Help please! perfumey laundry detergent!

[stafl]

I'm expecting #2, and starting to show. So I got my old maternity clothes back from a friend who needed them last year. Problem is she uses this certain very strong smelling perfumey laundry detergent. I have washed them at least seven times, they still stink! I have used an entire box of baking soda, didn't work. I used vinegar, didn't work. I used my regular dye and perfume free laundry detergent, I even tried using nothing just water.
Please help! I am sure it wouldn't bother me quite so much if I weren't pregnant, but I have this bionic nose thing during pregnancy, and the perfume is real strong and to me smells like a dirty hamster cage!!! I can't possibly wear these clothes until I get the smell out of them.

[gardenmommy]

I sympathize with you! I am very sensitive to perfumes. I can't stand the smell of old laundry or fabric softener perfumes. YUCK!

Try hanging them outside in the sun. My mom always swears by this. If she comes home smelling like a smokestack or someone else's stale perfume, but doesn't have time to wash it (like a coat in the winter or something), she hangs it out on the line. If it's winter, she hangs it out in their shed.

You might also try washing it with a bit of lemon juice, borax, or some essential oils.

I don't know if any of this will help, but it can't hurt to try!

Good luck,
Margaret

[Quirky]

I would treat this like smelly dipes - stripping them to get rid of the detergent buildup. Wash on hot, hot, hot with no detergent for a couple of cycles. It's normally not great to wash clothes on hot but this is an emergency! I also think hanging them out to dry would help (I would do it on a sunny day, hang them while wet, then when they're dry wash again).

Open the lid while the washer is agitating and see if you see suds - if so, it's definitely detergent buildup. The amount recommended on boxes is usually way more than you need, and it builds up on clothes and holds on to smells.

[rebx]

I just bought some Sensi-Clean laundry detergent to strip the detergent residue from my dd's cloth diapers - Vinegar & washing in hot water didn't seem to be working. If there's a Walmart near you, I think they sell this in the sporting section, labeled as Sportwash (it's exactly the same product). I've washed a couple of loads of cloth diapers in this stuff so far, and do notice a difference...
HTH