Washing a pillow at regular intervals is important to avoid the buildup of dandruff and dirt. Nobody wants dirty pillows on their beds!
While washing a pillow can be done in several ways, drying a pillow can get tricky. It could take a fair amount of time depending on a few factors.
How long does it take a pillow to dry?
The timeframe requires for a pillow to dry largely depends on what material pillow it is and what method of drying is being used. In a dryer, it can take about 1 to 3 hours, while it would take 3 to several hours to air dry a pillow. Memory or feather pillows take longer to dry.
Different types of pillows can take different times to dry fully. Let’s get to know the different timeframes for drying different types of pillow.
Feather pillow:
Feather pillows are filled with feathers or other natural fibers. When drying feather pillows, you would need to remember that the pillow should only be dried without any heat.
Directing heat to feather pillows can ruin the pillow. Drying a feather pillow can take about 2 or more hours. When you put it in the dryer, in a no-heat setting, the cycles will be more time-consuming.
If the pillows are smaller, it could take a shorter time. When a feather pillow is put in the dryer, you may want to check after an hour. If the pillow is still damp, you’d want to add more dryer cycles in the no heat setting.
Air drying a feather pillow could take about 3 to several more hours.
Memory foam pillow:
As you might have guessed, drying a memory foam pillow can take more time than other types of pillows.
A minimum of 3 to 4 and many times more hours need to be allotted for memory foam pillows to dry, depending on what method is used.
This is because memory foams absorb a lot of water when washed. Other than that, you cannot use any kind of heat to dry a memory foam pillow either.
Since memory foams succumb to heat after getting too frail, it is always a good idea to air dry a memory foam pillow, regardless of the longer time it would take.
You can put the pillow on a drying rack and have it dry under the sunlight or air from the fan.
How long does a pillow take to dry in the sun? How long does it take to tumble dry a pillow?
If you don’t have a dryer or have one that is not big enough to fit your damp pillow, you can always rely on the sun’s heat to dry up your pillow.
Drying a pillow in the sun could take about 3 to 4 hours to dry completely. You can either use a clothesline or a drying rack to place the pillow.
Since the drying time would depend on the heat, air, and material of the pillow, you may want to fluff the pillow on every side to make sure one side does not remain damp.
If your pillow is made of feathers or other natural fibers, you may want to keep it away if the heat from the sun is too high.
In such cases, tumble drying is a safe option and can take just about an hour or more. In the dryer, it could take longer to tumble dry if the heat setting is no heat or low heat.
Is it safe to put pillows in the dryer? How long does it take to dry a pillow in the dryer?
It is safe to put pillows in the dryer, however, you would have to be careful with the heat settings depending on what material pillow you’d need to dry. In the case of a memory foam pillow, it is wiser to avoid using a dryer and instead air dry the pillow.
In a dryer, it could take about 1 to 2 hours to dry a pillow. Although the timeframe would greatly vary and can take even more time.
When using a dryer, you may also want to remember that an aromatic sensor can leave your pillow damp inside and dry outside.
If you have a synthetic pillow to dry, medium heat on the dryer should suffice, and dry the pillow in about 2 hours. Other than that, the trick to dry pillows in the dryer is to use dryer balls on medium, low, or no heat and check after the first hours for any dampness.
How do I know when my pillow is dry?
Whether you are air drying or have decided to put the pillow in the dryer, you just cannot rely on the timer to decide if your pillow is dry enough.
If you’re using the dryer, you would have to check after the first hour. If there is any dampness, you would need to set another cycle.
You can touch the pillow, fluff it and flip it to check if any part of the pillow is still damp.
If you have a memory foam pillow that absorbs too much water and cannot be dried on higher heat, you’d want to squeeze out most of the water first.
Hanging a pillow on the cloth line under the sun, even after using a dryer, could ensure better drying.
How do I dry my pillow?
There are two basic ways to dry your pillow.
Using a Dryer:
When you have washed your pillow, the first step to follow is to squeeze out the excess water from the pillow.
After you have gotten rid of the excess water, you would want to toss the pillow in the dryer. If it is a down pillow or one with a natural fiber, either use an air-dry setting on the dryer or set the heat to low.
Whenever you are using a dryer to dry your pillow, it is crucial to use the dryer or tennis balls. In the case of tennis balls, you may want to put them inside socks.
This prevents the pillow from clumping on certain sides as the balls would move with the pillow and fluff them on the movement as it dries.
For the first cycle, time it for 60 minutes, and every hour you would have to check for dampness. If the pillow is still damp, you would need to add more cycles.
Air drying:
You cannot always use a dryer and thus, the second option to go with is air drying. For this, you would first have to choose a day with the sun out and the climate drier.
You can either use a clothesline to hang your pillows or a rack and place the pillow such that it gets exposed to maximum air flow.
As it dries, you may want to flip it around, massage, and fluff it every once in every hour. This would make sure the pillow does not lose its shape to clumps.
How can I dry my pillows fast?
A pillow can take hours to dry and as much as we know that patience is key when it comes to drying your pillow, you want to wish there had been ways to make your pillow dry up faster.
Squeeze water out:
Whatever the kind of pillow you are using, when you first wash the pillow, squeeze out the excess water immediately. Squeezing out as much water as possible would dry up the pillow faster.
Wash on a windy day:
If you wish to air dry, there is not much you can do but wait for at least a few hours. However, if you choose to wash and dry on a day where there is plenty of wind and sunshine, you can speed up the drying.
Flip the pillow:
Flip the pillow from side to side to ensure that each side gets air and heat. This step also speeds up the drying process.
Set heat settings:
When using a dryer, you can change the heat settings to higher although you’d need to make sure that the material does not get affected by high heat.
Can you put a soaking wet pillow in the dryer?
You can put the soaking wet pillow in the dryer but you should not. Putting a soaking wet pillow in the dryer is not feasible, neither it is effective in drying the pillow.
When a soaking wet pillow is tossed in the dryer, it adds to the weight of the pillow and also takes up more space. Moreover, no matter which heat setting is being used, a soaked pillow will not dry properly since there would be ample water absorbed inside.
Final Thoughts
You can either use a dryer to dry a pillow or simply air dry it. It takes a shorter time to dry in a dryer while it can take several hours if you wish to air dry the pillow. It is wise to squeeze out the excess water before drying the pillow inside the dryer.