Sweat stains on a memory foam mattress don’t just look unappealing, they can affect odour, hygiene, and even mattress lifespan. Because memory foam absorbs moisture so easily, it’s more vulnerable to heat, humidity, and nighttime perspiration than other materials.
If you’re selecting a new bed, choosing the right mattress or adding a natural latex topper can significantly reduce staining. But if you’re currently dealing with sweat, urine, or general discolouration, don’t worry.
This guide will walk you through how to deep clean your mattress, remove stains safely, and restore your memory foam without harming its structure.
What’s the quickest way to remove sweat stains from a memory foam mattress?Lightly spray the stain with a mix of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and mild detergent, let it sit for 10 minutes, then blot it dry and allow the mattress to air out completely.
Prep the Mattress Before Cleaning
Before you tackle any stains, start by removing the mattress cover so you can work directly on the surface. Next, vacuum the entire mattress to lift away dust mites, dead skin cells, and other debris that tend to build up over time. If you have a steam cleaner, you can use it at this stage as well—the heat helps to freshen and lightly disinfect the surface.
Just keep in mind that bed bugs can sometimes hide inside vacuum cleaners, so it’s essential to clean out your vacuum after you’re done. This prevents any unwanted pests from spreading back into your home AND mattress!
Once the mattress is fully vacuumed and prepped, you’re ready to move on to removing the stains. The good news? The cleaning process is simpler than most people expect.
What You’ll Need for the Cleaning Solution
To clean your memory foam mattress, you need to gather all of the necessary materials for the cleaning solution. The solution will consist of:
- Baking soda
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Large spray bottle
- Damp cloth
- Dry towel / paper towel
- Liquid dish soap / mild detergent
After you have assembled all of these materials it’s time to start cleaning the sweat stains from the memory foam mattress.
How to Make an Effective Stain-Remover
The first thing you’re going to want to do is to take the spray bottle that you’ve prepared. Into that spray bottle, you are going to add three tablespoons of baking soda, along with 2 to 3 drops of liquid dish soap, and a couple of ounces of warm or hot water.
After you have done that, you need to shake the mixture until it is completely combined. When you are done mixing it, now it’s time to add 8 ounces of hydrogen peroxide.
Hydrogen peroxide will help immensely in the process of removing stains, no matter if they are, sweat stains, urine stains, blood stains. Hydrogen peroxide will help make your memory foam mattress clean from even the tough stains.
Step-by-Step: Treating and Lifting the Stains
Time to Start Cleaning
Again shake the spray bottle until you are sure that all of the ingredients are mixed well. After you have done that, you need to lightly spray the mixture onto the stained area. Let it sit there for 5-10 minutes for the hydrogen peroxide cleaning solution to soak into the tough stains.
If you soak the mattress stains a bit too much, you can use paper towels to blot the excess liquid. After you’ve let it sit there for 10 minutes, blot the sweat stain with a clean cloth to remove any excess moisture.
How to Eliminate Any Lingering Odours
You may notice that after you remove sweat stains from the matter, you still find that it smells bad. That is because if you want your mattress to smell fresh, you need to go the extra mile!
First, you should take another large spray bottle and mix a bit of distilled white vinegar with hot water into it. If you find the smell too pungent, you can add a bit of essential oil to the mix. After you mix the solution, spray the whole surface.
After you’ve let it dry for a while, you should sprinkle baking soda over the whole thing. Let it sit for a few minutes, and then vacuum it up and move on to the next step.
Prevent Future Stains With Proper Mattress Protection
Prevention always beats a cure. Why burden yourself with how to clean a memory foam mattress from sweat stains, when you can prevent them from ever forming.
You should invest in a waterproof mattress protector. A quality mattress cover will save your entire mattress from sweat stains, dust mites, yellow stains, and blood stains.
This way you will be able to have a good night’s sleep, without worrying about anything.
When to Call a Professional Cleaner
If you don’t want to bother with urine stains, thinking about how to clean sweat stains, or keeping your mattress fresh, you can always outsource the work to someone.
There are many companies that will remove sweat stains for you. They don’t have any fancy equipment for it. They mostly use the same techniques that we’ve mentioned here.
However, as we’ve said, if you don’t want to remove sweat stains from memory foam mattresses yourselves, you can find help that is cheap and that will do all the sweat stain removal for you.
As a father with more than a fair share of mattress incidents, I’ve found vinegar an effective weapon against most stubborn mattress stains. It’s always a matter of acting quickly though, the quicker you can address the stain, the better. Just remember to go easy on the water during cleanup, memory foam doesn’t do well with excess moisture!
Interesting point, Kelson, but as a chemist, I feel the need to mention that the acetic nature of vinegar can potentially deteriorate memory foam’s cellular structure over time; perhaps a milder, pH-neutral cleaner would be better for longevity.
I agree with you Zygmunt regarding vinegar’s potential harm to memory foam’s structure. As an industry insider, I have observed that using enzyme-based mattress cleaning sprays can effectively remove sweat stains without damaging the material.
Just last week I dealt with a stubborn stain on our memory foam mattress – my twins spilled their grape juice all over it! I tried lots of methods, but what really worked was a mixture of baking soda, mild detergent, and water – applied gently on the stained area with a soft sponge. Save the harsher solutions for more durable materials only, I’d say.