Waterproof & Washable Mattress and Pillow protector

Mattress Talk Additional Components & Accessories
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Hello-

I’m looking for some advice on new mattress and pillow protectors (prefer zipper closures for this).

After looking over the forums (after a trip to a national chain retailer), I recently purchased a Nest Love & Sleep mattress (queen) and their Cool Pillow…but haven’t used them yet (I’m had them delivered to my new address). On my previous mattress and pillow, I used protectors from Ikea and would like to replace them as well to have a fresh start.

I’m reaching out for advice as I may have some less common criteria for these items and would like know what products may best suit me and the number of options is a bit overwhelming for me and for many products, specific information is hard to come by (ie, water proof vs resistant, type of barrier, the actually difference between trademarked features, etc.)

The main issue is that I have OCD. It’s mainly a fear of / concern with contamination and infection (including self-infection) from body fluids–standard waste stuff (albeit I’ve not had an incident) but also saliva, mucus, and blood, to an extent–and the ground–tracking in “germs”, soil, fluids from outside, bird and dog droppings, etc. Although I am working with a therapist, I am still at a point at which I’m concerned about “contaminating” (eg, with sweat, drool, body oils) my new stuff and I don’t want to fell the strong need to toss everything away when I move in a year or so. (As a TMI aside, due to the OCD, I don’t see me sharing my bed for either short or long term stays overs for the foreseeable future.)

I also tend to over-optimize and suffer from choice overload – spending too much time trying to find the correct item and then getting overwhelmed.

So with that, I have been looking to get a mattress protector and a pillow protector that are water proof (for the sweat, oil, and drool) but also that is easy to wash and will stand up to washings (following the care guidelines, naturally), especially if I’ll be paying $150-200 for both since I don’t want to be replacing these, say, every 3 years. I have a feeling that a 5-sided protectors might not be as useful as I think: I do not eat nor drink in bed and have neither children nor pets so spillovers seem unlikely, plus they may be slight more difficult to wash (due to the extra materials on the sides). And an encasement I think would be too unwieldy for me.

I’m not sure the special cooling features would be useful: I don’t think I sleep hot although I tend to run hot (based on co-workers complaining about how cool the office is whereas I am quite comfortable)–in fact, I may sleep cool: in the spring and fall when my heater is off but the night gets down to ~50F, I have a tendency to wake up around 5 or 6 am due to the low temperature.

Onto products:

Protect-a-bed has some poor reviews, specially with the membrane breaking down. Reviewers do state that they followed directions but…

St. Dormeir seems popular on the board but I don’t think it’s water proof plus it appears to be fairly thick and so I may have difficulty washing it well.

Nest has a TENCEL™ Lyocell Jersey Mattress Protector and COOL. Mattress Protector. The tencel might work; however, it appears that the COOL was redesigned to remove the hexagonal pattern and previous reviews were for that version. Unfortunately, the only pillow protectors are not zipper closed so I would have to buy from another seller.

Locally (SF Bay Area), the Futon Shop has a custom pillow protector.

Luma Sleep’s Aller-Free also looks ok (looks similar to Nest’s previous version of COOL). But apparently no pillow protectors.

Beloit offers a line from Glideaway but information and reviews are hard to come by. The have a pillow protector from Bedgear that sounds promising.

A number of sellers offer Malouf and I’ve read some good reviews. For them, I think the Prime Terry protector would meet my needs (the smooth version may be slippery?). As for the pillows, the Encase line appears to have waterproof zippers but there’s not a clear difference between the LT and HD versions. The omniphase is pricey (~$95) considering the pillow was ~$120 but I’d be willing to pay if it would compliment (or not defeat) any cooling aspect of the pillow.

I know this is a lot of text but I’m hoping to get some feed back–especially if anyone has had experience with any of these products to help me choose.

Thank you for your time, Mike

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Hi miked,

Welcome to our Mattress Forum :). Congratulation on research well done!
I added the words “waterproof & washable” to your thread title as it is more descriptive of what you are looking for.

While pillow and mattress protectors are not currently the primary focus of the forum, I will do my best to help guide you given your criteria, however, this won’t necessarily tell you much about how well a specific protector will perform in real life for you in terms of waterproofness, breathability or even how often how well they hold on to be being washed which are the most important parts of your choice. This is one of those cases where the knowledge and experience of who you buy from can be more important than the technical specs of the material or even the cost (within reason) because it’s unlikely that you will be able to find out the specs that compare them more directly in all the ways that may be important to you.

