The Care And Cleaning Of A Buckwheat Pillow

One reason people may shy away from purchasing a buckwheat pillow is because they feel that it would be too difficult to clean and care for. In fact, the opposite is true. While a buckwheat pillow does require a different method of care and cleaning than a traditional fiber filled pillow, it’s not difficult at all.

At its heart, a buckwheat pillow has buckwheat hulls. These cannot get wet, so the whole pillow can’t be thrown in the washing machine like a fiber filled pillow can. However, quality buckwheat pillows have an inner pouch that holds the hulls and and outer cover, or pillowcase. The inner pouch/cover will have a zipper. Undo the zipper and remove the hulls – then the inner as well as the outer covers can be washed along with your regular bedsheets. If you do get the hulls wet, they will need to be replaced. Therefore, it’s a good idea to turn the inner cover inside out before cleaning to make sure there aren’t any hulls trapped in the corner or stuck in a seam.

While the buckwheat hulls themselves can’t be washed, they don’t need a lot of care. Buckwheat hulls are naturally resistant to harboring organisms, since they don’t have any nutritive value, ie they aren’t food for mites. Also, since a buckwheat pillow is 99% dust free, this further deters dust mites.

However, there is a way to freshen up your buckwheat pillow. About once a month or so, just lay your pillow in the sun for a few hours. If you are actively using the pillow, that should be enough for the hulls. It is unlikely the hulls will ever get mites or fungus. However, if you store your buckwheat pillow, then once a month pop the pillow in the freezer for several hours as a preventative measure, especially if you live in a hot or humid environment. Either of these two freshening methods should be enough for the pillow.

Further care for your buckwheat pillow should be minimal. A buckwheat pillow with a zipper allows you to add or remove hulls to customize the firmness. Once you’ve found the right level of hulls, no further maintenance will be needed for several years. Over the years, the hulls won’t break down, but through repeated use they do rub against each other, creating a polish like sea glass. When this happens, the pillow will have better supportive properties and be more comfortable.

However, polished hulls do fit together tighter, so the buckwheat pillow will not be as full as it was originally. Then, you will need to add more hulls. But, even this maintenance is minor, because polished hulls still retain 93% of their original volume. Because this process is slow over the years, unlike a fiber filled pillow where the fiber breaks down, a buckwheat pillow can last five, ten, or even more years.

As you can see, even though a buckwheat pillow needs a different kind of care than a fiber filled pillow, the care is very easy. The covers need no more care than regular pillow cases, and as for the buckwheat pillow itself, a few hours in the sun or in the freezer freshens it right up. If you were considering passing on a buckwheat pillow due to maintenance fears, you can see there is no reason to worry. A pillow that lasts 10 or more years with simple maintenance is a great pillow. A buckwheat pillow is that great pillow.