How to clean pillows
One thing that many people don't think about is how dirty their pillows get and if you think about it this can actually be a major health issue because of how close we put pillows to our face. In fact we cuddle up with them on a cold winter night, we cry our eyes out into them when we are upset, or we just lay down on them to get some rest. What many people think about when it comes to cleaning pillows is cleaning the outside covers that we come into direct contact with, but they never think about the actual pillow itself, which can collect a lot of dirt over time. Rather than taking the time to clean the pillows many people will simply throw the old pillows away and buy new ones as needed. But if you know what you are doing you cleaning pillows is actually quite easy.
Difficulty rating: Moderate
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Step one:
The first thing that you need to do is to make sure that you read the label on your pillow that explains how to actually clean the pillow. It is also a good idea to write these instructions down and keep them in an easy to read spot so that you can refer to them as needed. A great place to keep these instructions is in the washroom right next to the laundry soap or hanging up on the wall.
Step two:
The next thing that you are going to want to do is to make sure that you remove any kind of cover that is on the pillow, such as pillow cases, water proof covers, allergy covers, etc. Some pillows, such as throw pillows, come with a zipped cover that you can remove to make cleaning easier, but other pillows don't have anything that you can remove.
Step three:
Now you are going to want to make sure that your washing machine is set to the gentle or delicate wash cycle, anything else can damage the pillows.
Step four:
Make sure that you have a gentle liquid soap to use when washing your pillows. Powder soap sometimes doesn't dissolve all the way and liquid is easily dissolved in water.
Step five:
If you have white pillows you should include a few drops of bleach and if your pillows are not white you should use a few drops of color fast bleach, which will not harm the pillow. The reason for the bleach is it helps to sanitize the pillow.
Step six:
You can also use fabric softener sheets or liquid, but you must read the directions on the pillow to see if they are okay to use with the pillow.
Step seven:
After adding everything to the washing machine you are going to want to turn the washing machine onto wash and allow it to run through the complete cycle.
Step eight:
After going through the complete cycle you are going to want to make sure that you run it through a few extra rinse cycles so that you make sure that you have removed all of the soap residues.
Step nine:
Now that the pillow has been thoroughly rinsed you can take it out of the washer and put it back into shape if it has lost its shape.
Step ten:
Now that the pillow has been washed you are going to need to dry it. You can do this in two ways, air dry it or put it in the dryer. If you are using the dryer make sure that you occasionally turn the pillows and punch them a few times to fluff them back up. And keep in mind that one cycle through the dryer is probably not going to get the pillows completely dry so you will have to run them through at least once more.
