How To Clean Bed Pillows - The New York Times

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Just like any other piece of bedding, pillows need to be washed. Pillowcases go a long way toward keeping your pillows free of build-up and allergens, but they can only protect pillows for so long.

Over time, sweat and oils from your skin make their way through the fibers of your pillowcase and through the outer shell of your pillow to the filling inside.

It’s good hygiene practice to wash your pillows once or twice a year—and it will help them last longer, too.

Different fillings—like down, down alternative, or foam—need different washing methods, so we asked down expert Jack Sukalac, owner of All About Down, and Christian Alexander, CEO at Nest Bedding, for advice.

What you need

• Laundry detergent and stain remover (if necessary): We like Tide Free & Gentle.
• Spot remover: For stains on pillows, we recommend pretreating with your favorite laundry detergent, or with a dedicated stain remover like Amodex, or Zout. Tough stains might require a product with oxygen bleach, like Tide Ultra Oxi powder detergent.
• A large container or garbage bags: Foam-pillow filling—whether it’s shredded or whole foam pieces—can’t usually go in the washing machine, but you can wash the covers. Shredded fill can be messy, so emptying it into a plastic container, like the 78-quart Iris WeatherPro Storage Box, should work.
• Clean cloths or rags: Old T-shirts, washcloths, or cheap terry dish towels are good for this.
• Pillow protector: Alexander recommends using a pillow protector in addition to a pillowcase to extend time between cleanings. We recommend Hospitology Products Pillow Encasements.

How long will this take to clean?

Spot cleaning a pillow shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes, plus drying time, unless the stain needs to soak overnight. You can spot clean pillows as often as needed in between deeper cleanings.

Washing a foam pillow cover (since the actual filling can't usually be washed) should take a single wash cycle, plus air-drying time. It can take a few hours to wash down and down-alternative pillows in the washer and dryer, and with down especially, you’ll need to monitor it while it’s in the dryer.

Spot treat minor stains

For small stains, try spot cleaning in between major washings or before you put your pillow in the washer. Spot cleaning the cover is also the only way to clean most foam pillows without removing the fill.

Follow the instructions for whatever stain remover you choose. But generally you’ll want to spray or saturate the stain directly, pinch the fabric on either side of the stain, and rub the fabric sides together to push the spot treatment into the stain.

Leave the treated stain to soak for several minutes—or overnight for dried, old stains—and then wet a clean rag to blot and rinse the soiled area. For stubborn stains, you may need to determine the source (coffee, blood, oil, or dirt, for example) and follow the specific protocols in our guide to removing stains.

Empty foam pillows and wash the cover

Some textile experts we’ve interviewed say you can wash shredded foam pillows (but not single-piece foam) with the stuffing inside, but manufacturers almost unilaterally say not to do it. Washing the whole pillow could affect your ability to return it or make a warranty claim.

Washing a foam pillow could change a pillow’s loft, damage shredded or single-piece foam, cause mold to grow if it’s not dried properly, or possibly even harm your washer and dryer if the shredded fill escapes.  Single-piece foam fillings are easy to remove, but for shredded foam pillows you’ll want to unzip the cover and empty the contents into a big container until the cover is washed and dried. This can stir up a lot of dust and fluff, so do it outside or somewhere it’s easy to contain the mess, like a bathtub.

Once the filling is emptied, Alexander says you should wash the cover on cold and leave it to air-dry (foam pillow covers usually aren’t cotton, so we think this is playing it safe to avoid possible heat damage). He recommends doing this no more than once a year.

Thoroughly rinse down and down alternative pillows

Down alternative pillows are less precious to wash than down, and you can just follow the care label instructions. But Sukalac’s advice for cleaning down pillows works well for both.

Sukalac says you always want to protect the oils on the down feathers inside your pillow. If the down gets wet it can become sticky and start to stink (one obvious indicator that it’s time to wash it). Eventually it will lose its loft and leave you with a flat-as-a-pancake pillow. Wash it in cold or warm water on the gentle cycle, and don’t add too much detergent—soap residue can build up on the down, just like dirt and sweat do.

