Most people are quite diligent when it comes to washing their sheets once a week and airing their mattress, but how often are you washing your duvet?
The humble duvet is a breeding ground for dust mites and bacteria, as well as collecting sweat and skin cells from us in our sleep. Considering we spend up to 35 per cent of our lives in bed, that’s a whole lot of organic matter.
Helen Johnson, the spokesperson for The Fine Bedding Company told the Huffington Post that a duvet hasn’t been washed for a year it is likely to be home to more than 20,000 dust mites.
A nationwide survey conducted by Laundrapp found that of the 97 per cent of Brits who sleep with a duvet, 20 per cent have never washed it, and a further 78 per cent only washed their duvet once in the past 12 months.
There’s a few schools of thought when it comes to how regularly you should be cleaning your duvet. The general consensus is that duvets should be washed every two to three months. However, the head of testing at the Good Housekeeping Institute, Verity Mann, suggests duvets be washed every few months, or at least twice a year.
The Fine Bedding Company recommends a six-monthly clean, or at least once a year. Ideally, you should be cleaning your duvet every three to six months.
Synthetic fibre duvets should be washed in a large machine on a normal spin cycle at 60 degrees Celsius, or as high as the care label suggests.
Dry in the tumble dryer, or in direct sunlight outside.
Feather and down filled duvets need to be dry cleaned
A natural fibre duvet, such as feather or down, usually needs to be dry cleaned, so check the care label first.
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