The Six Great Myths About Bedding
6. Down feathers cause people with allergies to suffer. Allergies and feathers are connected, but the dust mites are the real problem. These dust mites feed on the things we leave behind like dead skin cells and hair. Dust mites also feed on the dander left in the feathers too. When these dust mites finish their snacking, the leave behind entrails that contain a protein that causes an allergic reaction when it is inhaled.
Your really do not need to avoid down completely when you have allergies. You should be careful and choose bedding and pillows made of leak proof materials and make sure you use bedding covers for extra protection. Following these steps will allow anyone to enjoy the comfort of down bedding.
5. A high price guarantees a high quality pillow. Yes, the truly exceptional pillows do cost a small fortune, but price is not the only way you should measure the quality of a pillow. The perfect pillow selection for you should be based on your sleeping position.
Your pillows primary job is aligning your spine and head while you are sleeping. Use your sleep position to guide you as you select pillow firmness. Side sleepers need a firm pillow while back sleepers will need a medium firmness pillow. Soft pillows are the way to go for stomach sleepers.
4. Sheets must always be washed on a high heat cycle. The high heat cycle on your washer can rid your sheets of bacteria and dander, but it can also prematurely age your bedding by fading it and breaking down the cotton fibers. It can also shrink your 100% cotton bedding so much that it no longer fits your bed.
To preserve your bedding switch the laundry setting from high heat to a medium heat wash. Your drier should also be set to the lowest setting possible. By lowering the temperature you will decrease the fading and possible shrinkage. Washing on medium heat still gets the water to a high enough temperature to get everything really clean.
3. Satin sheets and Sateen sheets are the same thing. This is not true and there is a basis for them not being spelled the same. Satin is shiny because it is a combination of silk and nylon weaved together. But, Sateen is a cotton fiber that has a soft texture thanks to the extra material on the surface of the fibers.
While both of these materials are fine for making sheets, consumers are misinformed if they believe they are the same thing. There is a bid difference in the cost to manufacture these two types of sheets.
2. You should choose two-ply sheets over the singly ply offerings. People assume that more is better, but this is not the case with the ply of the yarn in your sheets. Dual ply is made by twisting the ends of smaller strings together to create a longer thread. Two ply yarns are noticeably rougher in texture than their softer singly ply counterparts.
1. Sheets with the highest thread count are the very best. To some 400 thread count does not sound like much, but it is the best you can buy. Quality of sheets is determined by so much more than tread count; things like the ply, craftsmanship, length of the cotton and weave all determine how high quality the sheets really are. If you want the very best sheets you should look for 150 to 400 thread count.
Should you buy sheets with a higher thread count than 400?
Since many consumers believe that more is better the bedding manufacturers have found a way to falsely hike up thread count numbers. This deception refers back to the second myth. Manufacturers use a two ply yarn to double the threads in a square inch. They do this to sell a 250 thread count sheet as a 1000 thread count sheet. This is because two ply yarn multiplies the thread count by four. These do not make for a satisfied customer because the two ply yarn makes a sheet feel heavy and add heat. The Federal Trade Commission is putting a stop to his by standardizing thread count and making the two ply only count as one thread.
When you want the very best sheets always look for singly ply, 400 thread count sheets.
Pluto Graham is a writer who specializes in helping people get the best down pillows, comforters and feather beds for the best price.