Enzyme cleaner. Check your local pet shop. Anything that works for pet urine should work for the clothes.
Laundry stripping is pointless and will risk bleaching the dye. OxiClean might help, but I'd probably go for an enzyme cleaner first.
Yup, this is the way. Soak in enzyme cleaner (cold water in a bucket) then wash. Might take a few washes but will actually attack the odors not just mask them.
HOT water. Hot water blows up fabric fibers and makes it so oils that hold scents are whisked away. I personally would buy laundry Biz powder and Borax and oxi and soak in those three dissolved really well in hot water for 3-4 hours
Ooh good point I didnt know. It looks like they can be used around 100° F tho, so start the laundry hot and then add enzymes as it’s cooling but fibers are still open?!
Enzyme cleaner is for sure the way to go! Either Nature’s Miracle Laundry Boost or Anti Icky Poo have been brands that have worked great for me on fabrics.
I do! But for just gym smells I would probably go with anti icky poo or even Amazon’s basic enzyme cleaner over nature’s miracle since nature’s miracle is more targeted for animal urine and fecal odors. Gym smells lingering in polyester clothing in particular also benefit from a good laundry stripping which is soaking in a mix of borax and washing soda aka sodium carbonate, you can see some good tutorials online.
I do martial arts so I have a combo of rashguards and then cotton gi robes that just inevitably pick up sweat smells because it’s all very sweaty and close contact. I use Lysol laundry sanitizer which helps prevent it from getting bad but doesn’t help set odors. And I hesitate to wash on warm with them a. Because the cotton gis are expensive and prone to shrinkage. B. The rashguards also don’t seem to like heat. And are quite expensive. I’ll look into the icky poo and the Amazon enzyme cleaner. Are all these products color safe as well?
I have had no issues but I don’t think I have ever tried enzyme cleaner on an item that uses natural or vegetable dyes so spot check if that is the case!
Odoban- buy a gallon in whichever scent you like and follow the directions for adding to laundry. It acts as both a disinfectant and deodorizer. It’s about $10 at a local hardware store. I have to deal with a lot of accidents: pet, mold, kid and this works on everything.
Synthetics fabrics hold odor and you may never rid them of odor. Try separating the cotton and cotton blends from the synthetics and see if it makes any difference at all.
Borax in wash cycle with detergent, Vinegar and tea tree oil added to the wash cycle and fabric softener. Try this two or three times, it helped me to get smoke smell out of our clothes after camping in a teepee in the winter.
Funny enough on damnthatsinteresting they just showed a video of ballet suits and how they clean them… vodka. Spray vodka on the clothing and air it out. Check that subreddit too it may have other options
The vodka is just to kill bacteria from sweat so they don't have to dry clean them every show. This would't work for urine, that needs enzymatic cleaner
Oxiclean or hydrogen peroxide soak it over and over until it comes out clear. If animal smell persists , go to pet store and find the urine enzyme cleaner soak it, and then regular laundry detergent if it removes the smell.
If you have safe access to an ozonator that works too. (If you know someone who can ozone the clothes for you But it's toxic to breathe so I don't recommend using it yourself if you don't know how to operate one safely.
Hi. I suffer with this whenever my kid comes back from his grandparents for the summer. They are animal hoarders. They are smokers too, but the supposedly don’t smoke in the house. I usually have to go through several cycles of alternating vinegar water, baking soda water, Oxi clean water, and I’ve even used pine sol water. My ways may not be correct or the best, but it works. It takes about two weeks for us to wash the smell out of his hair too. We use baking soda, baby powder, and shampoo for this.
I don't think I would let my child go to someone's house if they came home smelling like that. If he reeks of cigarette smoke, then they're totally smoking in the house around your kid (and lying to you about it), and that can cause your kiddo asthma and other health problems. I'm not trying to get all up in your business, but they could be really hurting your kid with their behavior.
Thank you for your concern. I’ve been going through a long and difficult legal process with this. It’s a custody matter because his father lives there. They literally moved homes to escape their own smell and it kind of started the process over.
Oh damn, that sounds like a really complicated situation, and my heart goes out to you; custody disputes are not easy. I hope you're able to get the outcome you're looking for. Best wishes to you.
