A woman has filmed herself washing her boyfriend’s stained pillows for the first time in 10 years — and social media users are horrified by the state of them.
In the viral video, the TikToker claimed her boyfriend refuses to replace his decade-old pillows, noting that he never washed them once in all of the time he has had them.
She documented the entire cleaning process, washing three of the dingy pillows — which were yellowed and filthy — and the result is astounding.
Filthy: A TikTok user filmed a video of herself cleaning her boyfriend’s pillows for the first time in 10 years, explaining that he refuses to replace them
While her boyfriend was at work, she placed them in the bathtub and threw in a couple of dishwasher tablets.
She then poured some Borax powder into the tub before adding bleach into the mixture.
The TikToker proceeded to use a mop to wring out the dirt from the pillows, and then tossed them into the washing machine.
Surprisingly, the pillows came out completely white — a stark contrast to their dark yellow and brown shade before the wash.
Getting started: She placed them in the bathtub and threw in a couple of dishwasher tablets
Next up: The TikToker also added Borax power and bleach to the water
The video has since gone viral on TikTok, gaining over 1.7 million views and leaving users in shock at the state of the pillows before they were washed.
‘With that alone, I would replace the boyfriend. Hygiene is everything,’ one person wrote, while another added: ’10 years of sweat, dead skin, dirt, oil and bacteria’
Someone else commented: ‘They are meant to be replaced every two years… they come with expiry dates on them…’
Social media users certainly had reason to be appalled, considering pillows are supposed to be replaced every one or two years and washed at least four times a year.
Getting them clean: She proceeded to use a mop to wring out the dirt from the pillows
Amazing: After throwing the soaked pillows in the wash, they came out perfectly white
An expert from Christy England, which supplies to Wimbledon and the royal family, told FEMAIL in April that ‘pillows should be washed every three months because, similar to bedding, they contain a build-up of sweat and dead skin.’
And while most people think that a whirl in the washing machine will thoroughly clean their clothes and linens — but it turns out that some fabrics may be retaining a horrifying buildup of dirt.
‘Stripping’ laundry is the special trick that gets everything super clean, removing the grime that washing machines won’t.
The technique involves soaking laundry in a tub of hot water, baking soda, Borax, and detergent, similar to what the TikToker did to her boyfriend’s pillows.
Like new: The Tiktoker joked that she ‘can sleep better knowing those nasty pillows are clean’
Say what? Social media users were horrified by the filthy brown pillows
People have been stripping their laundry for ages, but the process is reaching a new generation after going viral on TikTok in recent months.
Nurse Lauren Elms shared several walk-throughs on the app, first stripping her workout clothes on April 22 and then doing her towels on April 24.
The video of her stripping her towels was viewed more than six million times.
In the clip, she filled a tub with hot water and added a quarter cup of baking soda, a quarter cup of Borax, and a generous scoop of powder detergent and places her laundry in the tub.
Lauren advised stirring the clothes every couple of hours, but she showed that just ten minutes in, the water was already dirty. After seven hours, the water was a filthy, dark brown color.
She pointed out that her clothes and towels were actually ‘clean’ when they went in the tub, so this was all buildup. She told viewers to finish up by re-washing their laundry as they normally would in a machine.
Get stripping! Most people think that the washing machine will thoroughly clean their clothes and linens — but it turns out that some fabrics may be retaining a horrifying buildup of dirt
Mix it up: ‘Stripping’ laundry involves soaking laundry in a tub of hot water, baking soda, Borax, and detergent
Yuck! After soaking the laundry in the solution, it may leave behind water that looks like this
She also showed that the bottom of her drained tub was dirtied with a surprising residue from the soak.
Lauren’s video set off a trend, and several others have mimicked her with their own clips. Some just shared shocked and horrified reactions, while others replicated the experiment with their own clothes.
According to The Spruce, ‘body soil and bacteria’ can get stuck in fabrics, especially terry cloth towels.
That’s why some older towels and gym clothes may smell clean immediately after coming out of the wash, but will start to smell as soon as they get damp.
When laundry is thrown in the wash, the soap is doing a lot of the work to clean it — but it’s still circulating in dirty water, which gets reabsorbed into the fabric.
Stripping can get rid of some of the dirt and bacteria, while smells can be killed by adding vinegar to a wash.