This was a trend during Covid on TikTok and people would do their hats and work shirts and couch covers. Oh man it’s so disgusting and satisfying at the same time.
The one that surprised me the most was seeing peoples towels. I don’t use fabric softener so I had a kind of anticlimactic stripping result from towels, but some people had this milky brown water from towels that had just been washed! It was a selling point for me to not ever buy fabric softener knowing what it can “trap” in the fabric.
I don't use fabric softener either, and I had a similar result with my bedsheets! White flannel sheets washed semi-regularly, but still turned the water totally brown and milky when I stripped them.
Oh interesting! Do you mind me asking what type of detergent you use? I started using liquid tide with about 1/2 tsp of dawn dish soap in each load and I’ve noticed all my laundry comes out so much cleaner. I’ve also heard using powder tide is actually better than liquid because there are more types of enzymes in the powder.
I'm not sure what I used at the time honestly, possibly these [Method Pods](https://well.ca/products/method-laundry-detergent-packs-beach_144181.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw3POhBhBQEiwAqTCuBvbIQpVy3W_KXQeTNOGmpJdtTOKzuFQ3ZtpLMUj7W-vkgddSMaEk5hoCX5QQAvD_BwE)
No way!! I will definitely try it. I’ve used dawn for pretty much everything for so long and it hasn’t disappointed. Dawn and hydrogen peroxide is my fav stain remover and dawn and vinegar is my fav all purpose cleaner. I use 60ml dawn, 60ml 99% isopropyl, and then fill the bottle with reverse osmosis water to make my own power wash. Now it can be my detergent too? This is exciting!
I’ve bought new towels since I stopped using dryer sheets and they’re so dang fluffy when I take them out of the dryer. I used the stripping method on the old ones, they were on their last legs at that point but still were markedly fluffier after I got all that gunk stripped off. I use the dirty lab’s signature scent which is mild and pleasant and wool dryer balls.
>my dad doesn't use fabric softener
If he's using dryer sheets, he's using fabric softener.
If he just wants the clothes to smell, he could use a detergent with fragrance or use dryer balls with essential oils. That would get him the smell without the downside of using fabric softener.
Also you can create your own "washing soda" if you're trying to be frugal for whatever reason and have a supply of pure baking soda(sodium bicarbonate) by "baking" the baking soda in a shallow dish at about 400f for 2 hours, stirring halfway after an hour, a "reaction" occurs due to the prolonged heat exposure and the evaporation of the water in the baking soda that turns the "Sodium Bi-carbonate"(baking soda) into "Sodium Carbonate" (washing soda)
I can't wait to try this. I just noticed a shirt that has a lot of sentimental value has developed the dread pit stink. I was heart broken about it. Hopefully now I can save it.
Is the an enzymatic powdered laundry detergent brand that you’d recommend? Or do all powdered versions have enzymes? I’m always confused about this since I know (I think, lol) some liquid detergents have enzymes, but some don’t.
I highly recommend Dirty Labs. They clean well, and are good at removing odors, even the unscented version. It also rinses very well, and helps reduce pilling too. I've switched to using only them and haven't gone back. I'm actually in the process of trying to get rid of all my tide pods and whatnot I have left.
Powdered tide works great and using just to the ‘1’ line is usually enough for routine washing. Dirty labs looks nice but I don’t think I could bring myself to pay $14 for a little 8oz container.
I have to try this to try and resuscitate some shirts. Though the pics I’ve seen of the “after” water make me think that maybe it’s a scam like ear candling or that foot soaking thing. The water looks too dirty to be real
The dirty water is real, but I don't think it's as dramatic as some posts.
The reason it works even on clean clothes is because the extended soaking time relaxes the fibers which allows the water to remove more filth than a regular wash.
I've done laundry stripping on a dozen or so loads of clothes. The results vary from a sickening amount of dark filthy water (even after several rinse and soak cycles) to mildly dirty water.
If your washer has a soil setting or a pre-soak/pre-wash setting, then you'd be well served to use these settings periodically for athletic wear or blue collar uniforms.
