Mine gets linty, just from contact with clothes (I don't send it through the washing machine). Hand washing under a running tap gets rid of the lint. I usually use antibacterial soap, which works well to deodorize it. I have a white microfiber wash cloth that doesn't shed lint. I let the packer air dry on that, and then use corn starch powder to get rid of the lint-gathering stickiness.
I typically wash it at the end of each day, though have gone as long as 3 days in between washes (at which point it starts to smell like a urinal--sorry, TMI, but truth because it's an STP).