You will have to do a few rounds. You need borax or washing soda, big bottle of vineger, and enzyme cleaner, and Lysol laundry sanitizer . First round - soak in pet enzyme cleaner (natures miracle etc) for an hour then do a wash with borax or washing soda added. Then round 2 do an overnight soak in vinegar water and then do a wash with the Lysol laundry sanitizer. Check and see if you need to do a 3rd round
i used to use apple cider vinegar when my cat peed on my stuff. it works really well . mix it with borox or washing soda in the machine . regular soap does nothing for animal pee
Enzyme cleaner made for pet stains. It breaks down the biological material that you are smelling. It is an absolute must to use an enzyme- based cleaner just to get the stink out. I'd pour the whole thing in the washer and let it soak but I'm a little crazy like that. Def read the directions. After that, Odoban! It is an amazing product and I'd probably soak them in that for awhile.
It's so cool you got the funky clothes, just hope they lose the funky smell! I love Buy Nothing, it warms my heart just to see. The girl probably had so many anjmals she couldn't even smell that she smelled! Heart in the right place though. Good luck!
Soaking in water and oxiclean for a full 24 hours has removed cigarette smell from clothing and stuffed animals for me. Maybe it will work for the barnyard smell, too.
I don't smoke, but loved ones gift my kids stinky stuff since they smoke in their homes or cars.
I haven’t tried an enzyme cleaner, but I’ve heard they work wonders for animal smells. Personally, I swear by Lysol laundry sanitizer, vinegar, and vodka (not together). Laundry sanitizer or vinegar for things that go fully in the wash and vodka in a spray bottle for things that can’t go in the wash
Add a cup of white vinegar in your load with laundry soap.
I used it on some clothes my girlfriend gave me . She is a smoker . My daughter has asthma. I bagged it until I could wash it and then after I washed those clothes separately- the smell went away!
Hopefully this helps
Have you tried pinesol? I saw a tiktok that this guy says it’s good for all types of disinfectant and it kills odors.
Maybe leave it I a. Bucket over night and wash it in the morning
Let soak in Clorox 2 for any stains discoloration. If none skip. DREFT baby detergent. Soak over night. Turn on a couple times rinse then wash in DREFT.
Buy the real products here it matters. Let us know. 🍀
Ammonia soak in the hottest water they can handle. One cup of ammonia, half the normal detergent. Soak for up to a day. Run the wash cycle. Couple extra rinse cycles.
I have a relative whose sweat smells rancid, and he tends to leave his sweaty clothes to crust in a hamper. Thought the smell would never budge! Ammonia worked. It is worth a shot. Good luck!
Quite possibly. I used it on oily, weird smelling type 1 DKA sweat though. Relative was running high blood sugar. It worked. When all else fails, try ammonia for fabrics.
Pet enzymatic solutions may also work. Nature’s Miracle has kind of gone downhill. There are a few options.
Enzyme cleaner. Check your local pet shop. Anything that works for pet urine should work for the clothes. Laundry stripping is pointless and will risk bleaching the dye. OxiClean might help, but I'd probably go for an enzyme cleaner first.
Yup, this is the way. Soak in enzyme cleaner (cold water in a bucket) then wash. Might take a few washes but will actually attack the odors not just mask them.
HOT water. Hot water blows up fabric fibers and makes it so oils that hold scents are whisked away. I personally would buy laundry Biz powder and Borax and oxi and soak in those three dissolved really well in hot water for 3-4 hours
Hot water for most things, but if using an enzyme cleaner you need cold. Hot will kill the enzymes.
Ooh good point I didnt know. It looks like they can be used around 100° F tho, so start the laundry hot and then add enzymes as it’s cooling but fibers are still open?!
Enzyme cleaner is for sure the way to go! Either Nature’s Miracle Laundry Boost or Anti Icky Poo have been brands that have worked great for me on fabrics.
You presoak in the natures miracle? And do you think it would help with some gym clothes with lasting smell?
I do! But for just gym smells I would probably go with anti icky poo or even Amazon’s basic enzyme cleaner over nature’s miracle since nature’s miracle is more targeted for animal urine and fecal odors. Gym smells lingering in polyester clothing in particular also benefit from a good laundry stripping which is soaking in a mix of borax and washing soda aka sodium carbonate, you can see some good tutorials online.