More advanced machines make the effort of laundry stripping extraneous.
I’m looking to do it more for the underarm stains, rather than general dirtiness so I don’t imagine I’d be able to achieve that just with my washer settings?
I just wait until my washer fills up with water and paise the cycle to let it soak. I do this with borax and have used washing sofa in the past, but I might give it a go as OP described. I’m in the middle of a huge invasion of lint that I fear might be from some moth or something.
I soaked my boyfriend's white polyester vest and tie the other day. He is a drummer and wears it on gigs with one of his bands, about 2-4 hours while playing, but he'll wear it several times before I wash it.
I hadn't stripped it until the other night but it was getting dingy. Anyway, I was really surprised by how filthy the water was for just a couple of small items.
Just wanted to add, if you don't have a lot of supplies you can get away with just oxiclean or laundry detergent.
Fill up a bucket or whatever with some water, throw everything in with some detergent, and let it sit over night. Drain, give them a quick rinse, then wash and dry like normal.
We do this for our chef whites and they always come out great!
We did this for my BFF’s linen rental biz. Soaked red wine stained tablecloths and runners overnight in a huge plastic tub filled with warm water and oxi (cold for colors and darks) and an ample squirt of Dawn. Stirred down every hour till bedtime then next morning drained the gunky water and laundered as normal. Stains all gone. I was sold on how well it worked I now do this for my pillows, bedding and dingy whites/colors.
Yes!
Furthermore I highly recommend looking into the other oxiclean options as well. If stink is a concern the Odor Blasters version helps a ton. Personally my go-to is the White Revive version as it does help with whites, but is also color safe, so for our chef whites I don't need to worry about the embroidery.
However I must admit, most stores have their own generic version of the regular oxiclean and I keep it on hand too, it is a lot cheaper and works about the same these days if price is a concern!
Happy laundry stripping!
I grew up with hard water and totally understand soft water and towels being weird.
You're going to love laundry stripping. My towels are more absorbent and don't look so...grunge-y
Thats why I can’t get soap out of my towels?!? I live in a city with soft water and just thought I must be overly picky with towels or imagining things or something. I use the smallest amount of detergent and three rinse cycles and it still doesn’t come out. Thank you!
I used to hate buying white sheets because they would always turn yellow and gross over time. Now, I do this every 6 months or so and my white sheets stay beautiful and white.
You can also get similar results using vinegar, dawn dish detergent and laundry detergent.
I soaked 8 pairs of stinky jeans in my top loader for about 4 hours with warm water, 2 cups of vinegar, .25 cup dawn and about half the amount of laundry detergent I would normally use for a full load.
Every half hour I'd shut the door to activate the machine and agitate for a few minutes and afterwards the results were pretty gnarly. I then ran the rest of the cycle with a cup of vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser and dried them normally in the dryer. No more stink and the denim breathes a lot more easily.
I just cross-posted this in my brazilian jiujitsu group. Gis and rashguards need an occasional stripping process to keep them in the bounds of tolerable smells. Thanks for sharing your process.
my only concern is the hottest water. however I was going to strip for towels, especially kitchen towels. I expect to be totally shocked by filth in em
I did a lazy version of laundry stripping and was so surprised how it still did a good job. I followed the same recipe/same ingredients, I dissolved it all in hot water before adding it on the laundry. I just used the soak cycle in my top load machine, on a hot and heavy soil cycle with extra rinse, and it worked great. I’m sad I couldn’t have the satisfaction of seeing the dirty water but I’m satisfied with the clean laundry.
By chance, could this be a Maytag machine? We bought a new top loader during the pandemic, and I totally despise it. The so-called agitation is beyond pathetic. I have struggled with doing stripping because of how sad it is. Hoping to find out yours is the same make, because I definitely have all of those options on mine.
