How often should you wash your sheets?
Slipping into fresh sheets is one of life’s little pleasures!
You’re in bed for around 8 hours a night, naturally sloughing off dead skin cells, which dust mites feed on. You may perspire, there’ll be body oils as well, because one of the many functions of your skin as your body’s largest organ, is elimination, and that phase is particularly active during the night time.
Seven nights and you’ve clocked up around 56 hours in bed!
The bottom sheet is likely to be more grubby than the top sheet, so if you don’t use fitted sheets you can wash the bottom sheet weekly, replacing the top sheet as the bottom sheet for the next week and alternating. That’s one sheet washed per bed per week instead of two. If you have a bottom fitted sheet and a top flat sheet you can’t alternate, so weekly wash is recommended.
Pillowslips should be changed daily for acne sufferers. If acne is present on chest or back, then really sheets need to be changed daily as well.
When you're in bed around 56 hours each week, you don’t want unnecessary conventional laundry optical brighteners or any other synthetic chemical residues on sheets and pillowslips either.
Stay well away from using products that contain synthetic chemical fragrances, as many people are sensitive to them, especially babies and young children, resulting in mild to severe headaches, sneezing etc.
For washing bedding our favourite is Laundry Liquid Lavender alternatively if you wish to be completely free from even natural and organic essential oil aromas then use Laundry Liquid sensitive or Laundry Powder sensitive.
TIP: Use a small squeeze of Liquid Gall Soap in your wash for an extra cleaning boost, particularly where body oils are present.
TIP: To whiten and brighten yellowish or greying white sheets add Bleach Complex and Stain Remover in with Laundry Liquid or Powder in the detergent compartment of your washing machine. It’s best to only use bleach if needed.
You’ll find you don’t need a conventional fabric softener with Sonett Laundry products, so long as you don't overuse product, however, we do have Laundry Rinse which you add to the final rinsing water. Laundry Rinse helps to rinse out any laundry liquid or powder residue and neutralises the rinsing water which is important for allergy-prone people. It also brightens up colours, smoothes fibres and softens fabrics.
Dust Mites
House dust mites are present in most human environments, thriving in warm moist places such as mattresses, bedding and carpets, and feeding mainly on flaked-off dead skin. They are sensitive to dry conditions, changes in temperature, and ultra-violet light. House mite faeces, get into the air easily and can provoke a strong allergic response when inhaled.
A latex mattress is inhospitable to dust mites. No dust mite cover required.
Latex pillows are inhospitable to dust mites, wool or silk pillows, and doonas, are naturally resistant to dust mites.
Up to 85% of people with asthma are affected by the faeces of house dust mites. Those with the most common form of eczema – atopic eczema which is closely linked to asthma – are also affected by dust mites.
Low-temperature cycles in washing machines don’t kill dust mites, say scientists. Only 6% of house dust mites were killed in 30-40°C washes compared with 100% at 60°C, Korean researchers found.
Allergy UK agreed with these findings presented at an American Thoracic Society conference. They advise allergy sufferers to use 60°C washes.
Hot tumble drying items for half an hour after drying outside in UV light also kills dust mites.
There is a close link between asthma and allergies, around 40% of Australians have some form of allergy, more than 80% of people who have asthma also have an allergy.
Source: Asthma Australia
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