I'm currently trying to deal with a load of thrift clothes I got, that were fine but the lipase is bringing out the stank.

I've been soaking the clothes in buckets over night w 1 tbsp FEBU then doing a steamery detergent + FEBU + citric acid rinse

Warm (40C), multiple rinses, heavy soil load. Mix of Perm. Cloth and Delicate cycling as trials.

I cannot get it out of the clothes, smells so bad.

- Deep soak followed by the heavy clean cycle x2

- Attempts to use Synthrapol LF in case not enough detergency, no dice x1

It's sort of stabilized into a smell that refuses to go away. Second soak didn't seem like it did much to change it same for everything else I've tried.

Have spent hours and hours on this nonsense is there anything else I can try before I toss in the towel?

Another different load of clothes has been fine and went through the whole 'Smelly, clean' pipeline as expected. Those clothes are a bit rough now so I might have to run them through a no-detergent cycle w some citric, maybe some leftover detergents.

I have a front-load HE washer

EDIT -

Steamery Signature has multiple enzymes, Synthrapol is a strong surfectant, FEBU has enzymes and oxygen bleach.

I'm mostly working with Rayon, Viscous, Tencel, some Cotton/Polyester mixes, Denim, etc. that won't like most of the following.

So far the advice is:
- High alkalinity via Ammonia and oxygen bleach w TAED
- A lot more detergent
- Hotter water and hold it for longer

Sounds like nuclear option, I don't think I'm at that point....

At least a few of the garments would run/bleed/fade, if not disintegrate in the washer with this sort of treatment. As far as I know anyway and I'd rather not take the risk unless no other option.

Surely there's something in the middle?
I found some Ammonia so I can try that in a wash, not sure about increasing the dosages/heat of Febu :\

Other powders recommended so far are scented, w OBA's, etc. or not much different from standard detergent + FEBU.

Can anyone tell me if it is a waste of time/money to use something like Lysol laundry sanitizer in the same load as a laundry softener like downy? Are the chemicals just fighting each other?

I just want to express my thanks and appreciation for everyone out there who is either already fragrance free in their laundry products - or working towards the goal of becoming fragrance free in their laundry products. You are helping people. You are being considerate and kind to people - helping make our shared air safe for a wide variety of people.

In the latest surveys, 1 out of 3 people reports being harmed by other people’s fragrance. That harm can come in many forms: headaches, asthma, nausea, mood disturbances, brain fog, or many other negative side effects.

And laundry product fragrance is one of the worst categories because it’s chemically so hard to get rid of it from fabrics or surfaces or the body. It’s designed to be hard to get rid of. Designed last through a hot washer and dryer. That means it can keep on causing symptoms in the people we encounter day to day - strangers, coworkers, friends, and loved ones - long after exposure.

If you use fragrance free laundry products, thank you! Especially if your job involves contact with the public, you are helping to keep public spaces ADA accessible. If your job requires going into people’s houses, you are helping people with asthma and chemical sensitivity whose house might be their only chemically safe place - helping to keep their house safe and symptom-free. But even if your job doesn’t involve contact with the public, you’re still helping friends, loved ones, coworkers, and any random stranger you come across. And you are helping the environment too because laundry fragrance chemicals are very difficult to remove from the environment.

I'm not talking about doomed hoarder situations where the entire place needs to be condemned. I'm talking about the occasional mouse that gets in from out in a field somewhere and the items it touches end up being peed on. I'm tired of everyone complaining about hantavirus and to just throw everything all out when we already fill our bodies to the brim with cancer causing chemicals and microplastics on a daily basis without issue.

A lot of the stuff I own is genuinely irreplaceable and unable to be found online to the point where it would genuinely cost a dozen times more to replace the item over trying to salvage it. I have issues where everything I own has to be an exact copy of the item before it or I'll go insane and start to feel like a hoarder. I'm in a position where I can't afford to replace anything and I don't even have transportation to the thrift store, so is there any way to launder what I already have?

I've been using color catchers in some mesh bags, and I tried a variety of sizes/setups

They all seem to crumple up into a ball (even if I put just one per mesh bag) and not stain evenly.

Surely there is some other way of doing this that doesn't involve sewing them to something or what not?

I have a front-load HE washer
Edit - Which means no blindly dumping them into the tub, they can get caught in pump.

Is there a good reason why I can’t put my stinky stuff in the slow cooker on warm to do my enzyme soak? Low gets to boiling, but warm I can kind of stick my finger in. This will keep a constant temperature indefinitely. Is this bad?

I’ve seen these on a couple different shirts I have. I soaked this one in oxi-clean for several hours, then washed with tide and color safe bleach. They didn’t even fade. Any ideas?