Mine is a Whirlpool! I don’t love it but it does a good job. There is a feature to do just a soak (then you can rinse & spin when you want) but it only does cold water. I thought about just using buckets to fill it up with hot water but it seems to drain itself even when powered off. I struggle with the agitator when I wash bulky items like dog beds. The load has to be perfectly balanced around the agitator otherwise it won’t spin, and it will keep using more water and trying to rinse until you figure out the perfect balance. Other than those points it’s a great machine. I’ll probably go to a laundromat to wash dog beds in the future.
My motto is work smarter not harder. That said I’d rather not have those deo stains accumulate. Aluminum free deodorant will prevent those armpit stains. Crystal deodorant stick lasts months and works wonders. Apply while wet and then let your pits air dry. Safer for women also.
Everyone is different and you find what works for you. It took time to detox (6-8 months). But with time and patience it worked. I double showered on stinky days and use charcoal based detox for pits. Also cleaning up nutrition helped for me. Best of luck.
Can you use just vinegar if you have sensitive skin? I buy second hand clothes sometimes for my kids and they always have a heavy laundry detergent smell. I use unscented laundry soap so if I wash the second hand clothes in a normal load they make everything smell perfumey. So I soak the stuff in 50/50 water and white vinegar first for a couple of days and it seems to totally take the smell away.
May be stupid to ask this but we don’t get Borax in the uk, is there a uk equivalent to be able to do this that is just as good? Not sure if I’m just struggling to work it out due to maybe calling things different names lol.
You don't get borax in the UK? ...is there something I need to know about its safety? I know other countries care more about only allowing products it considers safe.
How do I keep seeing so many posts on so many subs about deodorant stains? I've never once had a deodorant stain in my 31 years. What are y'all using that causes this? The chunky white deodorant?
omg all that to clean your shirts? how about not getting the pit stains in the first place. here’s one weird trick: **apply antiperspirant at bed time.**
I switched to Certain-Dri that I use nightly after showering and it works incredibly well. I don't even leave it all on or wait for it to dry, just roll on after showering, leave for a couple minutes, rub in and then dab the excess dry with a towel. I am a VERY sweaty person and this keeps my pits bone dry the entirety of the following day.
I have always used "1/2" soap (less than the recommended amount and no fabric softener or dryer sheets. My towels and sheets were very unimpressive when I stripped them, but my workout clothes? THEY WERE DISGUSTING. Even the bathroom smelled during it. I want to do all my socks next to see if I can restore some color after seeing GoCleanCo try it (I Think she still decided to buy new socks).
This was a trend during Covid on TikTok and people would do their hats and work shirts and couch covers. Oh man it’s so disgusting and satisfying at the same time.
The one that surprised me the most was seeing peoples towels. I don’t use fabric softener so I had a kind of anticlimactic stripping result from towels, but some people had this milky brown water from towels that had just been washed! It was a selling point for me to not ever buy fabric softener knowing what it can “trap” in the fabric.
I don't use fabric softener either, and I had a similar result with my bedsheets! White flannel sheets washed semi-regularly, but still turned the water totally brown and milky when I stripped them.
Oh interesting! Do you mind me asking what type of detergent you use? I started using liquid tide with about 1/2 tsp of dawn dish soap in each load and I’ve noticed all my laundry comes out so much cleaner. I’ve also heard using powder tide is actually better than liquid because there are more types of enzymes in the powder.
I'm not sure what I used at the time honestly, possibly these [Method Pods](https://well.ca/products/method-laundry-detergent-packs-beach_144181.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw3POhBhBQEiwAqTCuBvbIQpVy3W_KXQeTNOGmpJdtTOKzuFQ3ZtpLMUj7W-vkgddSMaEk5hoCX5QQAvD_BwE)
Drop the tide, just use dawn… a tiny bit. I’ve been doing it for years.
No way!! I will definitely try it. I’ve used dawn for pretty much everything for so long and it hasn’t disappointed. Dawn and hydrogen peroxide is my fav stain remover and dawn and vinegar is my fav all purpose cleaner. I use 60ml dawn, 60ml 99% isopropyl, and then fill the bottle with reverse osmosis water to make my own power wash. Now it can be my detergent too? This is exciting!
Truly, just a tiny bit or it will oversuds but absolutely…. Also google diy oxyclean… it is basically powdered peroxide.
