Do you ever wash your clothes, towels, or bedding only to feel like they’re not totally clean? You’re not alone. It’s normal for fabrics to collect residue from everyday dirts and oils like laundry detergent, fragrance oils, deodorant, body oils, and hard water deposits. Over time, these oils can build-up and leave your fabrics dingy, stiff, or smelly even after doing laundry.
Fortunately, laundry stripping is an easy, sustainable solution you can use at home for fresher clothes, towels, and sheets.
After some fun experiments, we’ve discovered an effective method for laundry stripping!
What is laundry stripping?
Laundry stripping is a process of removing built-up residue from fabric items like clothes, towels, and bedding by soaking them in a cleaning solution.
Stripping recipes typically involve a combination of water, laundry detergent, laundry boosters (such as sodium percarbonate or borax), and baking or washing soda. A major benefit of laundry stripping is that it uses common household ingredients—usually powders—to refresh well-used fabrics instead of replacing them.
Laundry stripping is great for:
- Deep-cleaning items that encounter a lot of dirt and oils, like bath towels, bed sheets, and workout clothes.
- Removing built-up residue from your normal laundry routine caused by detergents, fragrances, or hard water.
- Refreshing clothes or towels that you’ve had for a long time.
Laundry stripping recipe
Our laundry stripping recipe uses sustainable powdered ingredients: laundry powder, oxygen cleaner, and baking soda. We recommend using hot water to dissolve the ingredients and mix the cleaning solution while using cool or cold water to fill your soaking container.
Laundry stripping ingredients
- 2 cups hot water
- 1 tablespoon Oxygen Brightener
- 1 tablespoon unscented Laundry Powder
- 1/2 cup baking soda
Important note: Do not add additional chemicals to your stripping recipe. Mixing certain chemicals in cleaners, such as ammonia and bleach, can create dangerous gases. Our products do not contain these chemicals and are safe to mix as instructed.
You’ll also need
- Clean laundry, such as clothes, towels, sheets, and other bedding that you’ve already run through a normal wash cycle and needs deeper cleaning.
- A clean washing machine. The same residues that build up in your clothes can also build up in your washer, so we recommend cleaning your washing machine before stripping your laundry.
- A large bucket, bin, sink, or tub that can be filled with cool water.
- At least four hours of soaking time. Choose an area that you can dedicate to the stripping process. If you have children, use a space in your home that is inaccessible to unsupervised children to prevent any risk of drowning.
How to strip laundry in 4 steps
Step 1: Make the laundry stripping solution
First, make the laundry stripping solution by mixing the powder ingredients together in hot water.
Start by filling a heat-safe container with 2 cups of hot water from the tap.
Next, add one tablespoon each of unscented Laundry Powder and Oxygen Brightener. Our Laundry Powder canisters come with a one tablespoon scoop you can use.
Then add half a cup of baking soda to the mixture.
Mix the ingredients together to dissolve using a spoon, spatula, or similar kitchen tool.
Step 2: Soak clothes in cold water with the laundry stripping solution
While the powder dissolves in the solution, prepare your soak. Place the clothes, towels, or bedding you want to strip into a large, clean bucket, bin, sink, or tub.
Before soaking fabrics, check the care instructions tag on the product to ensure that they can be cleaned with sodium percarbonate or similar oxidizing agents. Delicate fabrics like wool and silk can be damaged by oxidizers that break down organic material. Always defer to the care instructions on the product tag.
If you use a bucket or bin, place it somewhere that you can easily fill it with water and later empty it, such as inside of a tub. Fill the container with enough cold water to submerge the items.
Add the laundry stripping solution to the submerged items, then stir it all to integrate the solution throughout the soaking water.
Let clothes soak with the mixture for at least four hours to let the stripping mixture break down residue.
Step 3: Wash clothes with warm water
Wring out clothes into the container or a nearby sink or tub and place them in the washing machine. Do not add any additional products like detergent or baking soda: the goal of this wash is to rinse out any remaining residue that was released during the soaking process.
Wash clothes on a normal wash setting with warm water.
Optional step: Use vinegar and hot water to remove remaining oils
If your fabrics need an extra boost to remove stubborn odors, oils, or stains, you can use vinegar and a short hot water soak.
Before soaking fabrics in hot water, check the care instructions tag on the product to ensure that they can be cleaned with hot water. Always defer to the care instructions on the product tag.
Follow these steps:
- Spray stained, dirty, or smelly areas of the fabric using a spray bottle full of white vinegar.
- Soak the fabrics for 15 minutes in hot water. Warmer water helps to release oils.
- Pour any oil off the top before draining the water and wring out clothing to prevent the released oils from reattaching to clothing.
- Run your items through the shortest available wash cycle (such as rinse) using warm water.
Step 4: Dry clothes as usual
Dry your clothes as you normally would using the dryer or air drying.
Enjoy cleaner clothes and fabrics
Laundry stripping removes dirt and oil residues that build up in your clothes and towels over time. It’s a great way to deep clean and remove stubborn stains and odors, fragrance oils, deodorant residue, sweat and body oils, and hard water deposits.
After stripping, your fabrics should feel renewed and refreshed—free of scents and stains!