Wheat vs Lava Sand: The Best For Your Heating Pad

 

There are so many different heating pad products out there with their own things inserted into the bag.

Some are good for keeping heat for a long time, and some keep it just for a little time.

When we compare wheat to lava sand, the lava sand wins because it comes in a very durable pad and cover, it retains the heat longer, and it will never give off a bad smell no matter how many times you heat it up.

Read on to find out our reasoning for lava sand.

Cost

There are many different options when it comes to a wheat heating pad.

The cheapest looks to be around $25, with a quick search on Amazon, and the more expensive ones seem to be around $40.

So not too wide of a range of option for the wheat heating pads.

The lava sand heating pads has a $30 and $60 option, depending on the size of the heating pad that you are expecting.

So in this case, you don't have too wide of ranges for your heating pads.

We will give this advantage to the wheat heating pad, since you can choose all different shapes and sizes to fit your needs.

Advantage: wheat

Durability

Now comes the question of durability.

And in this case, we are looking for the heating pads that can go through the most.

With lava sand, they can withstand quick a bit.

For instance, the lava sand heating pad can be fully immersed in water, in the case that you need to wash the heating pad.

If you fully immersed it in water, by putting it in the washing machine or the dishwasher, you won't completely ruin the usefulness of the heating pad.

In that case, all you need to do is turn your oven on to 200 degrees and then place the heating pad on a drying rack and then place it in the oven for a few hours.

This will allow the sand inside the heating pad to dry out before you use it again.

And if you need to just spot clean the cover, you can do that as well with little worry that you are going to ruin the heating pad.

In the case of lava sand heating pad, you can also purchase different covers for the heating pad, which means you can take the cover off and put a different cover on.

Then you can clean the dirty cover and still be able to use the heating pad.

Part of the durability of the wheat heating pad depends on what kind of pad you purchase.

Some companies will tell you not to wash the heating pad with wheat in it.

This is because the wheat would get ruined if it got washed.

Eventually, the wheat is going to rot and make for a bad smell and a not-so-effective heating pad.

So in this case, all you can do is spot clean the heating pad.

This means that if you get something on it, like food or some kind of drink, you won't be able to throw it into the wash.

Instead, you'll need to get out a washcloth, get that wet and dab at the dirt on the heating pad until you get all the dirt off.

If you can't get it all off, then you will need to purchase a new heating pad.

This might be fine, since a lot of heating pads are so cheap, but I don't think you want to purchase a new heating pad over and over again.

And if the heating pad gets fully immersed in water, then you need to throw it away in that case as well.

So here the lava sand heating pads wins.

Advantage: lava sand

Heat

With all of the other things in this list, heat is probably the most important for your heating pad.

So you are probably going to want to have a heating pad that gives you the most amount of heat for the longest period of time.

In the case of wheat, you start off by heating it up in the microwave.

Keep in mind that if you heat the wheat for too long, you will burn the wheat, and then will it not only not keep heat, but it will give off an awful smell as well.

Start off by heating it up for a minute.

If that doesn't give you heat long enough, then give it another 30 seconds.

Again, keep in mind that if you heat it up for too long, then you will end up burning the wheat.

So don't heat it up for more than 1 minute at a time.

Then the heating pad should give you a good therapeutic heat for 10 to 15 minutes and an additional 30 to 45 minutes of soothing heat.

For lava sand, you get a little bit different approach.

There are different amounts of time you can microwave the lava sand heating pad and that depends on how long you want the heat.

For instance, if you want the heating pad to last around an hour, then you can warm up the lava sand heating pad in the microwave for 1 minute.

If you need it for 2 hours or more, then 3 minutes should suffice.

Be careful not to warm it up for more than 3 minutes.

Then it could be too hot to use for your aches and pains.

But if you warm it up for 3 minutes or fewer, that should give you more than 1 hour of heat.

Advantage: lava sand

Decay factor

The decay factor is pretty important when it comes to the heating pad.

It could spell the difference between having to purchase a new heating pad every few months or being able to keep the same one for years on end.

It also could be the difference between a smelly heating pad and one that doesn't have any smell.

With the lava sand heating pad, there isn't much you need to worry about with decay.

You could soak that heating pad in water for a long time, pull it out, and dry it off and not worry if it is going to be a good heating pad for you.

Just like with sand at the beach, you don't have to worry about it decaying and going bad.

Wheat heating pads, on the other hand, you do have to worry about.

If you are anything like my family, you've left out wheat berries and they've gotten wheat.

Eventually, those wheat berries are going to start decaying.

They will be wet and soggy and no good for anything after that.

And even in the heating pad, the wheat isn't completely protected from getting wet and decaying.

So depending on how well you keep track of your heating pad, you might have to replace the heating pad every so often. 

Advantage: Tie

Comfort

Another important aspect of your heating pad is how comfortable it is and what it will cover.

This could depend on what is inside the heating pad and how it conforms to your body.

The lava sand heating pad is going to conform to your body any way you want it to.

Because it is sand, the grains are going to be incredibly small.

This means that it will cover any area you want it to.

For example, if you want to put it on your shoulders, the lava sand is going to do exactly what you need.

Sometimes you need to wrap the heating pad around a body part like an ankle.

And you can do that with a lava sand heating pad and have it cover the whole area.

The wheat heating pad is going to do much the same for you.

Wheat grains are really small, not nearly as small as the lava sand grains, but will still cover the areas you need them to cover.

So for this category, there is a tie

Advantage: Tie

Smell

We've already covered this pretty extensively in the article already.

The lava sand heating pad won't give off any bad smells, as long as you dry the heating pad as soon as it has gotten wet.

This is true because the heating pad could end up getting moldy and giving off a mold smell if the wet heating pad is not taken care of.

Besides that, the lava sand isn't going to give off a smell, unless you add some essential oils to the lava sand.

The wheat heating pad could give off some smells.

For example, some companies that use wheat heating pads also include flowers and some essential oils in their heating pads.

If these aspects of the heating pad get wet, the wheat and flowers in the heating pad can get rotten and smelly.

On top of that, if you over-heat the heating pad, then you could end up burning the wheat inside.

This will then give off a burnt smell each time you heat up the heating pad.

And no one likes that smell when trying to use the heating pad.

So because the lava sand won't go bad, the lava sand heating pad gets the advantage here.

Advantage: lava sand

Summary

The lava sand and wheat heating pads are good options.

But when you compare the two together, the lava sand heating pad beats out the wheat one in aspects of smell, decay factor, heat, and durability.

So if you want to purchase one heating pad and not worry about purchasing another one for a while, then the lava sand heating pad is the one for you.