One normally associates sleeping with healing, relaxation and getting rid of niggling pains in the night. You would normally not connect sleeping at night or using your bed, to getting acne and dandruff, or even skin rashes and respiratory issues. But what if this were actually true.
Have you noticed lately that you or a loved one get sudden unexplained colds, or you suffer acne breakouts despite having a daily skin care regimen? You maintain good hygiene with regards to your skin, body and clothing, and you take care to keep your immunity strong by eating right and exercising regularly. And yet, there are these unexplained skin and hair issues that you have no answer to. The culprit might be your bedding.
How does your bedding cause skin and hair problems? From your bedsheet to pillow covers and comforters, your bedding has the potential to make you sick because it may be rife with germs.
How Does Your Bedding Make You Sick?
It seems strange that a space of relaxation and healing – your bed – could be giving you acne breakouts and poor hair. The problem starts with unclean bedding that has not been washed for long, or not cleaned properly.
- Most of us make our beds quite infrequently. We lay down a washed bedsheet on the bed, and then simply smoothen it over the next morning after use. Usually, the same single or double bedsheet will get slept in for about a fortnight to even a month!
- Every time you lie down on your bed, your skin and hair make contact with the sheet. This means that the wet or dried sweat, your dead skin, loose hair, dandruff from the scalp, or even other bodily emissions, come in contact with the sheet. With each use, these are stuck on to the sheet and the pillow covers.
- The double or single bedsheet absorbs liquid and fluid spills, and there may be trace food crumbs as well. These begin to create germ and bacterial colonies, which fester gradually as the sheet is progressively used.
- This largely means that the sheet, pillow cover and comforter get contaminated with every use. Continuing to use it after the contamination leads to more germ and microbial activity. These germs and microbes are then transferred back to your skin and hair. They cause a large number of problems, from rashes, acne, oiliness, boils, increased dandruff, even respiratory disorders or asthmatic flareups.
How To Care For Your Bed Sheet
It naturally follows that you must wash your used bedding before it becomes too grubby. But how soon is too soon?
- It is safe to use the same bedding for a fortnight in cold weather, when you don’t sweat as much as you would at other times of the year. In hot or humid seasons, it is better to wash the sheets and pillow covers after a week of use.
- Follow the manufacturer’s directions on washing the bedding. Usually, it is better to wash both small and large bedsheets in cold or cool water – hot water must be avoided at all costs – using your usual brand of detergent.
- Avoid dry cleaning or bleaching your bedding – these do not clean the sheets any more than a tumble in the washing machine can, and end up fraying the thread count on the fabric.
We hope this article was helpful in making it clear about how your bedding can cause skin and hair problems, and how to care for your bed linen in the right manner.