I tested 5 viral pillow cleaning hacks to see if they work — here’s what happened when I pitted them against 3 gold standard techniques used by specialists and hotels

A collage showing (clockwise from top left) a pillow in a bathtub, a woman holding a baking soda and white vinegar mixture, soda crystals being used to machine wash a pillow, and a cleaned pillow.

If you've ever become engrossed in CleanTok, that TikTok community dedicated to strangely-satisfying cleaning videos, you've probably watched influencers dunk their old, yellowed pillows into a bathtub full of household items to make them sparkly clean.

So compelling are these videos that I sometimes forget that the people who confidently guide me through their hacks are not professional cleaners but simply TikTok account holders with a bathtub and some grubby pillows. In fact, many CleanTok videos go against expert-approved cleaning advice on how to wash a pillow.