How to Wash a Copper Infused Pillow Without Ruining It

Nearly every copper pillow that gets ruined is ruined the same way: someone puts the whole thing in the washing machine.

The rule worth memorising is simple. The cover washes. The filling does not. That is what the zip is for, and once you have that straight the rest is easy.

Washing the copper cover

The copper infused cover on our pillows unzips completely and is machine washable. In practice:

1. Unzip and remove it fully. Take the filling out rather than trying to wash around it.
2. Wash at 40 degrees on a normal cycle. There is no need for a delicate cycle and no need for anything hotter.
3. Use ordinary detergent. Skip the fabric softener, which coats fibres and dulls the texture of the hexagon surface over time.
4. No bleach. It will not improve anything and it can damage the fabric.
5. Air dry, or tumble dry low. Line drying is kinder and copper covers dry quickly.
6. Put it back on while the filling is completely dry. Damp foam or fibre inside a cover is how pillows start to smell.

You will not wash the copper out. In a properly made cover the copper oxide is bonded into the fibre during manufacture rather than sprayed on as a finish, so it stays put through repeated washing. If you want the detail on what the copper is actually doing, we covered that in our honest look at whether copper pillows work.

The filling: crushed memory foam

Do not put crushed memory foam in a washing machine, and do not tumble dry it.

Memory foam is an open cell structure. It soaks up a surprising amount of water, it holds onto it deep inside where you cannot reach, and the agitation of a drum tears the cell structure apart. A machine washed foam pillow comes out heavier, lumpier and slower to dry than it went in, and it often never recovers its shape. Heat from a dryer does its own damage by breaking down the foam.

Clean it this way instead:

• Vacuum it. Upholstery attachment, both sides, every couple of months. This removes most of what builds up.
• Spot clean marks. Mild detergent in warm water, a cloth wrung out until it is barely damp, dab rather than rub. Do not soak the area.
• Rinse by dabbing with a clean damp cloth to lift the detergent out.
• Dry it flat and fully, away from direct heat. A radiator or hot sun will damage the foam. Give it a full day and press it to check the middle is dry before the cover goes back on.
• Air it. An hour somewhere with moving air, every few weeks, does more for freshness than any cleaning product.

For odours, sprinkle bicarbonate of soda over the surface, leave it a few hours, then vacuum it off. It works and it costs nothing.

The filling: hollowfibre

Hollowfibre is more forgiving, but check your care label before you commit.

Where the label allows it, hollowfibre fillings generally wash at 40 degrees on a gentle cycle. Two things make the difference between a good result and a flat, clumped pillow:

• Wash two at a time. A single pillow throws the drum off balance. A pair keeps it even.
• Run an extra rinse. Detergent trapped in the fibres is what makes a washed pillow feel stiff.

Drying matters more than washing. Tumble dry on low with a couple of clean tennis balls or dryer balls, which break up the clumps as the filling moves. Take it out partway through, shake it out by the corners, and put it back in. Expect this to take longer than you think, and do not stop early. A pillow that is dry on the outside and damp in the middle will develop mildew.

If you would rather not risk it, treat hollowfibre the same way as foam: vacuum, spot clean, air regularly. The pillow will last longer for it.

How often should you do all this?

A reasonable rhythm:

• Pillowcase: weekly, with the rest of your bedding
• Copper cover: every two to three months
• Filling, vacuum and air: every two to three months, at the same time as the cover
• Spot clean: when something happens, not on a schedule

Doing the cover and the filling together saves you taking the pillow apart twice.

The copper cover does not change this schedule. It helps the pillow stay fresher between washes, which is useful in a guest room or a holiday let where bedding sits unused, but it is not a substitute for washing.

Five things that wreck copper pillows

1. Machine washing memory foam. The single most common way to destroy one.
2. Drying on a radiator. Direct heat breaks down foam and scorches fibre.
3. Fabric softener. Coats the cover, flattens the texture, and reduces breathability.
4. Reassembling while damp. Mildew, smell, and a pillow you end up throwing out.
5. Skipping the pillowcase. The cover is a layer of protection, not the only one. Use both.

When to stop washing it and replace it

No amount of cleaning fixes a pillow that has given up. Replace it when the filling no longer springs back after you fold it, when you are waking with neck ache you did not have before, or when it stays smelling stale after a proper airing.

Most pillows have two to three years in them with regular use. If yours is past that, cleaning it is time you will not get back. Our crushed memory foam and hollowfibre copper pillows both come as singles or in multipacks if you are replacing more than one at a time.