Can you wash pillows without them becoming lumpy?

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DH is allergic to feathers, so we have to have synthetic filling pillows in the house (yuk - but that's another thread... )

The care label always says you can wash them at 40 c and then tumble dry, but when I do they always come out lumpy with the filling inside all tangled up, so I have to either throw them away or cut them open to rearrange inside and then hem up again on the sewing machine [pain-in-the-backside-icon]

What am I doing wrong?

interested in this too, cos I have the same problem

can you lower the spin on your washer? i dont tumble mine they drip dry on radiator! ours havent died yet if that fails you can pick them up for a couple of quid!

I know with feather pillows, if you wash and tumble dry, you can put a (clean, new) tennis ball in the dryer with it, to kind of fluff up the filling, and stop it bunching up. But I'm not sure it would work with synthetic fillings.

Hmm - have been googling this too, and there seems to be a lot of talk about washing pillows in pairs so they balance one another out in the spin cycle - maybe I shoudl try that?

they always go lumpy, (synthetic ones) I dont wash mine as often becuase of that, but tend to buy new ones instead. They are so cheap.

I know I could buy new ones, but then what do you do with the old ones!? I unnecessary waste!

tsk - I hate unnecessary waste .....

Put a coupel of tennis balls in the dryer bwith the pillows. That's what mymate does and her oillows look much fluffier than the squashed lumpy ones that I have.

buy dunlopillos latex pillows...keep their shape, dry easy, last for years and come up like new. fabulous.

how often to you replace your pillows??
My dh has such a sweaty head that if it weren't for the environment I'd change them every couple of months!
I have not succeeded in washing them either. But hate the idea of unnecessary landfill
can they be dry cleaned?

old thread about old pillows

I think it depends on the quality of the pillows. I have some pillows from John Lewis that were relatively expensive but they wash really well and come out soft and bouncy, whereas others (from Sainsburys I think) just go lumpy and horrible. DH is a bit odd about pillows and seems to prefer them lumpy (which I suspect says a lot about how often MIL changed pillows when he was growing up) so he gets the nasty supermarket ones and ds and I get the nice John Lewis ones.

I use the really thick quilted pillow protectors on mine and wash those quite often - that way the pillows stay very clean. I don't know how to stop the pillows going lumpy when washed though.

thanks! I have started using those protective cases from Ikea - they do make a difference.

Try www.outofeden.co.uk and look for their 'fluff and bounce' pillows. Wash, tumble, and good as new.

I ought to know - I run a hotel!!