If your pillow smells, add half a cup of baking soda into the wash. If your pillow is musty, moldy or has mildew, throw in some vinegar into the wash cycle.
Pillows stashed away in a non-breathable material such as plastic, or left in a humid, dark environment for a while, may develop a musty smell. This odor indicates the presence of mildew and sometimes mold.
Mildew, moldy, and musty odors are some of the toughest odors to get rid of once they've set. If left alone, the smells might fade over time, but likely won't completely go away on their own. To get rid of the smells, you've got to also get rid of the fungal growth that's causing it.
Toss your moldy pillow into the filled washing machine, and add a cup of vinegar, and 1/2 a cup of baking soda into the mix. Vinegar and baking soda should kill any remaining mold from the pillows.
In most cases, washing as usual with a quality heavy-duty detergent will remove the mildew smell. You can also add 5 cups of vinegar directly to the drum with your laundry detergent, but Zinna says this is more effective for removing smells than it is for removing stains.
Add 1 cup of bleach to 1 gallon of water. Dip a bristle brush in the mixture and scrub the mildew. Allow the mixture to sit on the area for 15-20 minutes. Rinse and dry well to prevent future mildew growth.
Vinegar: Combine half water and half vinegar into a spray bottle. Shake it up and spritz your musty-smelling clothing with the solution. If you add a few drops of essential oils to the mix that will help eliminate the smell of vinegar. You'll want to let your clothing air out for a bit otherwise.
Vinegar safely and naturally kills mold spores and helps remove black mildew stains on pillows. Use plain vinegar for tough stains or dilute with half water before applying to mildew stains. Scrub gently with a damp sponge, adding enough baking soda to make a paste for difficult stains.
If it is not washable, you can try spraying it with a spray disinfectant. You can also sanitize the pillow by sprinkling it with borax. Leave the powder on the pillow for an hour, then gently vacuum it with a vacuum cleaner.
The best disinfectant may not be the wash, but the drying process. Tumble-drying laundry, including pillows, on high heat for at least 30 minutes is sufficient for killing most influenza germs. Don't hesitate to tumble dry for longer, however.
Vinegar, baking soda, and hot water should be sufficient to get the job done, but you can also choose to make a bleach solution. To do it, mix one cup of powdered bleach with one cup of warm water in a bucket and use that as your scrubbing solution.
Borax is effective as a mildew odor remover because of its unique pH level. Borax is alkaline and is at about a 9.3 pH level. The powder creates a sort of dry, alkaline space wherever it is placed. The extremely alkaline nature of the Borax makes it easy to remove the mildew odor.
Mildew has a milder, musty smell that some compare to damp socks, but mold smells stronger and more pungent. The reason mold has a more powerful odor is that as it grows, it produces microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs).
What might be the reason for this? The reason why for instance pillows develop an unpleasant smell after they have been washed and dried, might be that the down and feathers have not been dried completely. In this case it is advisable to wash them again and dry them thoroughly until they are completely dry.
Unpleasant smells are a sign that bacteria and body odors have seeped right through the pillow's surface. Don't confuse the odors with the aroma of new synthetic memory foam pillows, which are also smelly. Change your pillows, don't sprinkle baking soda and air them hoping they will smell fresh again.
Down or feather: Most down pillows can be put in the washing machine. But use cool water and a mild detergent, then dry on low heat. (High temperatures can damage the down.) Memory foam or latex: Washer agitation can break up foam, so these pillows will probably need to be hand-washed.
Fill a bucket, bathtub or sink with a mixture of lukewarm water and a tablespoon of detergent; the water should be deep enough to completely submerge the pillow. While submerged, gently massage the pillow to circulate the solution through it.
Pro tip: "To 'recharge' your pillows and freshen them up in between deep cleanings, you can also run the pillows through the washing machine on a gentle, warm water cycle with 1/2 cup of white vinegar," says Cohoon.
Mildew refers to certain kinds of mold or fungus. The term mildew is often used generically to refer to mold growth, usually with a flat growth habit. Molds include all species of microscopic fungi that grow in the form of multicellular filaments, called hyphae.
Mix one part bleach to four parts water. Wipe and gently scrub the mould until it is gone. Finish by wiping away the bleach mixture and dry the area well with a soft cloth.
If the mildew is very bad, consider doing a Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach soak: use ¼ cup Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach per gallon of cool water; soak 5 minutes, then wash in hot water with detergent + ⅓ cup Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach.
Your first step is to choose your weapon – there are a few products you can use to help get rid of mildew on clothes:White vinegar: This is an effective treatment that's safe for many fabrics – you can either dilute the vinegar with water and then apply it directly to the stain, or add a cup to a bucket of water and ...
Wash your clothes in a cycle with vinegar.
The water in your machine won't necessarily get hot enough to sanitize your laundry, but the heat combined with the acetic acid in the vinegar will help break up any grime or bacteria that has started growing, which will help rid your clothing of that funky, musty smell.
You left your clothes in the washer too long.
A dark, wet environment like a washing machine is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria, mold, and mildew to thrive. These can build up in your clothing as time goes on, eventually leaving them with a permanent odor.