We’re all pretty across good hygiene. Like, most of us (I hope) change our undies each day. And wash our clothes regularly. Wash our hands after going to the bathroom (NO EXCUSES ON THIS ONE).
But then we get into bed and literally take zero care for any form of hygiene whatsoever. Just put our filthy long-day bods into the sheets and rest our greasy bonce on our old as hell pillow.
Even the cleaner folk among us are probably doing pillows wrong. I for one change my sheets every week, but it wasn’t until recently – reading about all this disgusting stuff for you guys – that I realised I was forgetting one important thing. Changing my actual pillows.
Pillows harbour a crapload of disgusting stuff. It is HORRIFIC. Here’s a fun rundown to ruin your Tuesday afternoon.
DUST MITES
There are many, many reports on how many dust mites inhabit your pillow – the scariest being a University of Missouri study that found an average 2 million per bed. Dust mites are pretty common, but they can cause allergies big time – think runny nose, watery eyes, the works.
You can buy allergy-proof cases which help prevent dust mites harbouring in your pillow, but tbh they’re common so unless you are noticing allergies, you don’t really need one.
Still gross, though. Also – fun fact – they feed off dead skin cells, which brings us to…
DEAD SKIN CELLS
Our bodies shed around a thousand cells a minute. Revolting. Because we spend half our life with our head on a pillow, you bet your sweet bippy a lot of those are going onto our pillow case.
Now, dead skin cells are fine. But they’re also a brilliant breeding ground for dust mites (see above) as well as bacteria. So if you’re never washing your pillow case or replacing your pillow, you could be harbouring a whole bunch of crap thanks to your dead skin.
SWEAT, WATER AND OIL
Your head, it sweats. Your hair also is covered in oil (especially if you never wash it) and if you sleep with it wet, that water’s been seeping through into your pillow for as long as you’ve owned it. All of those bodily fluids are a beautiful breeding ground for bacteria to develop and fester, not to mention they’ll turn your pillow yellow and repulse anyone who sees it.
Using a pillow protector underneath your pillowcase can help – then you can wash that along with your pillow case, and prevent as much of the crap from seeping into your actual pillow as possible.
FUNGI
Even the word fungus is gross – and according to Rob Dunn, Ph.D, an associate professor of biology at North Carolina State University who spoke to Mens Health, our pillows carry a LOT of it.
“We saw tens of thousands of fungal species in the samples, which is more than there are named fungal species on earth,” he told the publication.
The one that can be most problematic is Aspergillus fumigatus, which can aggravate asthma and cause allergic sinusitis. It’s also just gross, OK? Fungi in your pillow is gross.
So what can you do? Well, washing your pillowcases at least once a week is recommended by dermatologists – if you’re finding you have skin issues like eczema or acne, washing even more frequently can help keep ’em free of bacteria.
Putting a pillow protector over your actual pillow is also a great way to keep nasties at bay. Ones specifically designed to protect allergy sufferers will keep dust mites down, for example.
And by god, replace your pillow regularly. As in, not NEVER.
‘If you had to come up with a medium to cultivate bacteria, besides a Petri dish with agar [a gelatinous food], a pillow is pretty much as good as you can get,” says Dunn. “It is a wet sponge that absorbs bodily fluids of various kinds providing nutrients. It is kept at the ideal temperature by the warm body lying on top.”
Most sources will say every 6 months for a regular polyester pillow, although memory foam or more durable versions you can do every 18 months. Many have a suggested replacement time on the label, so check that as well.
Basically – don’t keep yours for years, you grot.
