Laundry Stank - How to Strip Your Clothes of Build-up

Having trouble getting your clothes clean?

Over time clothing can collect a build-up of fragrance oils, deodorant, excess laundry powder, and so forth. If you are noticing an unpleasant smell in your clothing or you feel like they’re not washing as well as you would like, you may need to strip your clothing of all of that build-up.

After some fun experiments in our laundry rooms, we’ve discovered an effective method of stripping your clothes of all of that build-up for a fresh, clean start.

Before you begin

Give your washing machine and dryer a thorough cleaning! Believe it or not, even the machines that do the washing need to be cleaned themselves. Over time, fragrances, oils, hard water deposits and so forth build up inside your machine, leading to a funky smell in the machine. This machine funk can cause your clothing to pick up the very grime you’ve washed off previously.

Just how do you clean your washing machine? Take a look at our article on how to clean a stinky washing machine.

Give your clothes a reset by stripping the build-up

Reset Mixture:

Mix all ingredients together to dissolve. Only use unscented items when stripping your clothing.

Step 1

Add one standard load of clothing to the tub/utility sink.

Fill with just enough COLD water to submerge clothing.

Add reset mixture.

Give it a good stir!

Step 2

Wait 4 hours. If you have young children please remember it only takes an inch of water for a toddler to drown. Be sure to do this in an area that is inaccessible to unsupervised children.

Step 3

Wring out clothing and place in the washing machine.

Step 4

Wash on a normal wash setting with warm water.

Do not add any additional products (laundry powder, baking soda, etc).  We are just washing out all of the remaining residue and products at this point.

Need an extra boost? Deodorant Smells, Extra Stinky Dish Cloths, etc.

After resetting the clothing, but before placing in dryer:
  • Spray affected area(s) with white vinegar.
  • Soak for 15 minutes in HOT water. Please check your garment tags to make sure this won’t cause anything to shrink. The warmer your water the more oils release from the clothing.
  • Do not drain the water, but rather pour any oil off the top if soaking in a bucket, or wring out clothing to avoid oils reattaching to clothing. 
  • Run through the shortest wash cycle on warm.

    Step 5

    Dry as usual.

    That's it. We hope you find these steps helpful for getting rid of any build-up in your clothes.

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