Woman Asks If She’s Overreacting For Refusing To Sleep At Her Boyfriend’s House Because Of His ‘Pillow Situation’
"Apparently he’s been using them since he was a kid."
chalermphon_tiam | Shutterstock As much as you love your partner, there's always the chance that their sleeping habits are incompatible with your own. Maybe they need the room to be a crisp 60 degrees or perhaps you find their thick fuzzy blankets to be suffocating.
One woman has yet to spend the night at her boyfriend’s house because of his unsettling and seemingly unhygienic pillow situation.
The woman refused to sleep at her boyfriend’s house because of his 'pillow situation.'
The 28-year-old woman shared in a Reddit post that she has been dating her 25-year-old boyfriend for a little over a month. One night she planned to sleep over at his house, but quickly changed her mind after she set eyes on his bed — or more accurately his pillows.
According to the man, he had the pillows since childhood, and based on how they looked, it was pretty evident.
Reddit
“I asked him if he had any other pillows and he said he just had the pillow on the left of the first picture, but that his cat usually sleeps on it,” the woman wrote. “I said I don’t really want to sleep on those pillows, and I'd prefer to sleep at my own place (with clean pillows).”
Her boyfriend appeared to be offended by her response.
“He waited for a minute and then said he would be sad to see that I would choose something as small as pillows come between us spending the night together, but that if I needed to go, he understood,” the woman recounted, adding that she ultimately chose to sleep at home.
"I asked if I could bring my own pillows and gently suggested he get rid of his," she added. "He said it was totally fine for me to bring a pillow, but that he wouldn’t get rid of his, as they are 'sentimental.'"
Now, the woman is wondering if she was in the wrong for making a fuss about the pillows in the first place.
Many Redditors were similarly disturbed by the man’s pillows and assured the woman that she did not overreact.
“If he's this nasty with his pillows imagine what else he's nasty about,” one Redditor pointed out. "His hygiene, his kitchen... the list goes on."
“I feel like I can smell those through the screen. Ew. Filthy bedding is absolutely a reason not to stay there,” another user commented.
chingyunsong | Shutterstock
“Do not listen to his unwashed guilt-tripping. Those are NOT pillows. Those are garbage,” a third commenter wrote.
It is important to clean your pillows regularly.
While most of us throw our pillowcases in the wash occasionally, we may not realize just how important sleeping with clean pillows really is. Going a long time without giving them a wash can lead to the accumulation of bacteria, sweat, dead skin cells, and dust mites.
"As a general rule, you’ll probably want to wash your pillow a few times each year, at least," Healthline advised. "Depending on the type of pillow, some different guidelines exist."
Synthetic pillows, for example, accumulate dust faster and thus should be cleaned more often than those made out of gel or memory foam.
"No matter what kind of pillow you have, most experts agree you’ll need to replace it at some point," Healthline added
It is safe to say that judging from the photos, the man’s pillows are far overdue for a wash (and a replacement). We definitely cannot blame his girlfriend for wanting to sleep in her own bed with clean pillows!
Thankfully, she shared in an update that her boyfriend has since upgraded his 'pillow situation.'
"I talked to him about this and he was totally willing to make some changes," she wrote in a follow-up post. "We went on a little date to IKEA and got him a duvet, duvet cover, two new pillows, and pillowcases. (I want to work on getting him sheets that aren’t navy blue, but one battle at a time.)"
"It was very cute and we both feel really good about how we’re going to communicate in the future," she added.
The woman also got some clarification on her boyfriend's sentimentality regarding the pillows.
"They were one of the few things he took with him when he got kicked out by his parents when he was 15, so they are sentimental," she shared. "However, we communicated that they could be sentimental from the closet and that he deserves to sleep comfortably (and cleanly)."
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.