Here are a few basic tips on how to wash your Egyptian cotton sheets.
You will need Egyptian cotton sheets, your washer, dryer, detergent and a clothesline.
First of all your Egyptian cotton sheets are a fine quality of material. They need to be washed separately without any other shirts or pants mixed in with the cotton sheets.
By doing this, it will have a greater cause for damaging the sheets.
The sheets need to be washed in cold water, a very mild detergent and non-chlorine bleach.
After your cycle is completed, you need to remove the sheets immediately, place them in a dryer on a very short cycle.
After the cycle is completed you’ll need to remove the sheets once again quickly and have them hung on line.
By following these basic tips this will help you extend the life of your Egyptian cotton sheets.
How Often to Wash Your Egyptian Sheets
Do you want to know how often do you really have to wash your Egyptian sheets?
If you ask enough people, you’ll probably get many different answers, but I’m here to settle this debate once and for all.
Before I reveal exactly how often you should be washing your sheets, let’s talk a little bit about why you need to wash them.
To begin with, every night as you roll around in bed, you shed thousands and thousands of skin cells and any dirt or sweat that’s on your body goes directly into your bedding.
But that’s not all.
Dust mites actually feed on the skin cells that you shed, so the longer you wait to wash your sheets, the more those skin cells are going to build up and the more dust mites are gonna want to hang out on your bedding.
While that is definitely an icky enough reason to wash your sheets, remember that many of us are allergic to dust mites. so regularly washing your sheets is a great way to keep those allergens at bay.
But dust mites aren’t the only reason to wash your sheets.
Bedding collects all kinds of bacteria, fungi and a whole host of allergens that are totally invisible to the eye, not to mention any face cream, makeup or even your own sweat will build up in your bedding pretty quickly and has been known to cause acne and other skin related issues.
As you can see there’s no shortage of reasons to wash your sheets.
But how often do you really need to clean them in order to keep them super fresh?
The short answer is once a week.
However this can depend upon your personal habits and lifestyle. So let’s dive a bit deeper into this with a little QA.
Here are some questions I get all the time about cleaning your sheets.
I don’t have a washer and dryer in my home so I can’t always wash them once a week?
Many people don’t have a washer and dryer in their homes. Here’s what I’ll tell you if you absolutely cannot wash your sheets once a week.
There are a few things you can do to sort of cut down on that bacterial buildup in your bedding.
First of all be sure to shower before you get into bed. Also no matter how tempting it might be, don’t let your pets sleep in bed with you. Also don’t eat any food in your bed and be sure to remove any makeup before you go to sleep.
Do these things and you can probably get away with washing them once every two weeks.
I heard that washing your sheets on a high temperature setting can help disinfect them? Is that what I should do?
Yes and no!
While it’s true that washing your sheets on a high temperature setting of at least 130 degrees can better disinfect your sheets, as compared to a cool wash cycle, it’s still very important to read the specific wash care instructions as given by the bedding brand itself.
Because at the end of the day, no one knows how to care for your sheets better than the folks who made them and you wouldn’t want to spend a whole bunch of money on sheets only to discolor or damage them by using the wrong temperature setting.
Is there any reason for me to wash my sheets more than once a week?
Great question and yes.
If you’re someone who’s particularly prone to night sweats or someone who comes home from the gym too exhausted to shower, so you get right into bed, probably couldn’t hurt to wash your sheets twice a week.
Similarly if you’re someone who does sleep in bed with pets, again not a bad idea to wash a couple times a week.
Can sleeping on clean sheets help me get better rest?
Absolutely!
I’ve actually read a lot of studies about this. Making your bed, keeping your room clean and slipping into a crisp set of fresh smelling sheets can help you fall asleep faster and help you sleep soundly through the night.
Alex P. Davis has a BA in Interior Design from The New York School of Interior Design and 10 years of experience expertly designing sophisticated interiors.