Pillow Cleaning for Healthy, Allergen Free Sleep
Do you think it is important for your family's
hygiene to regularly clean blankets and sheets, towels, bed and couch
covers? Of course! Pillows
also need to be cleaned regularly, at least every six months. That's
because a pillow that hasn't been cleaned recently contains high amounts
of sloughed skin, mold and mildew, fungus, dust mites and dust feces.
Nobody wants to sleep on that! Let's see how we can effectively clean
our pillows, depending on their material, and what tricks we can use to
keep them clean longer.
Cotton and down pillows can be cleaned in various ways. You can hand-wash, machine-wash, or dry-clean them. If you choose hand-wash use a mild detergent instead of soap, as soap may leave residues. Wash gently using warm water, in maximum 40c. Rinse well in cold water squeezing the pillow constantly to ensure that there is no residue left.
In machine-wash you should make sure that detergent
is completely diluted in water before placing the pillows inside. You
can do that by letting the machine run for a few minutes with after
adding the detergent and before adding the pillows. Then stop it,
squeeze the air out of the pillows and put them inside the washing
machine. Set your washer on a gentle wash cycle. An extra rinse would be
ideal but if your washing machine doesn't have that button, simply put
the pillow through the final rinse cycle once or twice to fully rinse
out any residue. Do not use softener in the rinse. Instead choose
vinegar to help in the removal of the residue. Very little, two or three
drops is enough. Add a tennis ball to keep the down from bunching-up
into a corner during the spin cycle. Hit the spin dry feature twice to
ensure that most water has been removed.