The pillow has a vital role in people's lives when one considers a good night's sleep. Responsible for supporting the head and keeping the spine aligned during sleep, the pillow itself also needs some care so that its service lifespan can be maintained.
Although some pillows may be washed, there is great confusion and many common questions on how one should proceed to do the washing and drying. Check out a few tips to upkeep the quality of your product:
First of all, check your pillow for it's specific care instructions, which will determine if it may be washed. If that is the case, wash it only if you are able to follow the drying procedure completely. By definition, pillows are made of fluffy, soft, porous and fibrous materials, all of which absorb water and humidity like real sponges. After washing it, it will retain a great amount of humidity inside, even when apparently dry on their exterior (superficially dry).
A good practice is to weight your pillow before washing it, so that you can test the drying process efficiency, by comparing its weight afterwards. When completely dry, your pillow should weight exactly the same as before. Any weight difference will indicates the amount of water retained in the pillow.
It is important to point out that a pillow may contain several different microorganisms whose quantities are kept on ecological balance. Washing it eliminates part of those microorganisms, thus breaking the balance, which causes survivor microorganisms to hazardly multiply, especially if the drying process is incomplete.
Machines of domestic use are not able to provide the necessary performance to ensure a complete drying process.
Therefore, with exception our WASHABLE pillow, that can be washed and dried at home, it is advisable to always carry the pillow at a specialized laundry and require them the washing instructions be strictly followed.
It is common to make the mistake of exposing pillows to the sun. The sun is an excellent superficial sanitization agent, due to the ultraviolet rays eliminating the exposed surface's microorganisms. For this reason, all of us have the habit of exposing clothing, sheets, and fabrics to the sun in order to eliminate mold and unpleasant smells. However, on the pillows case, the whereabouts of the mites and bacteria are not the pillow's surface, but its core. If the pillow is exposed to the sun, there will be heat in its core, an environment already full of humidity, skin residues, grease and head secretions. The temperature increase causes an accentuated boost of mite, fungi and bacteria multiplication, as well as the acceleration of the pulverization of mites' feces and corpses, both highly allergenic elements. Furthermore, ultraviolet radiation oxidizes the pillow's surface material, giving it a yellowish hue.
Ventilate and air the pillow while keeping it protected by a pillowcase and always under indirect light. This action will increase the health and durability of your pillow.
Doctors and physiotherapists recommend replacing a pillow every two years. This should be done because pillows are one of the favorite hiding places for microorganisms that feed on the natural secretions we eliminate during sleep. Just to give an idea, with about six months of use a pillow already contains around 300 thousand mites and, after two years, up until 25% of its weight belongs to live (and dead) mites, and its feces. Even in the case of a pillow that had anti-mite treatment, after some time the pillow's internal fibers will have an accumulation of the waste mentioned above, and that would decrease the antimicrobial efficiency.