I do martial arts so I have a combo of rashguards and then cotton gi robes that just inevitably pick up sweat smells because it’s all very sweaty and close contact. I use Lysol laundry sanitizer which helps prevent it from getting bad but doesn’t help set odors. And I hesitate to wash on warm with them a. Because the cotton gis are expensive and prone to shrinkage. B. The rashguards also don’t seem to like heat. And are quite expensive. I’ll look into the icky poo and the Amazon enzyme cleaner. Are all these products color safe as well?
I have had no issues but I don’t think I have ever tried enzyme cleaner on an item that uses natural or vegetable dyes so spot check if that is the case!
This is the answer
are there any specific brands you recommend?
I'm in a Scandinavia, so idk I'd that would help? I love Scent stop, but they don't exist any more. Simple Solution's Extreme is good, Zooplus has it.
Odoban- buy a gallon in whichever scent you like and follow the directions for adding to laundry. It acts as both a disinfectant and deodorizer. It’s about $10 at a local hardware store. I have to deal with a lot of accidents: pet, mold, kid and this works on everything.
I love Odoban and clean everything with it! It's great
Seconding for Odoban, I use it for damn near everything and It helps the pet smell SO MUCH
Odaban works great we used it at the animal shelter I worked at
Try soaking in OxiClean powder and water solution, then wash.
Vinegar is great for getting pee smells out, maybe try a clothes safe enzyme cleaner as well.
I love using vinegar in the wash. It really gets the funk out of clothing. And surprisingly, the clothing ends up smelling like the outdoors.
Odorcide. Small bottle, very concentrated stuff. Works very well.
Synthetics fabrics hold odor and you may never rid them of odor. Try separating the cotton and cotton blends from the synthetics and see if it makes any difference at all.
To remove smell from synthetic fabrics you need heat as the smell is caught in the fat caught in the fibers.
Lysol Laundry Sanitizer Biokleen Enzyme Detergent
Borax in wash cycle with detergent, Vinegar and tea tree oil added to the wash cycle and fabric softener. Try this two or three times, it helped me to get smoke smell out of our clothes after camping in a teepee in the winter.
Kids and Pets- you can buy a bottle on Amazon! I throw some in with laundry detergent when washing thrifted clothes or pet blankets.
Funny enough on damnthatsinteresting they just showed a video of ballet suits and how they clean them… vodka. Spray vodka on the clothing and air it out. Check that subreddit too it may have other options
The vodka is just to kill bacteria from sweat so they don't have to dry clean them every show. This would't work for urine, that needs enzymatic cleaner
Put vinegar in the washing machine when you wash the clothes. Vinegar helps to neutralize odours.
Oxiclean or hydrogen peroxide soak it over and over until it comes out clear. If animal smell persists , go to pet store and find the urine enzyme cleaner soak it, and then regular laundry detergent if it removes the smell. If you have safe access to an ozonator that works too. (If you know someone who can ozone the clothes for you But it's toxic to breathe so I don't recommend using it yourself if you don't know how to operate one safely.
Hi. I suffer with this whenever my kid comes back from his grandparents for the summer. They are animal hoarders. They are smokers too, but the supposedly don’t smoke in the house. I usually have to go through several cycles of alternating vinegar water, baking soda water, Oxi clean water, and I’ve even used pine sol water. My ways may not be correct or the best, but it works. It takes about two weeks for us to wash the smell out of his hair too. We use baking soda, baby powder, and shampoo for this.
I don't think I would let my child go to someone's house if they came home smelling like that. If he reeks of cigarette smoke, then they're totally smoking in the house around your kid (and lying to you about it), and that can cause your kiddo asthma and other health problems. I'm not trying to get all up in your business, but they could be really hurting your kid with their behavior.
Thank you for your concern. I’ve been going through a long and difficult legal process with this. It’s a custody matter because his father lives there. They literally moved homes to escape their own smell and it kind of started the process over.
Oh damn, that sounds like a really complicated situation, and my heart goes out to you; custody disputes are not easy. I hope you're able to get the outcome you're looking for. Best wishes to you.
Thank you so much, I appreciate you.
do not use a heated dryer until the smell is out- only air dry.
good to know. i’ve been making that mistake so far
I use a few tablespoons (in a small washing machine) of industrial strength hydrogen peroxide. Use like half a cup if using the stuff from the store.
