Don’t blame your husband for having a yellow pillow, he produces half more oil than you!

Audit expert: Zhang Yuhong

Chief Physician of Dermatology Department, Zhengzhou Central Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University

Pillows are one of the objects in our daily life that we have to touch closely every day. Many people will find that the pillows at home will turn yellow after being used for a long time, especially the pillows of boys at home, which seem to turn yellow faster and more thoroughly. What's going on?

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Regarding this point, a foreign research team once specifically measured the skin oil secretion of 100 men and women. The investigation found that after cleansing the face, the average sebum secretion of men of the same age group per half an hour was 53% higher than that of women!

Therefore, it is not an isolated case that men's pillows are more yellow! But why is this the case? Today we will take a serious look at it~

Why do pillows turn yellow?

There are two reasons why pillows turn yellow, one of which is the oil secreted by the skin .
There are a large number of sebaceous glands on the skin, mainly on the face and head. They continuously secrete yellowish liquid sebum, which contains 12% unsaturated oily squalene, which is also easily oxidized and appears yellow.

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

The second is skin sweating . In fact, the human body actually sweats more than the time it notices sweating, but when the ambient temperature is low, the sweat beads are not obvious, which is called "invisible sweating". In the process of sweating, the sweat secreted contains not only water but also a lot of acidic substances (such as urea, fatty acids, lactic acid, etc.), which can also cause the pillow to turn yellow.

Therefore, when we use a pillow, the secreted oil and sweat will get on the place where the head touches the pillow, and over time the pillow will naturally turn yellow.

Why are pillows used by men more yellow?

First of all, it is because the skin secretes a high amount of oil , which is related to the level of male hormones in the human body. The higher the male hormones, the more sebum is secreted, so the phenomenon of "men's pillows are more likely to turn yellow" will occur.

Secondly, the main component of male hormones is testosterone, which can promote sweating in the human body . Men have abundant secretion of male hormones and higher sweating ability than women, so the pillows are more yellow.

If the pillow is not yellow, is it dirty?

If the pillow turns yellow, it means that the skin produces too much oil and the pillow should be cleaned. If the pillow is not yellow, does it mean that the pillow is not dirty and does not need to be cleaned? The answer is no.

Regardless of whether the pillow turns yellow or not, pillows will become dirty after a period of use!

In addition to the oil secreted by the human body, pillows that have been used for a long time also contain a large number of mites, various dandruff, broken hair, and even saliva.

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

Among them, dust mites are very small, about 0.5mm in length, and cannot be seen by the naked eye. Although dust mites themselves do not cause disease, they are very common allergens. For people with allergies, dust mites can easily induce allergic reactions, such as mild symptoms such as sneezing and runny nose, or severe reactions such as asthma and urticaria.

Dust mites feed on a wide range of food sources, including nutrients in the skin, shed skin flakes, and even pillow fabric fibers.

Therefore, dust mites will thrive in places like pillows that are rich in oil and dandruff. If we don't change our pillows in time, dust mites will even crawl onto our faces along the pillows, and the secretions produced by their metabolism will clog our pores, causing our skin to become rough and even causing acne and other skin diseases.

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

So, if the pillow becomes dirty and yellow, how should you clean it?

How to clean a pillow?

There are two parts to cleaning a pillow. The first is to clean the pillowcase : just remove the pillowcase, throw it into the washing machine, add appropriate amount of laundry detergent and disinfectant, and clean it normally.

The second is the cleaning of the pillow core : there are many materials for the pillow core. The chemical fiber pillow core is relatively hard, and the most common ones are soybean fiber pillow core and pearl cotton pillow core. This type of pillow core can be directly thrown into the washing machine for cleaning without worrying about damage to the pillow core; if it is a down pillow core, it is recommended to wash it by hand to avoid damaging the material; latex pillow cores, which have been very popular in recent years, are also recommended to be hand washed. They can be cleaned by soaking and squeezing in warm water, and care should be taken to avoid high temperature exposure.

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

In addition, there is a special type of pillow core that is filled with plants. Common plant fillers include buckwheat husk, chrysanthemum, cassia seed, etc. These fillers have low density and are not suitable for washing. You can pour them out regularly, use a sieve to filter out the fine debris, and then ventilate and dry them to keep them dry.

In general, pillows will turn yellow after long use, whether for men or women. They should be cleaned or replaced regularly, and can also be dried in the sun on a daily basis to kill the mites in the pillow.

In daily life, we should also do a good job of cleaning our skin, such as cleansing our face and washing our hair every day, and maintain good living habits so as not to affect the normal secretion of sebum.

Of course, if the pillow has turned yellow to the point where it seems to have changed color , it is recommended that you just replace the pillow.