Do I need to wash pillows?

[tiredpooky]

It must be many years....
If so how often?
Does it really matter?

I don't wash mine. I bin them and buy new ones - about 4 or 5 times a year - depending on how much drool is on them!

Yup I bin them every 4 months or so, only £4 in Harry Corry for two!

4 or 5 times a year??

I remember the woman on Houses Behaving Badly recommended that you put them in the freezer a few times a year to kill whatever's living in them, or stick them outside for the afternoon on a freezing cold but dry day.

Went through more with DS he'd alway have a stinky head in the mornings through sweating! We got a pillow protector that's helped hugely.

What the heck is "Harry Corry"?

I use pillow protectors and then buy new ones when they stop being supportive. washing them makes them go lumpy and misshapen.

Harry Corry is a shop I think

I wash mine, DH is a real sweaty Betty, I always know which pillow is his as he has a head sized yellow patch

haha! Harry Corry is a bed and homeware type shop, usually in Retail Parks!

are you kidding me??? new pillows 4 or 5 times a year???

and you just throw them away?

Thank you kato never seen them but will google.

Yes. I have new pillows 4 or 5 times a year. Yes, I throw them away. Am I a bad person?

I vacuum mine when I do the mattresses every month or so.

it seems very wasteful.
can't you donate them to a homeless shelter or something?

Wow. Are we allowed to throw pillows away? Actually a serious question. I wash them every few years. I never thought to throw one away. Really? In the bin?

I've heard it all now. New pillows 4 or 5 times a year????? Seriously????

Only on MN.

That would be 40+ pillows per year in our house.

I used to have pillow protectors, but since I've stopped using them I haven't caught anything from all the bacteria lurking in my pillows...

Wash em if they are fiber filled, four times a year, bin them when beyond washing or too lumpy.

But you can't wash them memory foam ones, but they have covers you can wash. My kid was sick on one, and once wet you can NEVER get them to dry fast enough without them getting stinky.

I wash DH's pillows every two weeks as he has a sweaty head. I always buy machine washable pillows. They smell lovely, but you do have to tumble dry them.

Two things I have learned about pillows:

1. Never ever wash a feather pillow, it ill never dry and it will smell like chickens.
2. Memory pillows make me want to vomit. They are squishy, spongy hot germ farms and they stink, even with pillow protectors on.

I think it's really wasteful to throw pillows away 4 or 5 times a year!

I use pillow protectors and replace the pillows every one to two years. I've never had any success in washing pillows, always come out lumpy.

They go into the cloth recycling up the local tip as supermarket charity bins don't seem to want them.

I wash feather pillows, and tumble dry them, and they are fine (but I live in a hot climate where things can dry well). I have only once, in the 28 years that i have had charge of a house, thrown away a pillow and that was because it was very old and lumpy.

Marjorie- you're lucky. I can still smell that chicken farm smell if I shut my eyes. They need to be dry as a bone like a desert!

yes feather ones reek when washed. however tumble drying them does get them bone dry and non-stinky again

before I discovered this I once washed one that ds1 had puked on. put it on the radiator to dry and went out.
I swear I nearly puked myself when I came back home, the stink was unbelievable!

I knew this thread would have me ROFL! New pillows every 4 months??? Some MNers surely have more money than sense.

Pillow protectors.