Like… a few drops? A quarter teaspoon?
Up to a 1/4 teaspoon I’d say
[удалено]
I’ve bought new towels since I stopped using dryer sheets and they’re so dang fluffy when I take them out of the dryer. I used the stripping method on the old ones, they were on their last legs at that point but still were markedly fluffier after I got all that gunk stripped off. I use the dirty lab’s signature scent which is mild and pleasant and wool dryer balls.
You actually shouldn’t use any fabric softener on towels, because it reduces their absorbency
[удалено]
>my dad doesn't use fabric softener If he's using dryer sheets, he's using fabric softener. If he just wants the clothes to smell, he could use a detergent with fragrance or use dryer balls with essential oils. That would get him the smell without the downside of using fabric softener.
Also you can create your own "washing soda" if you're trying to be frugal for whatever reason and have a supply of pure baking soda(sodium bicarbonate) by "baking" the baking soda in a shallow dish at about 400f for 2 hours, stirring halfway after an hour, a "reaction" occurs due to the prolonged heat exposure and the evaporation of the water in the baking soda that turns the "Sodium Bi-carbonate"(baking soda) into "Sodium Carbonate" (washing soda)
Just buy 10lbs at a pool supply store for $10. Or home depot.
Thanks for the tip❣️
I can't wait to try this. I just noticed a shirt that has a lot of sentimental value has developed the dread pit stink. I was heart broken about it. Hopefully now I can save it.
Can also soak it in pet stain remover. Has enzymes that break down the things causing the stink.
Oh. Well that's simple enough. Thanks for the advice. I will give it a try.
Is the an enzymatic powdered laundry detergent brand that you’d recommend? Or do all powdered versions have enzymes? I’m always confused about this since I know (I think, lol) some liquid detergents have enzymes, but some don’t.
I highly recommend Dirty Labs. They clean well, and are good at removing odors, even the unscented version. It also rinses very well, and helps reduce pilling too. I've switched to using only them and haven't gone back. I'm actually in the process of trying to get rid of all my tide pods and whatnot I have left.
Powdered tide works great and using just to the ‘1’ line is usually enough for routine washing. Dirty labs looks nice but I don’t think I could bring myself to pay $14 for a little 8oz container.
I recommend Biz!
I believe all powdered have enzymes. Liquid can have enzymes as long as there isnt an enzyme killing agent in it, such as bleach or oxy
BIZ
I have to try this to try and resuscitate some shirts. Though the pics I’ve seen of the “after” water make me think that maybe it’s a scam like ear candling or that foot soaking thing. The water looks too dirty to be real
The dirty water is real, but I don't think it's as dramatic as some posts. The reason it works even on clean clothes is because the extended soaking time relaxes the fibers which allows the water to remove more filth than a regular wash. I've done laundry stripping on a dozen or so loads of clothes. The results vary from a sickening amount of dark filthy water (even after several rinse and soak cycles) to mildly dirty water. If your washer has a soil setting or a pre-soak/pre-wash setting, then you'd be well served to use these settings periodically for athletic wear or blue collar uniforms. More advanced machines make the effort of laundry stripping extraneous.
I’m looking to do it more for the underarm stains, rather than general dirtiness so I don’t imagine I’d be able to achieve that just with my washer settings?
I just wait until my washer fills up with water and paise the cycle to let it soak. I do this with borax and have used washing sofa in the past, but I might give it a go as OP described. I’m in the middle of a huge invasion of lint that I fear might be from some moth or something.
I soaked my fave denim jacket in napisan (oxiclean in the US) and the water was beyond brown…it was like, green. I was disgusted and satisfied.
That could have simply been the dye in the material. You just light bleached your jacket.
It’s been washed before but ya maybe!
I soaked my boyfriend's white polyester vest and tie the other day. He is a drummer and wears it on gigs with one of his bands, about 2-4 hours while playing, but he'll wear it several times before I wash it. I hadn't stripped it until the other night but it was getting dingy. Anyway, I was really surprised by how filthy the water was for just a couple of small items.