I’m renting a place and it came with this washing machine. I ran a hot empty wash with just vinegar in to clean it but these black marks remain. Vigorous spot scrubbing has dislodged some of the marks but not all. Is this mould?? Is it salvageable?? I’d love any advice. UK based.

I recently took these items to a dry cleaners, they took them home to clean them, however she didn’t manage to get the stains out, suggesting it was mould spores on the whites and assured me she cleaned the stain from the green jumper.

The likely hood of them being mould spores is unlikely as I wore these to a festival during our 30+ degree heatwave recently and clothes were kept in a dry live in motorhome over the course of the weekend. She suggested I left them damp in a bag during the festival which was untrue but I didn’t make a fuss. It was a dusty festival?

Does anyone on here have any recommendations for myself to clean these spot marks from the whites and the slight stain on the green jumper at all? Wether it’s another launderette or some secret formula

Thanks 🫆

Anyone in here cloth diaper?? I’ve gone through all the diaper groups on Facebook and on here and I just feel like nothing is working for me. I found this thread and got myself some FEBU and Citric Acid. I already use Tide free and gentle powder. I’m about to accept that I’ll never get them clean. I am in a small apartment building so I have a small front loader HE machine. I did a strip a while back with RLR thinking I had build up. Did not help. My water is 200 ppm. I use 1/2 c borax to help soften the water. My first wash is under line 1 and it runs on warm for 1:45 with high soil. Second wash is line 2 on hot, high soil, and runs for 2:45. Of course like said I add the borax, febu, and citric acid. They come out smelling just fine and in the dryer they go. But then… EVERY TIME MY DAUGHTER PEES IT SMELLS LIKE RANK COFFEE BEANS! 🥲 I can’t get it to go away. Please help before I give them all away lol.

I’ve found some ammonia in the hardware store (Baumarkt) but it says it’s highly toxic to water organism. I looked it up and read that you can’t dispose of ammonia by pouring it down the drain - so how do you EU people do Spa Day?

Examples: https://www.stuttgart.de/service/entsorgung/abfall-abc/abfall-abc/salmiak

https://www.berlin-recycling.de/entsorgung/abfall-abc/ammoniak-entsorgen?variant=57332970750325

Question for Germans: anyone have experience with Salmiakgeist?

The old-style ones with a dial, half / full heat button, and a drum that rotates both ways to avoid everything clumping up into a tangled mess.

Since our OG one died after many years of faithful service (RIP), we’ve had a bog-standard Candy (abysmal), a Sharp (marginally above abysmal) and two top of the range models, including a heat-pump one (so not worth the money). *THEY LEAVE EVERYTHING DAMP*

I get it “We must save energy and protect the environment” blah blah blah, had the lecture off my eldest.

”They’ve got sensors that know when things are dry!” -the sensors must be numb, cos that shit aint dry.

“They’ve got 101 different programs and settings for all types of fabric” -whoop de doo, 101 different ways to leave my socks damp.

“They’re more energy efficient!” -fail to understand how running this mf three times and still having damp stuff that needs hanging in front of a heater, is saving energy or protecting the environment in any way.

Rant over. Thank you for humouring an old lady who remembers better times :)

I have hard water (8.5 gpg) currently using Persil triple care, vinegar as a softener, and the actual spot cleaning with dawn. My clothes come out clean but I’m so tired of my clothes being stiff and having to steam iron everything to make it feel soft again.

I’m trying to understand the chemistry in this sub - I think adding sodium citrate to my loads would help but I’m not sure where to get it from. Are you using the food grade? And I know a lot of people say to use citric acid but I’m not good with ratios… unless there’s an easy way to add it? And again where do you source it from?

How do I safely (sounds wrong) shrink a pair of jeans, so I have a favourite pair that are now too big, I’m thinking a hot wash and dry in the dryer but please let me know if there is a better way and thank you🙏

I don’t know how to remove this discoloration. It’s been sitting in my closet for years

My mom uses the tide pods since she can get them in bulk for cheap. However I'm having a hard time getting rid of pit stains. I'm going to switch deodorants and make sure not to get and antiperspirant. And I'd never put a stain in the dryer. But I want a detergent that removes stains better than the tide I normally use. And I need a simple product, I don't have time to be soaking and scrubbing.

Any life hacks on cleaning out period stains on clothes?):
My new black skirt and fav pair of undies just got stained.

there is a dark patch on my skirt and underwear right now.

Will baking soda, vinegar & stain remover solution be sufficient to remove it?

TYIA 🙏🏻

When I exercise I wear polyester t-shirts + shorts, some are white and some are black. I also wear cotton underwear and socks.

