Do your clothes stink? Especially your workout clothes or hiking clothes, your active wear? I think you probably know that smell. It’s awful and stubborn.

My Clothes Stink! 5 Tips to Get the Stink Out of Active Wear and Workout Clothes

Before we dive into the tips, let’s chat for a minute about bleach.

Bleach is something I grew up with, and I bet a lot of us did. It’s what people commonly think of when they want to get something really clean.

Why is bleach bad?

First of all, it's super harsh. You may not be aware, but when you use bleach to clean up, it actually stays on the surface and continues to emit fumes. So while it's very dangerous if swallowed, it’s also harmful when inhaled. It's super potent, and it's really important to keep it away from kids and pets.

Because it leaves that lingering residue on surfaces and in your clothing. It continues to be harmful when you're wearing those clothes. You're still inhaling that bleach and also absorbing it through your skin. 

Bleach doesn’t even work that well.  I recently read this laundry book called Laundry Love by Patric Richardson. (I know who reads a book about laundry. I do!) It was really well written and actually entertaining to read. Patric is a laundry and textiles expert and he shares in the book how bleach doesn't whiten whites, it actually yellows them! It's defeating the purpose. We really don't need bleach because there are so many better products that we can use for cleaning and whitening whites.

5 tips for getting the stink out of your clothes without bleach or harsh products

1. Prevent the smell. It's pretty simple. Let your clothes dry before you put them in your laundry basket or put them in your gym bag. If we leave a wet sweaty mess at the bottom of the laundry basket, it's going to stay crumpled and wet for awhile. Especially where we live, in the Pacific Northwest, if you come in from a hike and you've been sweating and you've gotten wet from rain, if you just throw the clothes in the laundry basket it's going to sit there and stay wet and get moldy and musty and gross. Just hang them up and let them dry completely before you put them in the laundry basket. In my bathroom I have hooks where I hang my sweaty workout clothes and I let them dry out before I put them in my laundry basket. 

2. Oxygen Brightener. An oxygen brightener or an oxygen whitener is actually a very simple product. It’s usually just sodium percarbonate and some include washing soda included. The reason why you want to use this is because it really brightens whites. It’s color safe and can help boost colors.  You also can use it as a stain fighter. It has so many uses, from cleaning toilets, soap scum and mineral deposits, tile and grout. You can also use it in the kitchen. My mom likes to use it to clean out the stained coffee rings of her mugs. It's just this amazing product that gets everything clean, but it's totally safe. It’s been a top seller since I added it to my shop.

3. Strip your Clothing.  If you have a lot of buildup in your clothes from wearing them a lot or letting them sit wet in your laundry baskets, and they still have that stink in them, then it is time to do what is called stripping your clothes. I just did this on my daughter's stinky leggings and it's really incredible what comes out. You soak the clothes for four hours and you’ll see some nasty leftover junk left in the laundry sink. Stripping really helps get rid of that extra buildup in your clothes from fragrance oils, deodorant, or excess laundry detergent.

   Here’s the recipe:

   2 cups Hot Water

   1 Tbsp Oxygen Brightener

   1 Tbsp Unscented Laundry Detergent

   ½ cup Baking Soda

   Mix ingredients into slurry and add to a sink with a standard load of laundry covered with cold water. Stir it up and let it sit for 4 hours. Ring the clothes out and wash in warm water.

   The most important thing here is again not to do this laundry stripping with your classic, toxic laundry soap. It's just gonna continue to be a problem if you use toxic laundry soap, because of those nasty chemicals stay in the clothing. So if you're going to strip your clothes, you need to make sure that you're using an oxygen brightener and a toxin-free, unscented laundry detergent. You know I have my favorites in my store at www.detox.design/thebox

4. Skip the Fabric Softener. If you've been listening for a while you know what I think about fabric softener. It is super harmful to us humans and the planet. My favorite way swap out fabric softener and make your clothes dry quickly while add more bounce and softness is to use wool balls with some essential oils right onto the wool balls. Super simple and a great substitute for fabric softener. You’ll get the same results without the harm.

5. Avoid Heat. You do not need to wash your clothes with extra hot water or dry them with super hot heat in the dryer. You can use a quick cycle using warm water or cool water and also using the lighter setting for your dryer when drying these clothes; first, because high heat breaks down the fabric in active wear more quickly; and second, the heat locks in any excess detergent.

Tell me, have you tried stripping your clothes?

Have questions? Let’s connect on Facebook in the Toxin-Free Talk Community.