Old pillows can quickly turn yellow from sweat, drool and even urine stains, but luckily one expert has now shared a simple method to get them looking white again. Most people throw them in the wash and hope for the best, but there’s an extra step that can make all the difference.
The trick is to treat the pillow before it ever goes near the washing machine. “Your pillows can get really nasty, full of sweat stains, saliva stains and even pee stains,” said cleaning expert Thomas Hernandez, who runs the popular YouTube channel Clean With Confidence. In a video guide on how to clean pillows properly, he explained: “I’m going to show you the easiest and most effective way to clean your pillows with confidence.”
Before doing anything, he said you should always check the label first. “They will provide essential cleaning instructions for your specific pillow type, and this will just help to avoid causing damage to your pillows during the washing and cleaning process.”
Next comes the pre-wash trick that helps loosen up tough yellow patches.
Mr Hernandez said: “As you can see, this pillow, you ain’t got to look very hard, this pillow is covered in stains.”
To target them, he sprays the pillow very “liberally” with hydrogen peroxide. “This is just going to help to loosen up some of those stains before we stick it in the washing machine,” he added.
Once sprayed, he recommends leaving the pillow for 30 minutes before placing it in the washer with two or three others.
He added: “Make sure you put two to three other pillows along with it to balance the load.”
The cleaning expert said that choosing the right settings is also very important. “You want to set the machine to the bulky setting.
“On this machine, which is my washing machine, the bulky setting is actually called ‘bedding’,” he said.
The bulky cycle uses more water and a longer soak time to fully clean large, heavy items like pillows. It also uses a gentler spin cycle to avoid damaging the fabric.
Other key settings include cool water and an extra rinse cycle. Mr Hernandez explained: “The extra rinse cycle is just going to help to ensure that all the detergent gets washed out.”
As for detergent, he said: “Just any laundry detergent will do. Just make sure the laundry detergent contains no bleach.”
Once washed, pillows should be fluffed and dried on a low heat. Adding “a couple of dryer balls” or tennis balls can help remove leftover moisture and keep the pillow’s shape.
Once dry, the results should be clear, but don’t worry if some marks remain.
“The hydrogen peroxide did a pretty good job,” Mr Hernandez said. “But as you can see, there’s still a little bit of overall yellowish to it.”
He said a second round of washing using a stain remover can help shift the rest.
“That’s how to clean your pillows,” he said. “That is the fast, effective way to wash them.”