A couple of nights ago I was having a little trouble going to sleep, and I started noticing that something didn’t smell so good.
Hmm… First I sniffed under my arms - my deodorant seemed to still be working so that wasn’t the problem. Then I started sniffing around the general area like a bloodhound trying to track down the scent. Eventually I turned over and sniffed. My pillow smelled like the odor of an old person’s house all concentrated up in one small area.
Eeewww - I’ve been sleeping on that?
The next morning I stripped off the outer pillowcase and the inner pillowcase beneath it, and I put them both in the laundry. The lower pillowcase was particularly nasty smelling. I guess not washing it for the 6 months since I bought it wasn’t such a good idea (I wash the outer pillowcase every couple of weeks when I run out of clean underwear). The pillow foam itself was kind of a sickly yellow color over the little area where my neck normally goes. Most of the pillow smelled okay, but that little area had a definite odor that seemed to go pretty deep.
Unfortunately, the pillow had a tag saying that it can’t be washed. (It’s one of those funny shaped foam pillows - I have to use them because when I don’t I sometimes wake up with severe neck pain because I slept wrong the night before.) Anyway, the foam was crumbling a bit at the edges, and I could tell it wouldn’t fair so well in the sink. So, I took some “Mr. Clean” and sprayed it liberally in the noticeably odorous area, padding it down with a towel to soak up the excess and maybe push the chemicals down into the foam to do battle with whatever was living down there.
After letting the pillow air out for the day, I tried to sleep on it again last night. I don’t think it had aired out long enough, because it smelled kind of chemically, and it made my eyes water and my nose run a little. So, I banished the pillow into the living room, and I slept last night on my reading pillow - which is just a normal pillow but unfortunately a little thicker than is probably best for my neck.
Not surprisingly, I woke up this morning with my neck complaining. It wasn’t at its worst, but it definitely put the fear of pain in me. So, this afternoon I went to the store and bought a new, more expensive foam pillow.
I’m still hoping that the old pillow will eventually air out enough to become usable again - but I’m not counting on it.
