Caring for Your Hot Cherry Pillows
One thing I just love about Hot Cherry pillows is that they’re completely washable. Unlike rice, corn, buckwheat or other herbal pillows–– if they get wet, they could potentially grow mold––Hot Cherry pit pillows will never mold. The woody pits inside can be thoroughly washed and dried in household machines.
If you’ve been using your pillows regularly, after a while they loose that lovely fresh cherry pastry smell. You should know that every time you use a microwave to warm your Hot Cherry pillow it is sterilized, so it may not need a washing for a long time.
But after many nights of warming feet, or even if you share your pillow with your favorite furry friend, eventually your Hot Cherry pillows will need to be washed.
One thing you must make sure of before you wash it is that there are no burn or scorch holes in your pillows. This can happen if your microwave turntable is not functioning as it should by making full rotations (see previous blog entry, Best Use of a Microwave, Ever). Even a little scorched spot will weaken the fabric and when it gets washed, could create a hole for the pits to escape. We absolutely don’t want you to open your washer or dryer and discover there are little pits everywhere. When you have determined that your pillow is in tact, inspected the seams and the surfaces, then you’re ready to put it in the washer.
You might want to wash the red ultra suede pillows among dark clothes, just in case that red dye might have some bleed. We have made an effort to obtain the best quality fabric, but at extremely high temperatures, we have found some bleeding. (Red dyes are notoriously unstable.) Please use cold water to wash, and choose the gentle or delicate cycle. Our natural-dyed denim is thoroughly washed after dying, so there’s no problem there.
If it’s a small blue or red denim square pillow in a large load, your pillow will clean nicely among clothing or linens. If you have several large pillows, like I recently did, then care must be taken to lay the pillows around the bottom of the washing machine in order to distribute the weight evenly. Then set it to cold water and delicate cycle. If you have a front-loading machine, nothing special is needed.
I have found that you can easily dry them flat, on top of the dryer. Turn them over after a while and soon they’re good to go. Be sure not to put them away in a cabinet when they’restill wet. You may place them in the sun or hang them on the line.
For drying in a dryer, again inspect your pillows to make sure all is strong, then toss them in with some big towels to protect them and lesson the fall. We use a couple of our big terry cloth bathrobes, for helping to dry our pillows. You might hear some unusual banging as the pillows hit the dryer sides, but don’t worry I’ve dried hundreds of them and they will be fine. It only takes a few minutes, so check frequently. When they’re dry, they smell fresh and sweet again.
A note on “breaking” in your pillows: after washing and drying and even just after lots of use, you will find that the crunchiness of the new pillow’s contents has changed. After a while of tumbling against each other, the pits tend to round off their edges, and become round little balls. That’s when the pillows are “broken in” and the whole pillow experience is softer and rounder. They seem to roll around and mold easier around joints and muscles. We love them when they’re old and “broken in”!
We sincerely hope that all of our customers enjoy their Hot Cherry pillows as much as our family does. We love our Hot Cherry pillows! And, we’d love to hear from you, especially if you have found some unusual uses for your Hot Cherry pillows. Photos and a little description just might make headlines in upcoming blogs!
