On January 11th, the Today Show did an interesting story on pillows – and how dirty they can get. As the piece explained, pillows can hold a whole lot of dirt, including a veritable laundry list of nasty things: skin cells and bodily secretions, animal hair and dander, bacteria and fungi, dust mites and dust mite fragments and waste, etc. Four volunteers allowed their pillows to be tested for these kinds of contaminants, and then they came on the show to hear the results. Guest Dr. Phillip Tierno, from NYU's Tisch Hospital, reported on the state of their pillows. Some of them weren't so pleasant. As he mentioned, the cleanliness of your pillow is of utter importance, since you generally inhale its contents for around eight hours a day... or one third of your life. Dr. Tierno also suggested a cure: an "impervious outer covering" or pillow encasing, not just for your pillows, but also for your mattress. Click on the link to watch the clip – "How Dirty is Your Pillow?"

Want to start fresh with some nice clean bedding? We recommend visiting our pillow section to pick up a fresh, inviting pillow. We also offer protective encasings for pillows, mattresses, and comforters. You can buy a complete dust mite bedding package to fully encase your pillows, mattress, and box springs, or visit our dust mite covers page to build your own.