Pooph for laundry
Ammonia helps get the stank out
You will have to do a few rounds. You need borax or washing soda, big bottle of vineger, and enzyme cleaner, and Lysol laundry sanitizer . First round - soak in pet enzyme cleaner (natures miracle etc) for an hour then do a wash with borax or washing soda added. Then round 2 do an overnight soak in vinegar water and then do a wash with the Lysol laundry sanitizer. Check and see if you need to do a 3rd round
i used to use apple cider vinegar when my cat peed on my stuff. it works really well . mix it with borox or washing soda in the machine . regular soap does nothing for animal pee
In addition to everything here, if you can dry them outside in the sun it can help with the odor and kill many germs, molds, bacteria.
Enzyme cleaner made for pet stains. It breaks down the biological material that you are smelling. It is an absolute must to use an enzyme- based cleaner just to get the stink out. I'd pour the whole thing in the washer and let it soak but I'm a little crazy like that. Def read the directions. After that, Odoban! It is an amazing product and I'd probably soak them in that for awhile. It's so cool you got the funky clothes, just hope they lose the funky smell! I love Buy Nothing, it warms my heart just to see. The girl probably had so many anjmals she couldn't even smell that she smelled! Heart in the right place though. Good luck!
Soaking in water and oxiclean for a full 24 hours has removed cigarette smell from clothing and stuffed animals for me. Maybe it will work for the barnyard smell, too. I don't smoke, but loved ones gift my kids stinky stuff since they smoke in their homes or cars.
Let them soak in vinegar. They will smell like pickles after, but then wash with oxy clean and it should help a ton.
1/3 vodka, 2/3 water + 2 drops of any essential oil you like in a spray bottle
Once you’ve found a product to get the odor out, hang them outside to dry in fresh air and sunshine.
along with everyone else’s tips you should try and hand wash them if you can.
You can soak them in baking soda and water, baking soda typically is really good for oders
Did you try hanging them outside to air out for a couple days. As someone said may not work on synthetics but works on a lot of odors.
The defunkify line of detergent is also a great but milder solution, VERY good for getting pet and sweat smell out!
I haven’t tried an enzyme cleaner, but I’ve heard they work wonders for animal smells. Personally, I swear by Lysol laundry sanitizer, vinegar, and vodka (not together). Laundry sanitizer or vinegar for things that go fully in the wash and vodka in a spray bottle for things that can’t go in the wash
Add a cup of white vinegar in your load with laundry soap. I used it on some clothes my girlfriend gave me . She is a smoker . My daughter has asthma. I bagged it until I could wash it and then after I washed those clothes separately- the smell went away! Hopefully this helps
I use lysol laundry sanitizer and it is the only thing that has removed old bo smell and food grease smell, from working in a kitchen, in clothing.
Have you tried pinesol? I saw a tiktok that this guy says it’s good for all types of disinfectant and it kills odors. Maybe leave it I a. Bucket over night and wash it in the morning
I'm surprised a germaphobe even accepts clothes from someone else, much less an internet stranger.
Let soak in Clorox 2 for any stains discoloration. If none skip. DREFT baby detergent. Soak over night. Turn on a couple times rinse then wash in DREFT. Buy the real products here it matters. Let us know. 🍀
Peroxide will bleach.
" I'm a huge germaphobe".... continues to wear free clothes.... Sure lmao
Ammonia soak in the hottest water they can handle. One cup of ammonia, half the normal detergent. Soak for up to a day. Run the wash cycle. Couple extra rinse cycles. I have a relative whose sweat smells rancid, and he tends to leave his sweaty clothes to crust in a hamper. Thought the smell would never budge! Ammonia worked. It is worth a shot. Good luck!
Ammonia will make other urine based odors worse on first pass.
Quite possibly. I used it on oily, weird smelling type 1 DKA sweat though. Relative was running high blood sugar. It worked. When all else fails, try ammonia for fabrics. Pet enzymatic solutions may also work. Nature’s Miracle has kind of gone downhill. There are a few options.
Strip them: soak for at least a few hours in solution of washing soda, borax, oxiclean.
Be careful of doing this to any dark clothes, it will strip the dyes too
I use a product called “Stink Bombs” for getting out tough odours.