It’s important to thoroughly rinse and spin the pillow to make sure the soap is fully removed, but it’s hard to know whether the down filling inside is free of soap. For an additional rinse, Sukalac suggests running a second, quick wash or rinse cycle without soap. “If you do a quick wash with no soap, just [to] try and extract all the soap out, you’re helping.”

Go easy with the dryer

Soap and dirt aren’t the only ways to damage a pillow’s stuffing. Sukalac says drying your pillows on high heat for a long time is a surefire way to bake the down inside, stripping it of oils and permanently damaging it. High heat is also unkind to down alternative stuffing, which is usually made of polyester and can warp or even melt if it’s left too long at high temperatures.

High heat is the best way to kill dust mites, bed bugs, and other pathogens, though, so Sukalac says he runs the dryer on hot for the first 20 minutes only. “Then I kick it down to medium or low to do all the rest of the drying,” he says. He takes pillows out of the dryer every 20 minutes to shake out clusters and make sure the fill is evenly drying and redistributing. “Extracting the water is really difficult,” he says. “You’ve really got to take [the pillow] out and beat it up and manually unclump it.” Don’t remove the pillow until it is completely dry.

How to take care of your pillows long-term

We know pillow protectors are not always the most comfortable for sleeping, but Alexander recommends using them (with a pillowcase on top) so you don’t have to wash pillows as often. To keep your foam pillows fluffed, “Knead your pillow like a loaf of bread once a week to let the shredded foam inside open up.” Or put it in the dryer for 10 minutes on no heat.

Sukalac also recommends using the dryer for down or down alternative pillows. “When I sell somebody a new pillow,” he says, “I tell them once every three, four weeks, put it in the dryer for an hour on regular heat to evaporate out moisture, perspiration that has collected.” Your pillow will stay fluffier for longer this way. And if you have allergies, Sukalac recommends putting your pillow in the dryer on high heat for 20 minutes to help kill off dust mites.

Meet your guide

Jackie Reeve

I’ve been Wirecutter’s bedding reporter for nearly a decade. In addition, I cover other home textiles, including towels and rugs. Sometimes I also write about chickens.

Mentioned above

• We tested dozens of laundry detergents and found that Tide Ultra Oxi Powder and Tide Free & Gentle Liquid tackled the widest range of stains with ease.The Best Laundry Detergent 
• After years of testing, these seven storage bins, boxes, and totes are our favorites for keeping stuff clean and dry, inside or out.The Best Storage Containers 
• We’ve wiped up gallons of spills with 25 different towels over the past four years, and the Williams Sonoma All Purpose Pantry Towels are the best we’ve found.The Best Kitchen Towels 
• Mattress and pillow encasements protect your bed from bedbugs, dust mites, and other household allergens.The Best Mattress and Pillow Encasements 
• With the right supplies, a solid game plan, and some patience, you can remove even the toughest stains from the seemingly unsalvageable in your laundry bin.So You Stained Your Shirt. Now What? 

Further reading

• 

  A Step-by-Step Checklist to Spring Cleaning Your Bed

  by Caira Blackwell

  We’ll walk you through the step-by-step checklist of everything you need to do to clean your mattress and bedding ahead of spring.

• 

  The Best Bed Pillows

  by Jackie Reeve

  After spending more than 1,000 nights testing hundreds of pillows, we have a range of favorites, so you can pick the right one for you.

• 

  We Tested Dozens of Memory Foam Pillows. These Are the Best.

  by Shaena Montanari

  These adjustable and single-piece memory-foam pillows offer firmness and support, especially for side sleepers.
• 

  How to Wash a Sleeping Bag

  by Christine Ryan

  Whether your sleeping bag is filled with down or down alternative, here’s how to clean it.