How to Wash a Body Pillow
Body pillows absorb more sweat and skin oil than any other pillow you own — you're wrapped around them for eight hours a night — and they're also the hardest to wash, because a 54-inch pillow overwhelms most home washing machines. Done wrong, a wash leaves you with a lumpy, mildew-smelling log. Done right, it comes out loftier than before. Here's the fill-by-fill method.
In this guide
The short answer
Check the tag first, but most down-alternative and shredded-foam body pillows are machine washable: cold gentle cycle, mild detergent, in a front-loader or top-loader WITHOUT an agitator. The drying is where pillows die — dry on low heat with two or three dryer balls (or clean tennis balls), and expect two full cycles. Solid memory foam and microbead pillows are spot-clean or hand-wash only; never machine wash them.
Before you start: two checks
One: read the care tag. 'Spot clean only' means exactly that. Two: size up your machine. A body pillow needs room to tumble freely — if you have to force it in, take it to a laundromat's large-capacity front-loader instead. A packed machine won't clean it and the strain can split the seams.
Always wash the cover separately (covers are almost always machine washable and dryable), and check the inner liner for small tears — one seam failure in a washer turns shredded foam into a snow globe.
Washing by fill type
The fill decides everything:
- Down alternative / polyester: machine wash cold on gentle, mild detergent, extra rinse if your machine offers it.
- Shredded memory foam (adjustable fills like the Coop): machine wash cold, gentle, only if the manufacturer says so — and dry on LOW, since heat degrades foam.
- Solid memory foam: never machine wash. Spot-clean stains with diluted mild detergent, then hand-press the area with a damp cloth. Soaking destroys the foam's structure.
- Microbead: hand wash in a tub with cool water and mild soap, or spot clean. Machines shred the seams.
- Down: machine washable on gentle, but must be dried completely — any residual dampness mildews inside.
Drying: where body pillows live or die
Dry on low heat with two or three wool dryer balls or clean tennis balls in socks — they beat the fill apart as it dries so it can't clump. Plan on at least two full cycles for a body pillow, pausing halfway to hand-fluff and break up any clumps you feel. The pillow must be bone-dry all the way to the center: squeeze the middle hard, and if it feels cool or spongy, keep drying.
If you have the space and weather, an hour or two of sun afterward freshens it and kills lingering odor. And between washes, a pillow protector under the cover stretches the wash interval from weeks to months.
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