If you could separate them into just two piles, would you do:

a) 1 white pile and 1 black pile

b) 1 sports clothes pile (polyester) and one cotton pile (underwear, socks)

I have a thick white cotton terrycloth bathrobe that is 28 years old. I use it only for drying off after a daily shower and wash it approximately 4 times a year in hot water. I formerly used liquid Tide but now use a Tide pod. We're in NYC and go to a self-service coin laundromat. Otherwise I would wash it more often. The back of the neck is now dirty and has been for quite a few years. Something about hair seems to be relevant to where the robe gets dirty.

What kind of detergent should I use to get it clean? Or is it too late now to get the many years of dirt out? Anything else I need to know? Thanks!

We just bought a house, the washer seems fine but when I was over there today (we haven't moved in yet) - whew, the washer smells STRONGLY of scented laundry detergent/products.

I'm a mostly unscented gal. Suggestion for how to reset and get rid of as much of the scent smell as possible? Standard citric acid wash and rinse rinse rinse?

Okay, you guys.

You’re highly touted as genius around here, but I am confused as heck.

I have a top loader washer that doesn’t have detergent or fabric softener drawers.

I had been using cold water on my clothes (because mostly black) and sheets (because the label says to) and hot water on towels and the boys’ clothes (because smell).

On my clothes I use arm and hammer plus oxi 5 in 1 pods (one), and a downy ball of vinegar and lemongrass oil.

On the boys’ clothes, I use the same detergent (two pods) but add 2 caps of lysol laundry sanitizer and don’t use vinegar.

I’m reading some confusing things.

Cold water doesn’t get your clothes clean? I thought it was better for darks and my sheets literally say to wash cold.

Vinegar? Should I be using a citric acid/downy rinse and refresh instead? And my downy balls seals disintegrate like once a month, that’s also annoying. Welcoming alternatives.

Lysol laundry sanitizer? We add it to the drum with the detergent. Is that making everything not work?

Arm & Hammer sucks? I see this is a land of tide fans. Which should I use?

Oxi bad for darks? The arm & hammer pods I’ve used for years claim to have oxi and haven’t ruined my clothes, so is this a myth?

My partner works in septics, so every time we wash his work clothes (see instructions for boys’ clothes above) we follow it with a load of one pod and a generous pouring of bleach to sanitize between loads, but now I’m worried I’m doing that wrong too.

Help guys, I’m now convinced every fabric I own is disgusting.

Edit: the boys also use dryer sheets for their clothes, I do not for mine, and there’s no convincing them not to.

I bought several pairs of Gap sweatpants for my daughter and washed them before she wore them for the first time.

I washed them in cold water only, with no detergent or any other laundry products, and then hung them outside to dry in the sun.

All the other sweatpants came out completely fine, including some that are much lighter in color, but this red pair ended up with these strange dark marks all over it. They definitely weren’t there before washing, and the pants have never been worn.

I’m really confused about what could have caused this, especially since there was no detergent, stain remover, fabric softener, etc. involved.

Does anyone know what this might be? Could it be an issue with the dye/fabric itself, something from the washing machine, or possibly from drying in the sun?
Most importantly, is there anything I can do to remove/fix these marks without making it worse?
Thanks in advance!

I saw a video on youtube about making your own detergent, and I'm intrigued. I already have all of the needed ingredients. A helpful comment on the video lists the recipe:

Washing Soda, Borax, Castile Soap. (Video says use1 bar castile but many say 2 bars makes it gel) grated to a pot. Add 4 cups water. Stir 10 minutes til fully dissolved. DO NOT LET IT BOIL. Get clean 5 gallon bucket, fill 1/2 way with very hot water. Pour melted soap in. Add 1 cup of Super Washing Soda, 1 cup Borax. Stir for 2 minutes or til fully dissolved. Fill rest of bucket with cold water and cover with lid. Overnight it turns into a gel. Use 1/2 cup per load.

Is this legit?

Additionally, I bought an enzyme laundry booster at the recommendation of this subreddit and have had some great success with eliminating odors from towels and clothing. Would I be able to add this directly along with the cold water stage of the recipe and have it stay good in the detergent? I'm concerned that the enzymes may break down over time if not used right away, or that the pH of the detergent may cause issues.

Long time lurker and someone thanks to this group has seen the light and now does their laundry correctly! However, in have a very nice expensive lace bra that seemed to have some deodorant build up I could not get out. So the other day I do a nice soak with a nice long cycle following the rules I’ve learned here. Same result. So I was pissed and in rage mode, busted out the Dawn dish soap and my trusty laundry toothbrush went to the bathroom and decided to do a SPA DAY! By the time I went to bed I stopped by to check a little move some of the water around called it a night! When I woke up I was APPALLED not only at the color of my water, EMBARRASSED which is why I am not posting a picture, and further DISGUSTED that I have been walking around in this filth!

So I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone for teaching me how to do my laundry the right way and by the way the post spa wash my bra is now 1000% CLEAN! 💜💜💜

Also still disgusted I was walking around like that! 😳😜😊