fullness.
Does putting a pillow in the dryer fluff it?
For some fills, and it will ruin others. Casper publishes the rule fill by fill: down and feather pillows are typically safe on low or no heat, polyester fiberfill is generally dryer safe, but memory foam pillows including both solid and shredded varieties should never go in the dryer, and latex is the same because it is sensitive to heat.
So the tennis ball trick that dominates this question is safe advice for a down pillow and destructive advice for a shredded foam one.
How long does it take for a pillow to fluff up?
Boll and Branch asks for at least 30 seconds of hand fluffing and suggests a 20 minute dryer cycle on medium to low heat as a baseline where the dryer is safe to use. DOWN inc. adds a step people skip: after shaking and compressing, let the pillow rest for five to 10 minutes to regain its fullness. We publish no timing of our own, because we have measured none.
Why does my pillow go flat again the next night?
Because fluffing moves fill around, it does not restore fill that has broken down. A shredded fill clumps as it compresses, and redistributing it is genuine maintenance you can repeat. A fill that has lost its structure is a different problem, and no amount of fluffing brings it back.
Boll and Branch says as much about its own products: sometimes, even after your best efforts, the pillow is still too flat, and that is usually a sign it should be replaced.
Do all pillows need fluffing?
No, and this is the part most guides skip. Fluffing works on loose fill, so it does very little to a pillow built as one moulded piece.
PlushBeds states that its solid latex pillow maintains its shape with no need for fluffing, and describes its shredded latex pillow the opposite way, saying an occasional fluff stops the fill clumping. Same brand, same material, two different answers, decided entirely by whether the inside is one piece or thousands of them.