eradicating mold, tip #1

If you have severe allergies, construct a new pillow using pure organic cotton or untreated, pure flannel padding and a slipcover made of barrier cloth. Test the material for purity by sprinkling drops of water onto it. Immediate absorption usually indicates that the material is pure. If the water rolls off or takes time to absorb, the fabric is probably treated. Barrier cloth is so tightly woven that microbes cannot get through.

To make the pillow:

Buy flannel or cotton by the yard.

Cut out several inserts roughly the size of your pillow. You'll want more than one so that while one is washing or in the freezer, you can have another on your pillow.

Buy a barrier cloth slipcover, which you can get through the Janice Corporation: 1-800-526-4237 or http://www.janices.com. You can also buy barrier cloth and make the slipcover in the following way -

Cut a piece of barrier cloth a little bigger than the pillow with the flannel insert.
Fold it over the pillow, so you have two free edges on the short ends.
Sew one end together and on the other end hand sew a few snaps, with a male snap at the bottom and a female snap at the top.
Encase the pillow including the flannel insert into the barrier cloth slipcover.

With severe mold sensitivity, be an extremist! Wash the snaps on your barrier pillow cases as often as possible, along with the flannel or cotton padding and the barrier cover, in your washing machine. Make sure everything is thoroughly dry.