Yellow Pillow Stain-Removal Method
Depending on how old these yellow bed pillow stains are, it's a good bet you can get your bed pillows clean and beautifully white again.
Servings: 1 King-size pillow, or 2 standard/queen pillows per batch
Cost: $3–5 per batch
Equipment
- Large container, storage bin, or bathtub (for soaking, if not using your washer)
Ingredients
- Enzyme laundry stain pretreatment Soilove, Shout Active Enzyme, or Zout Triple Enzyme
- 1 cup powdered laundry detergent
- 1 cup powdered dishwasher detergent such as Cascade Complete Powder
- ½ cup borax
- 1 cup liquid bleach or bleach alternative
- 1 cup white vinegar
Instructions
- Treat the stains with the enzyme pretreatment and let sit about 20 minutes.
- Soak the pillows in the hottest tap water you can manage. Top-loader with a soak setting: use it, then pause the cycle. Front-loader: use a storage bin or the bathtub instead.
- While the pillows soak, bring a large pot of water to a full boil on the stovetop. Turn off the heat, then stir in the laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and borax until fully dissolved.
- Carefully pour the hot solution into the water where your pillows are soaking. Stir in the bleach. Submerge the pillows fully. A broom handle helps, since pillows tend to float, and let soak at least 1 hour.
- Launder on your machine's longest, hottest cycle with an extra rinse if available. Add 1 cup white vinegar to the fabric softener compartment for the final rinse, keeping it separate from the bleach step.
- Dry on medium heat with wool dryer balls or sock-tied tennis balls to keep pillows tumbling. Down pillows: air-only or fluff. Synthetic: low heat.
Notes
An enzyme pretreatment like Soilove, Shout Active Enzyme, or Zout Triple Enzyme contains protease, which breaks down the protein in sweat and body-oil stains so they rinse out more easily in the wash.
Check your pillow's care tag before starting. Most bed pillows are machine washable, but memory foam is not and should never go through this method.
Never mix bleach and vinegar directly; this method keeps them in separate steps by design.
