How can I neutralize the odours of certain washing detergents?

soup_sam

Brands of clothes washing detergents such as Tide , Gain , and Downey contain a strong chemical odour which is offensive to me. No amount of airing-out will diminish this odour. Things washed using these detergents pass-on the odour when it comes into contact with other materials and clothes. Rewashing multiple times in non-scented detergents has not been effective. Is there anything I can do to save (stink neutralize) the contaminated things,...

Originally asked by Stan on Stack Exchange (lifehacks) (CC BY-SA 3.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

Wash the items again, with your normal soap, plus half a cup of baking soda . It would help to use the soaking cycle on the washing machine too, and lemon juice and vinegar can't hurt. If it's not enough, run another cycle with baking soda. I use baking soda on teenagers' sweaty socks and undershirts and jiu-jitsu uniforms, and they come out smelling perfectly. I believe in this power of baking soda so much that when I once bought a used book several hundred pages long smelling just as you describe, I spent a couple of hours spreading baking soda over every surface of every page, since of course you can't wash a book, then left it for a few days, then brushed off every surface of every...

Full answer by Greta Hoostal: https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/a/6565 (CC BY-SA 3.0).

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