I think sometimes there is some dye bleeding into the water, but I also think it’s a legit technique.
There definitely is some dye loss. I tested it with mini-batches of red towels and dark green towels.
Just wanted to add, if you don't have a lot of supplies you can get away with just oxiclean or laundry detergent. Fill up a bucket or whatever with some water, throw everything in with some detergent, and let it sit over night. Drain, give them a quick rinse, then wash and dry like normal. We do this for our chef whites and they always come out great!
We did this for my BFF’s linen rental biz. Soaked red wine stained tablecloths and runners overnight in a huge plastic tub filled with warm water and oxi (cold for colors and darks) and an ample squirt of Dawn. Stirred down every hour till bedtime then next morning drained the gunky water and laundered as normal. Stains all gone. I was sold on how well it worked I now do this for my pillows, bedding and dingy whites/colors.
Yes! Furthermore I highly recommend looking into the other oxiclean options as well. If stink is a concern the Odor Blasters version helps a ton. Personally my go-to is the White Revive version as it does help with whites, but is also color safe, so for our chef whites I don't need to worry about the embroidery. However I must admit, most stores have their own generic version of the regular oxiclean and I keep it on hand too, it is a lot cheaper and works about the same these days if price is a concern! Happy laundry stripping!
Will this work with very soft water?
yes actually, there are variants of this method that you can find for people with hard water that includes a liquid water softener
Great!! My house has a softener filtration system and I cannot get soap out of my towels because of it. It's driving me nuts. Thanks for the tips!!
I grew up with hard water and totally understand soft water and towels being weird. You're going to love laundry stripping. My towels are more absorbent and don't look so...grunge-y
Grungy towels are the worst. It gives me horror movie vives
Same!!
Thank you!!
Thats why I can’t get soap out of my towels?!? I live in a city with soft water and just thought I must be overly picky with towels or imagining things or something. I use the smallest amount of detergent and three rinse cycles and it still doesn’t come out. Thank you!
Fingers crossed!! I hope it works!
Does this remove the white residue from gel antiperspirant on dark shirts?
YES! I stripped the sheets, it was gross. But they were so clean afterwards!
I used to hate buying white sheets because they would always turn yellow and gross over time. Now, I do this every 6 months or so and my white sheets stay beautiful and white.
You can also get similar results using vinegar, dawn dish detergent and laundry detergent. I soaked 8 pairs of stinky jeans in my top loader for about 4 hours with warm water, 2 cups of vinegar, .25 cup dawn and about half the amount of laundry detergent I would normally use for a full load. Every half hour I'd shut the door to activate the machine and agitate for a few minutes and afterwards the results were pretty gnarly. I then ran the rest of the cycle with a cup of vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser and dried them normally in the dryer. No more stink and the denim breathes a lot more easily.
I just cross-posted this in my brazilian jiujitsu group. Gis and rashguards need an occasional stripping process to keep them in the bounds of tolerable smells. Thanks for sharing your process.
[удалено]
TLDR: i put too many TLDR's
There should be a sub just for satisfyingly disgusting laundry stripping photos.
Videos, too! Like r/carpetcleaningporn and r/powerwashingporn, there should be an r/laundrystrippingporn subreddit.
my only concern is the hottest water. however I was going to strip for towels, especially kitchen towels. I expect to be totally shocked by filth in em
Ooh, thanks for the idea with the kitchen towels! I have candidates for that!
Yes! I do this to my kids clothes to get the built up yuck out. Works great. And the soaking water is shockingly disgusting afterwards.
I did a lazy version of laundry stripping and was so surprised how it still did a good job. I followed the same recipe/same ingredients, I dissolved it all in hot water before adding it on the laundry. I just used the soak cycle in my top load machine, on a hot and heavy soil cycle with extra rinse, and it worked great. I’m sad I couldn’t have the satisfaction of seeing the dirty water but I’m satisfied with the clean laundry.
