I took all the advice I heard and read. Since the quilt I am working on is over by my sewing machine, my table is clear.
I bought a gallon jug of distilled water, DH said it was purer. I bought one of those brushes with a space for dish detergent in the end of it. I got out a bowl, put some distilled water with a drop of dish detergent. I then used the brush and scrubed my mat lightly. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. I then used one of those sham wow clothes rinsed in the distilled water, and I am letting it dry on the table. It looks great. There are still a few spots, that have not completely self healed. I can feel little indentations in some spots. Otherwise it looks brand new. I am going to do it again in another 1hr or 2

I am going to do mine for sure. Sounds like magic to me.

great idea, and thanks for sharing it with us.

there have been other blogs about this. They say you can soak your olfa self healing mats in a tub of water for 2 hrs

I left my badly scarred mat overnight in the tub (not an Olfa). When I put it in, I made the water exactly level with the edges of the mat, which was curved to fit the tub. By the morning, the water level had dropped by at least two inches! All that water must have been absorbed by the mat - it felt a lot heavier when I took it out. It wasn't completely healed, but a whole lot better.

I had one of those self healing mats. I hated it because it didn't heal itself. So I threw it out. I hadnt a clue you could clean them.

My Olfa mat was warped, so I just cut it in half. It used to sit on the dinner table and everyone enjoyed using it for a giant table mat. I got tired of seeing it warped so decided to cut it in half and it's still sitting here split and warped.
Never will I buy an Olfa mat again
Rotary cutters for Olfa are top notch, but their mats aren't as good.

My mat is a Fiskars. It smelled bad when I bought it so I had to let it sit outside til the smell left. I've used it for years and it has slices almost through it. I washed it and it is warped. Maybe I'll try the soap and brush deal.

I like Fiskars much better than Olfa with the rotary mats.
June Tailor is not so bad either and it will not warp like the Olfa.

I had one that was just ofal to, but the new one i got is perrty darn good so far.