Most pillows benefit from daily or regular fluffing to keep them fluffy and comfortable. Polyester, wool and feather pillows will all become flat and matted over time if you do not fluff up the pillows. Fluffing pillows may be as simple as lightly shaking and fluffing the pillows with your hands or placing them in a clothes dryer with a few tennis balls.
Shake the pillows lightly with your hands each morning when you get up out of bed. Redistribute the pillow filling by tapping the pillows on all sides. This daily fluffing is especially important for feather pillows because the moisture that accumulates each night as you are sleeping on a feather pillow will eventually mat down the feathers and cause the pillows to be flat. Allow feather pillows to sit without covering them with a comforter for several hours to air dry each morning.
Wash wool pillows in cool water and feather pillows in lukewarm water (60 degrees F) in the washing machine to fluff them up. Use approximately one-third of the recommended amount of a gentle detergent and use no fabric softener. Spin the pillows to remove as much moisture as possible. Dry the pillows in the dryer on a low temperature setting and add the tennis balls to the dryer with the pillows. It may take up to three or four hours to dry the pillows completely.Make sure the pillows are completely dry before you remove them from the dryer.
Place feather, polyester or wool pillows directly into the dryer for quick fluffing whenever necessary. Add the tennis balls to the dryer with two pillows and set the dryer to an air cycle. Dry the pillows for approximately 30 minutes and remove them promptly.
Hang pillows outside from a clothesline on a sunny day three to four times per year. If the day is warm, the sun alone will help freshen the pillows. If the day is below freezing, the cold temperatures will kill dust mites inside the pillows. Leave the pillows outside for three to four hours.