Think of the most frequently used items in your home. Are pillows at the top of your list? Now think of the dirtiest items in your home. Pillows probably don’t make the list, but their heavy use makes them magnets for dirt and bacteria—especially if they’ve never been washed.
You might wash your pillowcases weekly or every few days, but bacteria and allergens can penetrate deep into your actual pillows and irritate skin, cause sinus congestion, and break down pillow fill. To protect yourself and extend your pillows’ life, your pillows should be cleaned every six months. If your pillows haven’t been cleaned for years, residential laundry services can do a deep clean.
But if you have the time to wash your pillows yourself, check your pillow’s labeling for cleaning instructions. If you’ve lost them, follow the steps below.
The 3 steps of washing your down pillows
Not all pillows can go in the washing machine, but if your pillows are standard down pillows, you go ahead and wash two pillows at a time to balance the load.
- Use a washing machine without an agitator, which is the spindle in the center of more traditional machines. If your machine has an agitator, wash your pillows vertically to reduce damage.
- Add a small amount of a mild powder detergent and select the gentle cycle. Pillows retain a lot of moisture, so run another spin cycle after the final rinse.
- Air-dry or tumble the pillows in a drying machine on the no-heat setting. Damp pillows dry slowly, so multiple drying cycles might be necessary. To prevent clumping, toss dryer balls into the machine with the pillows. Fluffing the pillows throughout the drying cycle will also prevent clumping. For a less time-consuming approach, use a laundry pick up service.
Keeping your down pillows clean and sanitized can take days when you have many pillows of various fills. Pillow cleaning also can be risky if you’ve never washed pillows before. If left unattended in the drying machine, a pillow will become clumpy, lose its shape, and possibly become damaged.
Simplify your pillow cleaning with residential laundry services
If you want to wash multiple types of pillows, you can save yourself the research by using residential laundry services that include pillow care. You won’t have to worry about damaged pillows and will reduce your time spent washing and drying pillows.
