You Need Two Pillow Cases
Pillows are soft and simple, they help us feel more comfortable. They can also become very rough. Think about it: night after night, your pillow is exposed to every combination of sweat, saliva, hair oil, dead skin, makeup, and every other dirt and grime coming from your head, face, and mouth.
That’s why your pillows get those flaky yellow spots , and why they lose their fluffiness over time (all those bodily fluids smooth out the fibers ). And the best way to prevent these stains on your pillows (along with all the nasty things you can’t see) is to protect them. Here’s how to do it.
How to extend the life of pillows
As well as preventing yellow spots, placing another layer between your head and pillow will also extend its lifespan, helping to make it cleaner and fluffier over time. There are several ways to do this.
Some people, especially those who are allergic to dust mites, prefer to use a special mattress pad on top of the pillow but under the pillowcase. If you don’t have any pillowcases handy, or haven’t found any pillowcases that look like real fabric and not plastic, you can also use two pillowcases on one pillow . (Or, for extra, extra protection, you can use a pillowcase and then two pillowcases.)
In a post to Food52, Arati Menon argues for using two pillowcases (no protector because she finds them “super wrinkled”), noting that using an old pillowcase on the inside and then a pillowcase that comes with a sheet set on the outside has similar benefits by being more convenient.
If you’re going down the path with two pillowcases, place them facing in opposite directions. So, once your inner pillowcase is on, instead of laying the outer pillowcase on the same side, which would leave the pillow itself partially exposed, turn the pillow the other way.