How-to Guide on How to Remove Sweat Stains from Pillowcases

If you deal with acne, blemishes, and other skin irritations no matter what you do, you may want to take another look at your pillowcase as a potential root cause of your skin problems.

Believe it or not, but the sweat, oils, and various skincare products and lotions can easily be transferred from your face to your pillowcase while you sleep. While this might not seem like a big deal upon first glance, just think about how much time your face spends touching your pillowcase. If you get the recommended eight hours of sleep every night, that amounts to 56 hours each week! Now it doesn’t seem so far-fetched that your pillowcase could be causing your skin woes due to bacteria caused by sweat and body oil. So what can you do about it?

How Does Sweat Get Onto Pillowcases?

No matter how much we wish we didn’t -- we all sweat. Believe it or not, but sweat is actually a good thing! It’s our body’s way of regulating its temperature and preventing itself from overheating. Since we are warm-blooded mammals, our bodies have to self-regulate our body temperature in order to keep it around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. We do this by sweating! When we sweat, our body releases internal heat in order to cool us down as a result of exercise, high temperatures, stress, or hormone changes. Even though the exact composition of each person’s sweat tends to differ slightly, our sweat is made up of water, sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, and magnesium.

Even though everyone sweats, some sweat more than others. If you feel like you’re dealing with an abnormally high amount of sweat at night, here are some potential reasons why that may be:

Menopause: Every woman goes through menopause, although some struggle more than others. The stereotypical hot flashes can be brutal and can occur at night -- leading to night sweats in women over the age of 50 or so.
Idiopathic hyperhidrosis: This is a legitimate medical condition wherein the body regularly produces too much sweat without any identifiable medical cause.
Infection: Lots of infections can cause fevers, which can easily translate into night sweats because your body is too hot and is trying to cool itself down to lower its internal temperature. Whether it’s from the cold, the flu, or other infections like tuberculosis, or even HIV, night sweats can cause a ton of sweat to pile up onto your pillowcases and other bed linens.
Medications: Your medication could be causing your night sweats! Medications often come with a whole host of side effects, and one of them could be night sweats. This is particularly true for antidepressant medications and other psychiatric drugs.

As you can see, excess sweating at night can be caused by a variety of different things. Some of these things are no cause for concern and can’t really be treated. Meanwhile, others could be a sign of a serious problem that you need to discuss with your doctor. When in doubt, always consult with your healthcare professional about concerning symptoms and changes in your body -- sweat or otherwise.

How to Prevent Sweat From Getting Onto Pillowcases?

Depending on the cause of your sweating, there may be some things that you can do to decrease it and prevent getting excess sweat all over your clean pillowcases. Here are some different solutions and methods to consider:

Shower before bed so that no existing sweat is able to be transferred from your face and body onto your pillowcase and other bed linens.
Turn down the temperature in your bedroom so that it’s cooler and you’re less likely to sweat as a result. Try using things like air conditioning units and fans.
Wear breathable clothes to bed made out of soft cotton material so that your body doesn’t easily overheat itself and sweat as a result.

How to Remove Existing Sweat Stains From Pillowcases

Since we can’t stop sweating completely, you will still have to deal with some amount of sweat on your pillowcases. This requires you to wash your pillowcases more regularly than you do the rest of your bed linens -- at least once a week and more frequently if you find yourself sweating a lot. However, sweat can cause stubborn staining on white pillowcases and linens that can be hard to remove. So what can you do? Here are some tips to removing existing sweat stains from your pillowcases:

Before washing, soak your pillowcases and other linens overnight in warm water with oxygen bleach or Borax.
Wash your pillowcases using the hottest water cycle and the correct amount of liquid detergent.
Line dry your pillowcases outside in the sun for pillowcases that look and smell brand new!

The Best Sweat-Resistant Pillowcases

It may sound crazy, but there are actually pillowcases out there that are able to kill 99.9% of bacteria that is caused by the sweat produced by your body while you sleep. While this may not prevent sweat from getting onto your pillowcases in the first place, it does help to neutralize the bacteria in your sweat rather than allowing it to stay in the fabric and reproduce throughout the entire pillowcase and onto the rest of your bed linens. Not only does protection from bacteria benefit your skin and help prevent acne, but it also benefits your nose since these pillowcases are also odor-free thanks to these same antibacterial properties. So say goodbye to sweaty acne-causing pillowcases for good!

But how do antibacterial fabrics actually work? And do they really work? These are common questions that many people ask when they first learn about this amazing new technology. Companies like the Miracle Brand have been able to utilize silver fibers that have antibacterial properties. This is because the ions in silver have a positive charge that are able to connect to bacteria like a magnet and neutralize it before it has the chance to reproduce throughout your pillowcase. This translates into pillowcases that are both bacteria-free and odor-free for three times longer than regular pillowcases!

When it comes to buying the best sweat-resistant pillowcases, look no further than the Miracle Brand. The Miracle Brand offers two types of pillow cases: Signature and Extra Luxe. Both types are available in both standard and king sizes with great color options including stone, sky blue, and classic white. The Signature pillowcase is made with 350-thread count fabric made from long-staple cotton with a percale weave. This gives the material a crisp, cool, hotel-like feel. A set of two standard-sized pillowcases from the Signature Collection go for $49 with free shipping and returns. The Extra Luxe pillowcase is made with 500-thread count fabric made from USA-grown Supima cotton -- known as one of the highest quality cottons in the world. It features a sateen weave that gives the material an ultra-luxurious, smooth, and silky feel. A set of two standard-sized pillowcases from the Extra Luxe Collection go for $59.

Conclusion

No matter what you do, you’re going to deal with some amount of sweat on your pillowcases -- it’s simply a natural human function. That being said, you can decrease the amount of laundry and overall hassle from this issue by investing in silver-infused pillowcases that are able to neutralize bacteria and other nastiness from sweat to keep the fabric clean, fresh, and healthy for three times longer than regular old fabrics!