How to clean and sanitize your headphones

After a bit of use, any headphones can start looking grimy and dirty. Here's how to keep them clean with a few helpful tips.

Products used in this guide

• Amazon: Bose QC35 (Series II) ($350)
• Amazon: Hand soap ($10)
• Amazon: Paper towels ($12)
• Amazon: Rubbing alcohol ($7)
• Amazon: Microfiber cleaning cloth ($11)

How to clean your headphones

When it comes to cleaning headphones, you'll want to make sure you clean both the headphones themselves and (perhaps more importantly) the speaker pads covering them. Starting first with the outside of your headphones.

1. Remove the earpads on both ends.
2. Lightly dampen a cloth with soap + warm water and wipe down the exterior.
3. Dry everything off with paper towels or another cloth.

Moving over to the pads:

1. Dampen a cloth with a small amount of rubbing alcohol.
2. Gently wipe the exterior of both pads to clean them.
3. If you want to go a step further, use a Q-tip soaked in alcohol to get at any small crevices there might be.
4. Put a small dab of rubbing alcohol on the mesh part of the pads.
5. Gently rub the mesh together.
6. Leave everything out to air dry.

Some things to keep in mind

One thing you'll want to keep in mind when cleaning your headphones is the material your padding is made out of. Some use a PU leather (aka plastic), whereas other, more expensive options use genuine leather. If you have headphone pads made out of the real deal, make sure you're using cleaning products that are safe for use on leather.

While you're cleaning, you'll want to really make sure you make those pads as pristine as can be. Since these are what touch your ears/face the majority of the time, they're the biggest carriers of bacteria, germs, and other nasty bits.

Our top equipment picks

Rock on

Bose QC35 (Series II)

$350 at Amazon

Some of the best noise-canceling headphones around.

There's a reason the Bose QC35s are some of the most popular headphones right now. They sound fantastic, are extremely comfortable to wear, and have among the best noise-canceling you can find. They're expensive at $350, but if you have the means to buy them, they're worth every penny.

Additional Equipment

Along with a good pair of headphones, you'll also need stuff to clean them with. If you need to stock up, here's some stuff we recommend getting:

Hand soap

$10

Made with essential oils and easy on everything. Includes a pack of 3.

Paper towels

$12

Amazon's own brand that's 75% more absorbent + includes 158 2-ply sheets per each of the 15 rolls.

Rubbing alcohol

$7

99% rubbing alcohol that's effective for both electronic cleaning and first aid uses.

Microfiber cleaning cloth

$11

A pack of 24 clothes available in blue, white, and yellow. 90% polyester and 10% polyamide.