By Lucas the Tinkerer — Writing from deep inside your pillowcase
There’s a midnight buffet happening in your bedroom. You’re not invited — but your skin might be the main course.
Let’s meet the two freeloaders dining behind your back: bed bugs and dust mites. One’s a vampire, the other a janitor. Both are ungrateful tenants.
🛏️ What Feeds Bed Bugs?
Blood. That’s it.
Not your chips, not your crumbs, not your dandruff. Bed bugs are single-minded suckers. They want blood from a warm-blooded host, ideally one who’s motionless and unconscious around 2AM.
That’s why they love mattresses and sofas. Your sleeping body is a predictable, juicy vending machine to them. No blood? No bed bugs. Simple.
🕸️ What Feeds Dust Mites?
Now these guys are less picky. Dust mites are decomposers — your mattress janitors. They don’t bite, but they sure eat what your body sheds.
Main dishes on the dust mite menu:
- Dead skin flakes (their caviar)
- Dander from both humans and pets
- Fungal spores, when humidity invites mold
- Dust soup: fabric fibers, pollen, skin bits — all nicely mixed in your bedding
The more dead skin you leave behind, the more mites you feed. Unlike bed bugs, mites thrive off the leftovers of your epidermis.
🧍♀️ Who Sheds More Skin (a.k.a. Who’s Overfeeding the Mites)?
Dust mites aren’t judging, but here’s who gives them a feast:
- People with dandruff (seborrheic dermatitis) – their skin sheds like a snow globe.
- Eczema, psoriasis, or atopic dermatitis sufferers – skin barrier breaks = flakes galore.
- Infants – delicate, fast-replicating skin = lots of fallout.
- Elderly – dry, thin skin and slow regeneration = steady supply.
- Over-showered or A/C junkies – dry skin from harsh soap, cool air, or dehydration flakes off more.
- Those with poor hygiene – long gaps between baths or linen changes = mite paradise.
- Pet owners – dander = skin + oils + hair = buffet bonus.
Basically, if your skin is dry, flaky, or irritated — congrats, you’re a dust mite zookeeper.
Want to Cut the Buffet Line?
- Wash bedding weekly in hot water
- Control humidity (below 50%)
- Use allergen-proof mattress covers
- Deep clean upholstery and mattresses — surface vacuuming isn’t enough
- Consider a bedroom assessment to find out who’s feeding whom
🛏️ KHMT strips the buffet bare. Our deep cleaning isn’t just for show — it hits where dust mites and allergens live.
Because your mattress shouldn’t double as an all-you-can-eat skin bar.
Lucas the Tinkerer once tried fasting for 3 days — a bed bug lasted longer. Now he writes about home air and invisible freeloaders.