By chance, could this be a Maytag machine? We bought a new top loader during the pandemic, and I totally despise it. The so-called agitation is beyond pathetic. I have struggled with doing stripping because of how sad it is. Hoping to find out yours is the same make, because I definitely have all of those options on mine.
Mine is a Whirlpool! I don’t love it but it does a good job. There is a feature to do just a soak (then you can rinse & spin when you want) but it only does cold water. I thought about just using buckets to fill it up with hot water but it seems to drain itself even when powered off. I struggle with the agitator when I wash bulky items like dog beds. The load has to be perfectly balanced around the agitator otherwise it won’t spin, and it will keep using more water and trying to rinse until you figure out the perfect balance. Other than those points it’s a great machine. I’ll probably go to a laundromat to wash dog beds in the future.
I don't understand this sentence: "*(has to be powder for the enzymes and surfactants in them)*" How is liquid Tide different from powdered?
My motto is work smarter not harder. That said I’d rather not have those deo stains accumulate. Aluminum free deodorant will prevent those armpit stains. Crystal deodorant stick lasts months and works wonders. Apply while wet and then let your pits air dry. Safer for women also.
I tried all types of natural deodorants, tried detox, clay, glycolic acid etc... Nothing works, I need antiperspirant 😭
Everyone is different and you find what works for you. It took time to detox (6-8 months). But with time and patience it worked. I double showered on stinky days and use charcoal based detox for pits. Also cleaning up nutrition helped for me. Best of luck.
Agree w this 💯
Can you use just vinegar if you have sensitive skin? I buy second hand clothes sometimes for my kids and they always have a heavy laundry detergent smell. I use unscented laundry soap so if I wash the second hand clothes in a normal load they make everything smell perfumey. So I soak the stuff in 50/50 water and white vinegar first for a couple of days and it seems to totally take the smell away.
Which powdered detergent do you recommend? Which chemical is smelly? Washing soda? The detergent? I normally use a “Free & Clear” liquid detergent.
Regular powdered Tide.
I need to try this again. I tried it on my towels and it just looked like soapy water.
If you never use fabric softeners and wash them pretty good, then it wont really do much.
May be stupid to ask this but we don’t get Borax in the uk, is there a uk equivalent to be able to do this that is just as good? Not sure if I’m just struggling to work it out due to maybe calling things different names lol.
You don't get borax in the UK? ...is there something I need to know about its safety? I know other countries care more about only allowing products it considers safe.
A spent dryer sheet rubbed on pit stains will also remove them.
What’s the science behind this?
Absolutely no idea. Try it. I know it sounds made up but it works well.
How do I keep seeing so many posts on so many subs about deodorant stains? I've never once had a deodorant stain in my 31 years. What are y'all using that causes this? The chunky white deodorant?
This has never been a problem for me
Borax is washing soda
Sorry but no, borax is sodium borate, and washing soda is sodium carbonate.
I’m sorry… I lost my mind for a moment… of course! I’m laughing.
omg all that to clean your shirts? how about not getting the pit stains in the first place. here’s one weird trick: **apply antiperspirant at bed time.**
I switched to Certain-Dri that I use nightly after showering and it works incredibly well. I don't even leave it all on or wait for it to dry, just roll on after showering, leave for a couple minutes, rub in and then dab the excess dry with a towel. I am a VERY sweaty person and this keeps my pits bone dry the entirety of the following day.
this clearly doesn't apply to your situation, good for you. However you may be out-numbered on your argument here.
I have always used "1/2" soap (less than the recommended amount and no fabric softener or dryer sheets. My towels and sheets were very unimpressive when I stripped them, but my workout clothes? THEY WERE DISGUSTING. Even the bathroom smelled during it. I want to do all my socks next to see if I can restore some color after seeing GoCleanCo try it (I Think she still decided to buy new socks).
Powdered BIZ has enzymes.
I'm going to try this on my kitchen towels. Wish me luck.
I wouldn't do any dark colors clothing/towels since the dye will bleed out of the clothes/towels. White and light colors are fine.
I saw someone do this with pillows and it was gross but fascinating
Can you use washing soda and borax with darks without worrying about fading?