Dust Mite Covers and Encasings

What are the best dust mite covers for you and do you really need them?

Editorial Notes: 12/12/2011

Pillow

Dust Mite Covers and Bed Encasings for Dust Mites
Authors: Mercia Tapping and David Barnaby

Our new staff has been turning to me for guidance as to what to recommend to our customers about dust mite encasings and covers. This is the essence of what I tell them and I try to keep it very simple.

Be clear as to whether you have dust mite allergies. You do this by going to an allergist for allergy tests.

Once you have discovered you have allergies to dust mites, figure out whether you have exposure to them. You are more likely to have dust mites in your home if you live down South in warmer climates or where there is a higher level of humidity. You can test out whether you have dust mites in your home by using a home test kit.

You can give yourself a break by cleaning your bedroom. See a past article on the Dust Free Bedroom.

A pillow collects up to 2 pounds of dust mite feces [the stuff you are allergic to] over a 2-year period. Therefore, your pillow is the most obvious place to start with dust mite encasings if you do not want to bury your nose into dust mites every night.

My favorite dust mite encasings are Solus Organic which are tested to ensure they surpass industry standards are are available exclusively through AllergyBuyersClub.com. Apart from the added benefit that they are organic and unbleached, they are also the softest. Think about it for a moment. The softest and most supple dust mite cover underneath your pillowcase means that your pillow retains its soft and supple feel. Important for those of us who like to scrunch up our pillows and mash them underneath our heads.

I get routinely get asked as to which is the BEST dust mite encasing or cover. The answer is when it comes to dust mite encasings we do not sell any brand which let the dust mites through. Our fabrics are tightly woven and the dust mites simply cannot wiggle their way through. The best is a cosmetic or comfort choice, and we prefer ones which are made out of cotton.

Looking for a cheap dust mite cover? Then encase your mattress with a plastic or garbage bag. A little facetious? Well perhaps, but plastic does a great job, it cuts the dust mites off from their food source which is you and your skin flakes. Trouble is you will find it sweaty and the noise of the plastic would drive your crazy. Some encasings are only a small step away from a garbage bag- trust me I slept on one at my father’s condo this last Spring. Every time I turned over that darned crinkle sound woke me up. And I dare not take the cover off; the pillow was at least 30 years old! I was convinced I was sleeping on a bag of dust mites!

Do you need a dust mite cover on your box spring? In my mind unless you are super allergic it is going too far and you can do without one. But as a caveat dust mites do travel and crawl where they are not wanted. I like our middle of the road White Mountain Textile cotton dust mite encasings for this job.

How about the mattress? It is worth having a dust mite encasing here, but remember if you have a latex mattress you probably do not need an encasing at all as latex is inhospitable to dust mites.

I get asked how often you need to wash the dust mite covers? This is a matter of hygiene not anything to do with the effectiveness of the dust mite covering. Washing dust mite covers does not rejuvenate them from the dust mite prevention perspective. Putting it bluntly, people drool into their pillows, sweat and do other things at night which make it necessary to freshen the bedding by washing. Dust mite covers are no exception.

How about dust-mite covers for duvets? In a perfect world you would have a duvet or comforter that was anti social for the dust mite party. These comforters are made out of silk or wool. Hypoallergenic down comforters can still be a breeding ground for dust mites but the ones with a higher thread count shell will keep the dust mites at bay. If you need a dust mite cover for your comforter again we think Cottonfresh wins out as it keeps the comforter supple and light which is how you want your comforter to be.

Why bother with a dust mite cover if your regular duvet cover is high thread count? Good question, but unless your duvet cover has zippered tight enclosures, those adolescent dust mites will muscle their way through any opening. Adolescent dust mites for the uninitiated, as we found out from a man who breeds them for researchers tend to be pushy creatures who find their way through anything and will jump around in pursuing more food. Need I say more?

Dust Mite Encasings for your children’s beds? Buy them the cheapest covers, they will never know the difference. Buy the Solus dust mite covers for your own pillows.

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