How Often Should You Replace a Buckwheat Bed Pillow?

Demand for Buckwheat Pillows is steadily growing, specifically with people that suffer from neck pain or other chronic pain. Their extended shelf life, easy cleanability , and eco-friendliness are what makes them so popular contrary to conventional pillows.

Known for their durable nature they can last almost 10 to 20 years. This makes these type of pillows a quite lucrative investment in your sleep, but you still need to take good care of them.

 

Any standard pillowcase is susceptible to stains and dirt and it requires intermittent cleaning. The same goes for a buckwheat pillow. They need to be washed. Not the entire pillow! Only the pillowcase.

 

 

But what if you end up soaking the the hulls? The hulls if soaked will make drying a cumbersome process, which will cause them to break down and lose their 3D shape.

 

So when should you replace the Buckwheat Hulls?

 

 

While cleaning, you will realize that the hulls look different than they used to. The hulls break down over time regardless, but due to their general long life cycle, replacing them immediately is not required unless you notice severe degradation.

 

Here’s when you should ideally replace it: 

• When the pillows stop holding a shape, you’d know that the hulls have lost their malleability and grip.
• When they lose their softness.
• When the pillow has no air circulation due to less space between the flattened hulls
• When they stop providing the support you require.
• When the hull volume reduces over the years
• When you feel the pillows are flatter than they used to be

 

 

It is still a matter of several years before you will notice any of these above changes. And proper po-active care of your pillow will lengthen the timeframe even further.

 

Tips to care for your Buckwheat Pillow:

 

• If you are using a cotton pillowcase, use cold water to avoid shrinkage.
• Air dry your pillowcase and avoid keeping them inside the dryer.
• Ask any of your family members to hold the case while you refill the hulls. Over Stretching the Pillowcase with extensive weight can cause the stitching to break.
• You can use your standards laundry detergents to wash your case(s).
• To clean both the inner and outer pillowcase, run your washing machine on a normal cycle. However, you can hand wash it if the fabric is sensitive (most buckwheat pillows are made of durable fabrics, so you would not have to worry about this too much)
• Avoid soaking the hulls which can lead to molds and mildew forming on them if not cleaned in a timely manner
• Before washing the pillow, keep it outside for sunlight and air, at least for a couple of hours.
• You don’t have to worry about bugs or pests. Buckwheat Hulls have no nutritional value to bugs, so they keep the insects/bugs/mites away naturally.
• You can use an additional spare pillowcase that you can wash periodically, so you always have your pillow set up and ready for your bedroom

 

You don’t always have to replace the entire pillow, refilling a new batch of the hull does the trick too. We recommend you to check our website for refills or the wide range of eco-friendly and ergonomic buckwheat pillows that we offer.