Have You Washed Your Pillowcase This Week!

The best way to ensure that your peaceful night's sleep doesn't wreak havoc on your skin is to wash your pillowcases often . . . probably a lot more often than you actually do. Residual makeup, bacteria, dirt, and oil can build up on your pillowcase, thus interfering with your ritual double cleanse when you hit the sheets. Let’s not even mention the sneezing, tears sweat and dribble!

Evidence of dribbling as above provided by the Hubby . . . Thanks Wes!

If like me you have a pretty intimate relationship with your pillow that thin sheet of fabric has seen the best of times and the worst of times, and as a result some pretty gross things can happen when you don't wash your pillowcase at least once a week.

Dirt and Oil Can Build Up

Are you in the habit of faceplanting your pillow after a heavy night with a full face of makeup on? While your pillowcase may look clean at first glance, there's actually all sorts of tiny but nefarious things going on. Not washing your pillowcase regularly results in a build-up of many things including oil, dirt, dead skin cells, makeup, skincare products, hair products and even breakout-causing bacteria all of which transfer to your sheets and build up over time until eventually your bedding is basically a giant used makeup wipe. Then during the following nights, all that gunk transfers back onto your face and body, clogging your pores, which can lead to facial irritation and acne.

It Can Get as Germy as A toilet Seat

Not to gross you out too much, but a particularly dirty pillowcase can even give a toilet seat a run for its money when it comes to bacteria. Bacterial samples taken from toilet seats and pillowcases were found to be almost identical. Another study found that unwashed pillowcases and sheets had up to 39 times more bacteria than pet-food bowls and several thousand times more than a toilet seat . . . EWE!

You Might Make Some Microscopic Friends.

If you think you're sleeping alone at night — save for maybe your partner, toddler or your pet think again. Pillowcases pick up dead skin. You shed about 15 million skin cells each night, but they don't just pile up in your sheets. Because something else is already there waiting to gobble them up: Dead [skin] cells are a smorgasbord of amazing chow for dust mites. And the longer you wait between washes, the more food these critters will have and the more they'll procreate and multiply. So, if you don't wash your sheets, you'll be sleeping with hundreds of thousands of arachnids. Dust mites are one of the biggest allergens.  Decomposed dust mites and their faeces produce proteins that cause red and itchy eyes, can make you wake with a stuffed nose, allergic shiners, or worse, asthma." Also whilst on the subject of pets, If you let your pet sleep in your bed, or worse, on your pillow then do you know you'll be resting your head on a pile of whatever they tracked in. Think along the lines of outside allergens, hair, and possibly even remnants of poop.

You Will Be Lying in A Pool of Drool And Sweat.

Even though you can't see that damp pool of drool on your pillow, it's there acting as a local leisure centre for bacteria. If you are a side or stomach sleeper, there's a higher chance of more gross body fluid getting on your pillowcase because of gravity. Another bodily fluid that's likely to build up? That's right “Let’s talk about sweat baby!”

In more extreme cases, ongoing dampness from the sweat and drool listed above can cause certain types of mould and Fungus to grow, and it can creep into other areas of your bed. A typical pillow has as many as 16 different species of fungus and literally millions of fungal spores the most common among them, Aspergillus fumigatus. "One type of mould, Cladosporium, grows on damp mattresses and can lead to asthma, pneumonia, and a fungal infection called Onychomycosis, which can cause skin lesions and crumbling toenails. YIKES!

Fortunately, there is a simple way to avoid all of these problems: Wash your sheets and wash them often and for the 55% of single men between 18 & 25 who reported changing their sheets only 4 times a year . . . BURN THEM!