How do I get bad smells out of my workout clothes?

Question

I've tried everything I can think of. Hot water, vinager, oxy clean, salt, high end detergents, fabreeze. It never goes away.

Answer 1

You've gotten a buncha good answers.

But it seems like One got overlooked.

"WASHING SODA"

If you've never used that,,,you are in for a surprise.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-wonders-of-washing-soda.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washing_soda

http://www.thelaundrybasket.com/Our_Products/Our_Products_Super_Washing_Soda/our_products_super_washing_sod.html

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TIDE POWDER,,Unscented if you can find it.

It cleans/deodorizes as good as any laundry detergent I know of.

Whatever detergent you use,,,try to stick w/ UNSCENTED.
The Scents are same thing as the "odors",,,only sweeter smelling.
They're Oils,,,so they sorta re-fortify the bad smells over time.

The scent eventually washes out,leaving the oil which turns to grease>then wax in the cloth.

.................................................
Pine Sol,,,,,Or,Lysol Disinfectant Cleaner
Cloths come out smelling like Pine Sol,,pretty gross.
But after a wash or 2 all the BAD smells are gone,and you can go back to using regular laundry products.

..............................................
YOU,,,,,
If You workout,,,I'm sure you have at least Some interest /knowledge in Diet/Nutrition/Supplements.
.....
ZINC is crucial to a very wide range of body functions.
It's Cheap and Safe,,,
and people are almost universally wayyyyy deficient in Zinc levels

1)We cannot STORE Zinc(biologically)
2)We Use it almost faster than we can consume it
---I have read MANY comments by by experts/authorities who say that a "therapeutic" doseage of Zinc is not so much a Quantity,,,,,but the FREQUENCY of the dose.
Like,,Take a Zinc Tablet 3~4~5 Times Daily every few Hours.

3)It helps a BUNCH in controlling BODY ODORS
4)It's antibacterial & anti-fungal ,,which helps w/ body secretion odors"sweat"

.................
Chlorophyl Tablets......
They're usually Algae from the sea.
They are Safe and Cheap.
And work extremely well

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

#1>>Try WASHING SODA,,,you can smell the wash as it's agitating in the machine.
TERRIBLE clothes odors will start off Strong & Bad,,,then you can smell them Diminish as the clothes swirl around.

#1a&b,,
Eat Zinc and Chlorophyl pills


All CHEAP,Safe,Easy and very effective.


Good Luck!

Answer 2

Febreeze will only superficially make the clothes smell better for a short period of time after you spray it. You've mentioned vinegar, oxy clean, salt, high end detergents... It sounds like you've given it your best shot!

What temperature are you cleaning it on in the washing machine? Depending on the material your clothes are, you should follow the advice the company gives you on your clothes.

Depending on who makes your clothes, if you've tried 'everything', a new approach you could try is by complaining to the clothes manufacturer, and asking what they recommend you should do to have your clothes be odour free.

I assume that they're purposely for working out, so they should have a way of being dealt with appropriately. Otherwise, why sell them if they're smelly after use?

Answer 3

This has gottten rid of some pretty pungent stenches in clothes and animals in our house, so it's worth giving a shot.

Get a box of baking soda and a couple of big bottles of BRAND NEW hydrogen peroxide. Mix about a half a cup of baking soda with the hydrogen peroxide and then soak your clothes in this mix for about a half-hour.

Pull them out and rinse them, then put them to soak in pet enzyme. There are a bunch of different brands of this - they're all the same, they work because there's an enzyme in them that eats up bad bio-smells.

Finally wash your clothes in hot water with a good, strong detergent like Gain or Tide and toss in a couple of teaspoonfuls of Oxyclean or, if the colors will take being bleached, a half cup or so of bleach.

Dry as usual. If this doesn't work, nothing will and you should toss the clothes.

In the future, with new workout clothes, wash your clothes promptly and use pet enzyme in every wash. Also use the pet enzyme in the shower or bath on your sweaty bits as it will kill the bacteria on your body that make bad smells.

Answer 4

I THINK YOU HAVENT TRIED DOING THIS... ACTUALLY ITS WHAT I DO WITH MY FATHER'S CLOTHES AFTER HE WORKS OUT... I MEAN WITH ALL THE SWEATS AND THE DIRTS AND THAT FOUL SMELL... Eeeeewww!!!

never soak your clothes overnight... never ever do that, the fungus and other micro organiusms would love to regenerate and smell even worse if u do that...

first wash it with water only, no need to put detergent... then squeez out water from that stinking clothes... then dry under the sun... the next day you can wash is with detergent just like the way you wash your other clothes... but rinse this one more than usual... (like 4 times, thats what i do)

then dry under the sun again... sometimes, the detergent have chemicals that when mixed with the chemicals already present in our clothes... it produces foul odors too, so its best you rinse off the detergent really well and sun dry it...

dont apply fabric softener yet or any laundry chemicals that gives nice odors or anything that would make it smell good, because when you sweat, it will be mixed with your natural water (sweat) and produce micro-organic creatures that produces foul odor.

ok good luck

the ultra violet rays from the sun will kill the microbes, dont use vinigar... unless you want to have that smell of vinigar to replace the foul smell you already have on your clothes...

Answer 5

Try pouring 1/2 cup of pine sole in the wash along with the detergent. Always worked for my mom trying to get the grease smell out of her clothes

Answer 6

Did you try baking soda in the laundry? If that doesn't work,
buy some odor remover. I think what I used was Kids n' Pets. I don't know if you could use Natures Miracle. It is used for pet odor or stains. Not sure if it is safe for clothes. Make sure the product you buy is an odor remover, Fabreeze will mask the odor, not get rid of it.

Answer 7

Once they get to that point they're hopeless. Throw them away and start with some clean clothes. Wear anti-perspirant and wash them as soon as you get home. If you can't wash them as soon as you get home, at least put them in the sink with soap then hang dry and do them with the laundry on laundry day. Hand washing will not get them clean, but it will keep the stink from setting in the fabric. The real cleaning comes with the washing machine, detergent and warm water. Throw the stinky clothes away today. You can't win once this battle has been lost (and it has) and that is that.

Answer 8

Presoak with 1 cup baking soda in cold water (use your machine's presoak setting) then for the wash cycle use fragrance free liquid detergent and 1/4 cup borax in cold water - dry on permanent press with a dryer sheet that is also fragrance free (the added fragrance is a cover up and usually only exacerbates the troubles of body odor). Good Luck!

Answer 9

Ronsa was right on the money for the cause of the odor. You need to use an enzyme to kill and wash away that "second Life" go to the pet store and get a product called Natures Miracle and soak your cloths over night.
To help with future problems get a big bottle of hand sanitizer and rub it into the sweatiest areas on your clothes as soon as you take them off. This will help kill all the little funky stinkers before they have a chance to take over.

Answer 10

My Son had an aversion to soap and water for a few months, so his clothes really reeked, plus the smell would spread to other clothes washed with them. Here is what finally worked for me. I used warm water, the regular amount of detergent, 1 cup of baking soda, and 1/4 cup of Simple Green Extreme Clean. (I got it from Sam's club) The smell was gone in one wash. I believe Regular Simple Green would work as well.

Answer 11

It may be too late with your present clothes. The thing to do is to avoid fixing the odour in the first place. The cause is quite often washing at too high a temperature - the stuff you sweat is full of proteins so you need to soak/wash your clothes in a cool wash with a biological detergent that works at low temperatures. (It's the same process you would use if you needed to wash blood or egg out of your clothes)