Last Updated on 11th March 2024 by Caroline Haye
A (pillow) case study
Wash before use! If you suffer from any kind of skin complaint, or from allergies of any description, this is wise advice. Especially fabrics that you will be coming into close contact with. Of course, this makes sense from a general hygiene point of view. But also because manufacturers treat most of the garments, furnishings, bedding items and towels we buy nowadays with harsh chemicals. (Fire retardants, for example.) And these can cause irritation or worsen existing symptoms.
The reason I mention this is that I recently bought some lovely, soft, new pillows to replace our old, lumpy ones. They were larger than the standard pillow size and so I also purchased new pillow cases at the same time. I was so eager to use these temptingly comforting-looking fluffy clouds of gorgeousness that I brushed aside a lifetime’s habit (learned at my mother’s knee) and decided not to launder the pillow slips before using them. After all, they were new and came in a sealed wrapper so had to be clean, right?
An indefinable state of anxiety
The next couple of nights my husband (who has mild asthma) and I (who have very sensitive skin and throat, linked – I believe – to my vitiligo) felt restless. And we both had difficulty dropping off to sleep. My husband snored more loudly than usual (!) and I developed a sore throat and an itchy rash on my face. The pillows themselves were wonderfully comfortable. But we both felt very ill at ease all night. (A sensation I can only describe as an indefinable state of anxiety.) But I couldn’t figure out why.
It wasn’t until I remembered an unfamiliar (but not unpleasant) scent emanating from the fabric when I unwrapped the pillow cases that I realised this must be due to chemical treatment during or after manufacture. Chiding myself for my laziness and impatience in not washing them to start with, I whipped the offending covers off the pillows and laundered them thoroughly. And my reward was a good night’s sleep for myself and my husband, plus the swift disappearance of all our symptoms.
It’s a pity I didn’t go back and read my own blog posts!
I really should not have made this basic error. Especially as it was only a couple of months or so ago that I blogged about the potentially harmful effects of the chemical treatments that are routinely used on clothing and other household items. Not only are these invisible chemicals highly likely to exacerbate existing allergies, but they can even trigger new ones in those who previously had none. (Typically, these would be respiratory symptoms or contact dermatitis.) And there is good reason to think they could aggravate conditions like vitiligo and psoriasis. It’s a pity I didn’t go back and read my own blog posts!
When I was a child I thought my mother was overly house-proud. She cleaned, polished, scrubbed and laundered everything at every opportunity (or so it seemed to me at the time). I never inherited the good-housekeeping gene from her, taking after my happily disorganised father instead. But I do now appreciate the good old-fashioned common sense that prompted her to sanitise everything that came into the home.
I’m guessing that, back then, her main concern was cleanliness. But it seems to me that today’s highly processed goods pose far more of a chemical threat to our health and wellbeing than a hygiene one… All the more so because most people are blissfully unaware of it. So, let this “(pillow) case study” be a warning and take my advice. Imagine that all future clothing and household purchases have a big label attached bearing the words “wash before use”.
For more detail on what chemicals can pose a vitiligo risk, go to Vitiligo or Chemical Leukoderma?
And for dermatologically therapeutic and protective clothing and bedding, visit Vitiligo Store.
