Unpleasant odors on your clothes? Remove smells easily using these effective and all-natural remedies
Phil Scoville from Orem, UT, USA/Wikimedia Commons
Daily activities inevitably lead to unpleasant odors developing in/on the clothes one wears. The main cause of these odors in summer is, of course, sweat. Sweat forms unsightly and malodorous stains on clothes and these stains/smells are often difficult to remove.
Have you ever taken your clothes out of the washing machine and noticed that unpleasant odors remain? In this short guide, we show you how to deal with this “smelly” problem using all-natural products:
How to remove the smell of sweat from clothes
If you have to deal with lingering, sweaty odors in/on your clothes, the solution is not to increase the amount of detergent or fabric softener you use - in fact, doing this will further aggravate the problem. To effectively remove unpleasant, sweaty odors from your clothes, a pre-wash and the use of some all-natural ingredients (that probably already have in your pantry) will sort out this problem.
- White vinegar: a great cleaning medium, white vinegar can be used to create a pre-wash soaking solution or can be used directly in the washing machine’s drum; for the former method, you will need to prepare a solution of 3 parts water and 1 part white vinegar and leave your clothes to soak in this for a few hours (or preferably, overnight). For the latter method, just add a glass of white wine vinegar to your regular detergent.
- Baking soda: another very useful ingredient to combat unpleasant odors, 90 grams of baking soda can be added directly into the washing machine’s drum before putting in the laundry and the detergent; alternatively, do a pre-wash soak of your clothes using 100 grams of baking soda for each 1 liter of water;
- Citric acid: great for eliminating unpleasant odors, whitening clothes and removing unsightly stains, citric acid can also be used for pre-wash soaking: place your clothes in a basin containing one liter of water and 100 grams of citric acid. After the soak, wash your clothes as you would normally.
Some other steps you can take can also be useful in getting rid of unpleasant odors:
- Airing out: letting damp clothes dry in the open air, (instead of immediately putting them in a laundry hamper), can prevent odors developing;
- Turn your clothes inside out: the bacteria responsible for causing unpleasant odors accumulate mainly on the inside of your clothes so, it’s always a good idea to turn your garments inside out before putting them in the washing machine.
Removing deodorant and sunscreen stains from clothes
In summer, your clothes can often get stained from the use of deodorants and sunscreens. Here’s some things you can do to remove these “hard-to-shift” stains:
- Deodorants: to prevent deodorants from leaving unsightly marks, the best way is change the brand you’re using. Failing that, you can remove deodorant stains by pre-treating your clothes with a 30 minute soak in a solution of cold water and vinegar (or cold water and salt); for dark garments, dab the stain with a cloth soaked in white vinegar and leave this on to act for a few minutes before rinsing out.
- Sunscreens: swimsuits and other clothes can be stained by sunscreen creams and lotions, but this can also be dealt with. Act as quickly as you can after staining your garments and do a pre-treatment by dabbing the stain to remove any excess; then, immerse the garment in cold water along with some Marseille soap and scrub vigorously (using your hands). White vinegar is also great for pre-treating these types of stains.
The use of bleach is never recommended for removing stains, as it will discolour and damage the garments.
Did you already know about these tips to keeping your clothes fresh and clean during the summer?
