Funny Smelling Pillow Cases

Maybe when you go to put them away in the linen closet, you can put dryer sheets in them, or between them in the stacks. That might help keep them smelling fresher, longer.

Could it be the oils in your hair causing the smell? Try pretreating them wish dish soap or shampoo to remove the oils before you wash them.

I would bet that you're using too much soap.

Try washing with vinegar to clean the soap out of your washer. Then wash your linens with a lot less soap, and use 1/4 C bleach.

More soap does not equate to cleaner clothes. It means your washer has a harder time in rinsing the soap out. Use the correct amount.

You sure it's pillow CASES and not the pillows?

That happens to my husband's and it's the pillow not the cases.
I change the cases A LOT. I had to wash the pillow. They go back to
stonky quickly.

Vinegar in the wash? You can also keep a box of baking soda or Citrus Magic in your linen closet.

We used to have that problem, and then we got a washing machine with a "sanitize" cycle. Basically, it washes using steam as well as hot water, so it kills ALL bacteria. If your washing machine doesn't have this option, you can achieve the same thing with color-safe bleach (Clorox 2). You may also like to use a laundry booster (such as Borax or OxyClean) in the wash to help the laundry soap do its job better.

Try adding some Ariel (powder form) with your regular laundry soap. My husband actually introduced me to this and he has some foul smelling uniforms. I still like him at the end of the day!

I have this problem, also. Except my sheets also smell after long storage. I wonder if you just don't notice the sheets smelling this way because you're not laying your nose on them. smile.

I've tried putting dryer sheets in my closet and that helps some except that they then smell like dryer sheets and I don't like that smell either.

What I do is spray the pillow case, after I put it on the pillow, with linen spray. Or I pop the set in the dryer with a damp wash cloth. That freshens them up.

It sounds like they don't start smelling till after you've used them awhile.
Do you use pillow protectors?
Do you sweat a lot at night?
Do you go to bed with wet or damp hair?

Some people suffer from something called Smelly Hair Syndrome.
It comes down to a combination of sweat, sebaceous gland oil (which can be affected by diet - garlic, fish, and some other foods can affect our body chemistry and smell), and various fungi and bacteria that can live on our hair and skin.

You can run an empty load in your wash machine every so often with some borax in it.

Go easy on the soap when doing laundry - a little goes a long way and you want it to rinse out completely.
If it's not rinsing out completely, is it possible it's reacting with your body oils when you use the pillow cases?
You might want to try an anti fungal shampoo for awhile and see if that helps.

I switched to talalay latex pillows awhile ago and after the initial break in period - they (the pillows) do not smell at all EVER.
Part of the description for the pillow says:

100% natural talalay latex pillow is non-allergenic and provides optimal breathability, support and comfort.
Features:
antimicrobial - no dust mites
antifungal - inhibits mold & mildew growth
antibacterial - inhibits bacterial growth

It might be worth looking into.

It's most likely your linnen closet.

Unlike carpet, which is literally being aired out every day... ditto your closet, the fabric in your linen closet is just sitting. And sitting. And absorbing the smells of every meal, every sweaty person walking through, every unflushed toilet, every wet dog, every cloying sickness, every cleaner, every perfume or hairspray, every scented candle, every garbage can or diaper pail you wake up and go "Ugh! That needs to go out!".

Day after day, week after week, month after month. It's the musty-stale-air smell that fabrics that aren't aired out regularly absorb.

And if you aren't bleaching your sheets... then there are still body oils on them that not only have their own kind of funky/sour smell as they start to go rancid, but also act "sticky" holding onto the smells of living.

Which all sounds very gross... but "isn't" really. The same thing happens with anything fabric in your house that just sits (go lay down facedown on the carpet, pull off the cushions in your couch and breath through the fabric underneath them). You'll smell the same kind of smell... you just don't stick your face there on a regular basis.

SUGGESTION:

Only have 2 sets of sheets "in rotation", at most. Once a week, when you wash the old sheets, put the ones you washed last week on. Keep all the others for guests/illness/etc. And wash them before they're used. Personally, we just use the same set every week. They all go in the wash on Sunday morning, and on the beds Sunday afternoon. Bare beds for a couple hours = no biggie. The spares are for guests and emergencies.

I put some wax scented cube or some scented soap in the closet...

Sounds like they don't start smelling until AFTER they're in the closet for a while. May be the closet. Try using something in there to help with odor absorbing. It's not a bad idea to use the heavy dry setting like you do for towels and extra fabric softener in the wash and a dryer sheet in the dryer. But it sounds more like a closet problem than anything.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

I think you're over-cleaning, to be honest. Clean out your clothes washer by running it on hot in a small load with a cup of vinegar and nothing else.

I wouldn't pre-treat using bleach either. My MIL, the laundry and stain expert, uses Shout in a spray to pre-treat whatever it is she needs pre-treated, and only if there are actual stains. It turns out that my MIL and I are both loyal Tide gals... Tide with April Fresh Downy. Soft, smells fabulous but not overwhelming, and long lasting. You can buy the Tide with the Downy already in it.

If you want to go for "all natural" or "what's on sale" type of laundry, can't help you. I go with what I know works and what I'm not allergic to.