Don’t Wash Your Pillows in Lemon Juice, No Matter What TikTok Says

We all want easy, safe, and effective ways to clean our stuff, but too often, the ones presented in viral TikToks just don’t cut it. A new example of a not-so-great, yet extremely popular, cleaning hack is the one calling for you to clean your pillows in a tub full of water, lemons, and baking soda. Although it’s true you should be washing your pillows at least twice per year, please don’t do it with lemons. Here’s why. 

Why you shouldn’t clean pillows with lemons

Parts of this hack are good and we’ll get to that in a minute. What isn’t good is the citrus element provided by the lemons. There are two reasons using lemons or lemon juice, especially in the big quantities necessitated by a bathtub full of water meant to clean whole pillows, is no good. First, citric acid can degrade fabric. Studies of the effects of citric acid on textiles have found that tensile strength can be damaged by a pH of 2.7 to 3—and lemon juice has a pH between 2 and 3. You’re trying to clean your pillows so they’re usable for a long time, not destroy them altogether. 

Second, citrus has bleaching properties, which might not seem like a huge deal if you’re trying to clean white pillows, but could be a problem if you’re putting them back into dark pillowcases or on dark sheets. Remember when kids would, in an attempt to lighten their hair, spray lemon juice on before sitting in the sun? They were kind of on to something.

How to clean pillows instead

Where this hack does have some value is its recommendation to clean pillows in the bathtub. I’ve long advised that you should look at your tub as a multi-purpose cleaner, akin to a huge dishwasher, because it really is a great place to clean big stuff. After vacuuming the pillows and spot-treating any stains, you can put them in a bathtub of lukewarm water and a tablespoon of detergent. This can be done for any kind of pillow, but is absolutely necessary for memory foam. Dunk and wring the pillow about three times, fully submerging it each time, and then drain the tub and fill it with clean water. Keep dunking and wringing a few more times to get all the soap out, then drain again and squish the pillow as hard as you can in the empty tub to get the water out. Squeeze the pillow in a towel to remove more water, then let it air dry completely in the sun or under a fan. 

You can also wash regular pillows in your washing machine, which is just as easy—if not easier—than some convoluted hack that requires a trip to the produce stand. Add a half cup of bleach and a half cup of borax to your usual detergent (but double check the care instructions on the pillow first), then wash and dry as normal.