Pillows & Sheets - When to Wash

How often do you wash your bed sheets? Do you wash them regularly? A while back, AllYou.com asked readers how often they wash their sheets. Turned out, the majority of the readers stripped the bed every 10 to 14 days, while a good many of them went three and even four weeks in between washings!

Well, that sounds kind of nauseating if you think about the many hours we spend in bed, leaving traces if hair, skin, impurities, sweat, among others. Mary Zeitler of Whirlpool's Institute of Home Science recommends that your sheets should be washed often to remove a buildup of debris, dust, sweat and other icky things. It is essential that you use hot water (130 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit) and a hot dryer cycle to kill all germs.

If sheets need to be washed every week, what about the pillows?

Have you noticed that we always wash our cases but we never wash the pillows? We tend to think that washing the pillow cases is all we need to do, because the interior is "magically" clean.

While it is not necessary to wash the pillow every week, it is very important to consider doing so as we spent between 6 and 8 hours day breathing on them.

If you think coolly, your pillow could be an ideal place for growing bacteria, fungi and mites.

It is important to wash your pillows at least every five months or after a viral flu. Washing your pillows is easier than you think. You just have to put them in the washing machine (no more than 2 at a time), and wash them with hot water, detergent and fabric softener.

If you are worried that your beloved pillow lose its "spongy padded" properties, then put two tennis ball in the washer with them, that will avoid crushing the filling of your pillows.

If your have feather pillows, they have to be washed by hand with hot water and let them dry in the open air, horizontally hang from each of its ends so that the filling evenly dry.