Air, change, wash – How to take care of your sheets
Everyday routines make a difference for the freshness of the bed linen. Do you know why it's a good idea to shake the sheets before washing them? Or why does an allergy sufferer benefit from mangling bed sheets?
Familon's tips for caring for your sheets:
Change the bottom sheet and pillowcase every 1–2 weeks and the duvet cover every 2–3 weeks.
The frequency of changing bed linen depends on the sleeper: for example, if you have allergies, you should change your bed linen more often. If you also have pets sleeping in the bed, it is a good idea to change the sheets every 1–2 weeks.
Shake your sheets and only then put them in the laundry: this will remove excess dust from the textiles before they are washed. Also remember to shake and air your pillows and duvets weekly, or at least when you change the sheets. Freezing temperature bites and cleans, while humid air is no good for airing: bedding can absorb excess humidity.
Everyday routines make a difference for the freshness of the bed linen. Always ventilate the bedroom quickly in the morning by opening the windows. Bedding will be a little damp after the night, so it's not a good idea to make the bed straight away. Pull the duvets aside and let the bed air out.
Wash the sheets as instructed at 60°C with similar colours, inside out. Wash dark bedding separately when washing it for the first time. Always remember to wash new bedding before use.
Air-dry your sheets on a clothesline, in a drying room or in a tumble dryer, and only put them in storage when they are completely dry.
Ironing and mangling make the sheets sweetly smooth. This can also be helpful for allergy sufferers, as ironing and mangling seal the surface of the fabric, reducing the amount of dust that can be shed from the fabric. In particular, sheets made from percale cotton enjoy a mangling that restores the sheets' frosted sheen.
Familon's tips for recycling textiles:
More than 70 million kilos of textile waste are generated in Finland every year. Per capita, 13 kg of textile waste is generated every year.
In Finland, textiles are no longer allowed to end up in landfills. It is the task of the waste management company to deliver textile waste to the right place, a waste-to-energy plant, where the mixed waste is used to produce district heat and electricity. It is up to the consumer to sort textile waste into mixed waste.
However, a better option than a mixed waste bin is always to keep the textiles in use for a longer time before they end up as energy. It is a good idea to take usable, intact and clean textiles to clothing collection points or offer them to flea markets, recycling centres or second-hand shops.
Textiles in poor condition can be recycled, for example as cleaning rags or rug yarns. Many animal welfare associations happily accept donations of textiles: towels and sheets can be reused as sleeping pads for animals. You should also follow the current events of retail chains, as they often organise textile collections in their stores.
Source: Ministry of the Environment
Published 31 May 2018
