I recently discovered laundry stripping and y’all, no matter how much of a crock of shit you think fast fashion is, you’re underestimating.
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OKAY SO. You know how we talk about how one way fast fashion has made itself “necessary” is that the clothing looks like shit and feels horrible after just a few washes?
Let. Me. Tell. You. Something.
Laundry stripping is a process where you load your laundry into a tub or bin (I’ve been using my bathtub) with warm water, half a cup of borax, half a cup of washing soda, and half a cup of laundry soap (not detergent, SOAP, there’s a chemical difference). Leave it there for at least eight hours. I’ve been going for 12-24.
What you will come back to is a tub full of nearly-opaque black-gray-brown water that absolutely REEKS. This is normal. You are looking at (and smelling) hard water buildup, body sweat and oils that were embedded in the fabric, dead skin, and just regular grime.
Wring out your clothes. Throw them in the washer. (I like to do a spin-only cycle before going any further, because I have one of those washers that determines by weight how much water any given load needs.) Wash as usual.
You will notice I didn’t suggest any further pretreatment, and that’s because 1) you don’t want to layer too many chemicals on top of each other but also 2) you may not even need it.
When your clothes come out, check each one as it goes into the dryer, and if anything else s still stained, set it aside to run again with a regular pretreatment. One of the sweaters I did this with apparently did need a second treatment…to deal with what appears to have possibly been a hot chocolate stain that was previously invisible due to “well, it’s old” dinginess. I was planning to throw this sweater out. It looks almost new now. I need to wash it one more time for the probably-a-hot-chocolate stain, and then it needs to have the hem weighted to block it and bring it back to evenness, but dude. I wear my clothes to rags and I thought this thing was unfixable. “I need to reshape it” is nothing.
Remove clothes from dryer when done. Fucking MARVEL at the colors and how good the fabric feels. Give them a smell. Get righteously and royally angry that you can rejuvenate this stuff so easily, with a process that does take awhile but is 90% hands-off, but we’ve been trained to believe it’s all got to be binned once a year because discoloration and gross fabric is “normal wear and tear” and can’t be fixed.
It’s utterly unreal! I just pulled a seven-year-old work undershirt out of the dryer and this thing looks NEW!! It FEELS almost new!!! One of the shirts I hung up from the last load is older than some of the people on this site and it went from “I keep this to wear on laundry day, for sentimental reasons” to “I could actually wear this out of the house, it looks old but respectable”! The pajama bottoms I’m wearing were from Goodwill and they have BRIGHT YELLOW in them! I thought it was goldenrod!!
I do not know how often you’re supposed to do this (doing it every time can strip the dye out of your clothes, not to mention it’s way too much work to do every time), but once or twice per season seems respectable. I don’t wear white, so I can’t test the “it will make whites look almost-new as well” claim, but I’ve seen a lot of people on the cleaning subreddit attest that it works.
Just remember: WASHING soda. Not baking soda. I tried baking soda and a little bit happened, but not a lot.
Go forth. Rejuvenate your clothing. Strip your laundry.
OP since it's not covered can I get some idea of what in the hellscape that is the internet classifies as a soap instead of a detergent here
because
the internet is being singularly unhelpful in this regard, everything's a fucking detergent
….I took a look at some links because I was like “surely there’s a product recommendation somewhere?” and no, you’re right, everyone’s using the same fucking word and it’s wrong. 🤦🏼
You want powder, or, if you’ve got the spoons for it, a laundry bar you can grate (which is what I’ve been using). Basically the fewer scents, dyes, etc. and so forth, the better, and powder or laundry bar gets rid of binders and other stuff that can cause a film to redeposit on the clothes.
borax is banned in the uk and laundry bars aren't really A Thing, I had to HUNT to find a solid bar of stain remover to target remove stains because throwing stain removal powder in my wash increases the likelihood I will have a reaction cus my skin sucks
I’m extremely sorry. I read about the borax ban on Reddit and I was like “……then what do you use to destink your work clothes?!”
If you happen to be close enough to Ireland to make it worth your while, they apparently sell a decent borax substitute, and you can also get it in France if that’s closer. I am absolutely the person who’d take a weekend trip and fill my trunk with a year’s worth just for spite, so that advice may not work for you, but unfortunately it’s what I’ve got.
I don't know that I've ever had something stinky enough that a regular wash wouldn't fix it. Even when I worked in a cowshed, spent my days shovelling cow shit and literally missed dodging cow pee that one time. All just came out in the wash. If worst came to worst and something did come out of the washing machine smelling bad still, I'd probably just stick it on the washing line to blow about for a while and air it out.
What on earth is happening to your clothes that you need something special to un-stink them?
Your clothes don’t get that gross “this sat in mildew” smell under the arms after awhile?
In America if you get that smell in the armpits, just taking some Oxyclean to get it out. You soak the offending area with warm water and then rub the oxyclean onto it and let it sit 20-30 minutes before washing like normal and it takes the stink stain out. Or at least that's what I do.
Doesn’t work for me. Keep in mind some of these shirts are old enough to drive, though.
Are you using fabric softener/sheets? If you are, stop immediately. Fabric softener is a wax that coats the fibers of the item, making them less absorbent (is truly terrible for towels) and can trap moisture and odor.
Try using cleaning vinegar in place of the softener and get some wool balls for the dryer.
I can't use wool balls (I'm allergic to wool), but I can look into alternatives, for sure.
There are plastic dryer balls! Also, they help to reduce dryer time. Plus it's a fun game to find them when you're taking bedding out of the dryer.
