Pillows HealthGuard® Mattress Protectors and Accessories

How to Choose a Mattress Protector or Encasement

The first decision is not which protector but which shape. A mattress protector fits like a deep fitted sheet, covering the top and the four sides, and it is the everyday answer to spills, perspiration and skin oils. An encasement zips fully closed around all six sides of the mattress, underside included. That full enclosure does two different jobs for two creatures that behave nothing alike. Bed bugs harbour in seams, piping and tags, so a sealed cover shuts them out of the mattress and starves any already inside; it does not stop bites, because they also live in the bed frame, the headboard and the room. Dust mites are the opposite: they gather toward the sleeping surface, where skin scales and humidity collect, so what the encasement does there is seal that reservoir in and block the allergen from passing back out through the fabric. HealthGuard covers both shapes, alongside bedding and sheets.

Waterproof and breathable are not opposites, and that is the part worth understanding. The waterproofing is a thin polyurethane laminate bonded to the back of the fabric: it stops liquid at the membrane, while the face you sleep against is a knit or terry cotton surface that passes air and moisture much as a sheet does. What people remember as hot and crackly is old vinyl sheeting with no fabric face, a different construction entirely. Two practical things then decide whether you stay happy: the pocket must clear your mattress height plus any topper, and the wash must be gentle. And if allergens are why you are here, the standard advice covers the mattress, the box spring and the pillow rather than the mattress alone. An encasement handles the mattress; the pillows on this page are sold bare, so their share of the work is a case laundered often and the pillow itself washed or replaced as far as its label allows.