Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren Bogle bam here. Although most pillows have
Speaker 1: a tag giving laundering instructions, not everybody bothers to wash them.
Speaker 1: We may think they're shielded from the day to day
Speaker 1: grit and grime of life thanks to the pillow case
Speaker 1: or else that washing them may ruin them. But the
Speaker 1: standard pillow case is typically only made of cotton or
Speaker 1: of some other easily permeated fabric, rendering the pillows susceptible
Speaker 1: to the grit and grime of life. But we spoke
Speaker 1: by email with Mary Marlowe Laverette, a housekeeping and laundry
Speaker 1: expert with the Spruce. She said, even with a protective
Speaker 1: pillow case, your pillow can be filled with dust mites,
Speaker 1: body oils, and bacteria from your saliva. All of that
Speaker 1: is next to your face and no one wants any
Speaker 1: of that. And it's no small amount of junk either.
Speaker 1: After a couple of years, some ted percent of the
Speaker 1: total weight of your pillow could be due to dead
Speaker 1: dust mites and their waste. And yeah, that's kind of
Speaker 1: gross to think about, but more scientifically speaking, a regular
Speaker 1: close proximity exposure to Any of these contaminants or others
Speaker 1: like pet dander can cause conditions like allergies and asthma
Speaker 1: to flare up. The good news is that laundering pillows
Speaker 1: is a surprisingly easy task and you don't need to
Speaker 1: do it all that often. If you use a zippered
Speaker 1: pillow protector, you'll only need to wash the pillows twice
Speaker 1: a year, although the protectors themselves will require monthly laundering.
Speaker 1: If you don't use a protector every other month ish
Speaker 1: or whenever the pillow looks or smells like it needs it,
Speaker 1: is advisable. There could be times when you need to
Speaker 1: launder your pillows more frequently, but we also spoke by
Speaker 1: email with Mary Zeitler, consumer scientist with Whirlpool Corporations Institute
Speaker 1: of Home Science. She explained if the user applies face
Speaker 1: lotions before going to bed, or if the user has
Speaker 1: oily skin or scalp, washing more often may be needed
Speaker 1: to keep it fresh. We'll add ditto that if you
Speaker 1: sleep with a pet, or have recently had a cold
Speaker 1: or other contagious illness, or if the pillow looks or
Speaker 1: smells musty, So how do you clean your pillow? It's
Speaker 1: vital to check the care directions on the tag. Many
Speaker 1: are machine washable, but some, like those made of memory foam,
Speaker 1: are not. In general, Zeler recommends washing down feather and
Speaker 1: synthetic material pillows in the warmest water considered safe for
Speaker 1: the material, and it can help, especially with top litted washers,
Speaker 1: to do too per load. To help keep the machine
Speaker 1: balanced while it's spinning, use a mild liquid detergent, or
Speaker 1: make sure you dissolve your powder detergent well before adding
Speaker 1: the load, and set your machine on the gentle cycle.
Speaker 1: An extra reincycle can help make sure that all the
Speaker 1: soap is gone when it's time to dry. Use a
Speaker 1: low heat or air cycle setting for as long as
Speaker 1: is an necessary to get all the moisture out of
Speaker 1: your pillows. Any dampness left behind will encourage mold growth,
Speaker 1: but foam pillows are sometimes a completely different animal. They
Speaker 1: can't get excessively wet unless otherwise stated on the care tag,
Speaker 1: so rather than using a washing machine, you can use
Speaker 1: a vacuum cleaner to do most of the work, then
Speaker 1: toss them in the dryer on a no heat cycle
Speaker 1: to shake any additional dirt and grime loose. If any
Speaker 1: spots or other grime are visible, sparingly spot clean with
Speaker 1: water and a mild soap. Today's episode was written by
Speaker 1: Aliya Hoyt and produced by Tyler Clay. For more on
Speaker 1: this and lots of other everyday topics, visit how stuffworks
Speaker 1: dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio. For
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