How to Clean Sweat Stains from a Pillow Top Mattress

Nothing nastier than a sweat-stained pillow top mattress. It’s so annoying to see the stain marks on the mattress when changing the sheets.

It’s even more annoying to clean the sweat stain marks. I mean, who has the time?

The good news is that I’ve gone through many sweaty nights and ruined many mattresses to find the best solution. That solution is what I want to share with you in this post.

The Answer Was Simple

I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes obvious things pass me by.

The biggest one was not using a Mattress Protector*.

You don’t have to worry about sweat stains on your pillow-top mattress or any mattress if no sweat gets to it. That is what a mattress protector does; it protects the mattress from such stains.

Better late than never to learn this.

And another benefit I’ve come to love is that it works both ways. You may never get all the stains out, but a mattress protector gives you that layer to make it feel less nasty.

Removing The Sweat Stains

Now that we got the all-important mattress protector out of the way you’re going to need a few items.

You’re going to have 2 options, homemade or purpose built.

Homemade Cleaner

For the homemade cleaner, you’ll need…

  • 3 tablespoons of baking soda
  • 8 ounces of hydrogen peroxide
  • 2 drops of dish soap

Combine in a spray bottle with tap water. I like to do half tap water. Water is what makes the dish soap work.

If you don’t have any of these, then do half water and half liquid laundry detergent. You’ll be amazed by how effective this is and safer too!

The trick with the using the homemade cleaners is to only spray onto the cleaning rag. Don’t spray on the mattress as an oversaturated mattress takes forever to dry and could lead to mold.

With the rag wet with either cleaner, you want to dab the sweat stains. Avoid rubbing as you could tear the mattress fabric apart.

Dab as many times until you see the stain start to lift off. Allow the spot to dry before putting the bedding back on. Place fans near the wet spot to allow the pillow top mattress to dry faster.

Other ways to clean sweat stains can be found here.

Purpose Built Cleaner

If the homemade cleaner didn’t work or you want to use something you can buy I would look into an Enzyme Cleaner*.

Enzyme cleaners break down or better yet eat the organic materials like sweat.

Enzyme cleaners even work on drool, poop, or even pee from humans or pets. So it’s just lovely to have around.

Follow the directions on the bottle and you’ll be amazed at how effective this can be for such stains.

What Not To Use

Don’t use bleach; it can make the mattress fade or even damage the fabrics.

Don’t do the vinegar and baking soda trick you see all over the internet. It’s just a bunch of lies. When you combine vinegar and baking soda it may look like a lot is happening but all that is made is salty water. And salt water doesn’t clean anything.

Too Far Gone

What if your mattress is too nasty and won’t recover from the sweat stains?

Well, you could use the mattress protector that we mentioned at the start. This would give you a barrier between you and the dirty mattress.

Or you might need to get a new mattress. And I know this one scares most people. “Mattresses are expensive” is what I hear from them.

But I tell everyone to look at the mattresses online as they’re more affordable than the ones you get at the mattress store.

About Mattress Protectors

I should add this little section about the mattress protector to answer some questions about them.

A lot of people hate them. Some say they sleep hot or make too much noise.

As someone that sleeps hot and hates plastic sounds, I still use a mattress protector. I don’t use just any protector, the one I used I did a spill test on it and a little review on it too here. I hope this should clear up any problems someone might have about using a mattress protector.