You’ve probably already come across many of the links below in your research but just in case you’ve missed some of them (or for the sake of others that may read this)

[Indent]Post #89 on the pros and cons of different zippered mattress protectors
Pillow protectors revisited
Post addressing breathability and functionality of mattress protectors.
Post summarizes different materials used in mattress protectors, and ultimately how the material of the protector you choose will boil down to personal preference. [/Indent]

I am sorry to hear about your OCD condition I can only imagine how stressful it can be. I can certainly see how some initial “peace of mind” while you work along with your therapist is a good starting point in dealing with it. Here is a summary I gathered as your most important criteria.

  • The mattress protector and pillow protector need to be waterproof and stand up to washings
  • The mattress protector does not need to be zippered, and 5-6 side protection isn’t a necessity
  • Pillow protector need to be zippered
  • Special cooling features are a non-issue as you tend to sleep cool

Looking one by one at the products you selected I’ll try to make a few comments that may help you further narrow down your choices,. although you seem to have covered most of it.

Protect-a-bed has the following zippered cover: BugLock Bed Bug Proof Mattress Cover 6-Sided Encasement which is waterproof, and machine washable. For what it’s worth, this particular mattress protector is classified as an FDA Class 1 Medical Device. They also have Tencel, cotton, and bamboo mattress protector waterproof options, which are not zippered and are also classified as FDA Class 1 Medical Devices. Again, this ultimately becomes a question of preference and feel regarding fabric blend.

While St. Dormeir protectors are good quality products, as you mentioned, only water-resistant however (not waterproof) which for most people is fine. On their website they mention that they use a special type of weave “that maximizes absorption, to ensure the driest, most comfortable sleeping environment.” It looks like it is a little more specific as far as laundering, as well.

This product is rather popular on the forum and just to show how personal preferences come into place and how important personal testing is here is a thread where one of our consumer subscribers found the St Dormier mattress protector to be thin It may be that you find once you get to feel it that bulkiness not be a factor despite the wool.

The pillow protector available from the Futon Shop looks like a good lead. It meets all of your criteria. It has a zipper, it is waterproof, and can withstand regular laundering. The organic cotton is a good to have material as well.

Nest Bedding TENCEL™ Lyocell Jersey Mattress Protector is waterproof, hypoallergenic, and appears to receive excellent consumer feedback on the website. I was not able to find any laundering instructions on this particular protector, however, their COOL Mattress Protector is machine washable. I was unable to tell based on their photos whether or not these mattress protectors are zippered. We have reached out to them to see if they may be able to weigh in on their products here for your benefit, so hopefully they’ll soon chime in. Nest Bedding is a trusted member of The Mattress Underground and very responsive to consumers

Luma Sleep is one of our valued Forum Expert Members and you are welcome to reach out to them directly with questions about their mattress protector here. The Aller-Free also appears to meet of your criteria and they’ll be more than happy to provide more information if you have additional questions on the product.

The Beloit Bedgear pillow protector definitely appears to meet your criteria: zippered, waterproof, machine washable. Also a great price! I took a look at their Glideaway line for mattress protectors and was able to find a few Amazon reviews. Most people seemed satisfied with the product, and the people who did complain were most upset about the fit of the protector on their mattress.

The Malouf Prime Terry protector is marketed as waterproof, and machine washable. Looking at their ENCASE line, the one advantage the HD version seems to have is that it has a 360-degree zipper for easy laundering, where the LT has a 3 sided zipper. Their Omniphase zippered pillow protector is 100% waterproof, easy to launder, and according to the website it is also moisture-wicking, breathable, and comfortable for sleeping in any climate. So, that leads me to believe that it would not harm much the cooling aspect of the pillow. That said, it’s hard to know for sure how you’ll react to it until you’ve tried it.

That said, making the best choice may ultimately mean weighing out the pros versus the cons and balancing what the tradeoff may be if you’re willing to sacrifice one of your lesser criteria in favor of a more important one. This will ultimately come down to what best fits your Personal Value Equation

Much of this information just confirms your findings. Some of the posts hyperlinked at the beginning regarding materials in mattress and pillow protectors may help decide if the fabric blends are ultimately going to be a deciding factor for you, as the protectors you mentioned do vary in fabric blends.

I am looking forward to hearing more as your progress in your research!

Phoenix

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Thank you for this. I’m between the Luma Aller-free Tencel and the Protect-A-Bed luxury Tencel.

I’ll likely go with the Luma based on them being a trusted member and low price