Try Laundry Stripping — Your Clothes & Towels are Dirtier than You’d Think!
Today I’m sharing the best laundry & household cleaning tip I’ve tried in a while!
Ever heard of laundry stripping? I really hadn’t either until I started seeing murky water videos and pics trending on TikTok and Instagram during quarantine. People were soaking their towels in bathtubs filled with hot water and a laundry stripping solution, and then showing how the water would turn dark. It’s sort of gross yet satisfying at the same time! LOL!
The more I researched laundry stripping, I actually started to see lots of savvy cleaning sites have content surrounding the concept. So it isn’t a new topic, but I had never tried it myself and wanted to give it a shot!
Honestly, laundry is NOT one of my favorite chores. In fact, it may just be my least favorite household activity, but seeing intriguing videos of laundry stripping had suddenly perked my interest and motivated me to try it!
Are you a visual learner? I was so excited to give this a try that I even created a video showing the laundry stripping process-
What is laundry stripping?
It’s all about getting the stink and funk out of fabric! The idea is to soak and really deep-clean workout clothes, sheets, and/or towels in water for a long period of time using a powerful mix of Borax, washing soda, and powdered laundry detergent. Bacteria, body oils, dirt, fabric softener build-up, get released along with the hard to remove stinky smells.
It’s crazy how even CLEAN white sheets and towels can have such a build-up and create dark water when soaked!
Below is a photo of my clean towels after 5 hours of soaking! Eww! 🙈
How do you strip laundry?
The process involves filling a bathtub or a top-loading washer with hot water and then adding in the Borax, washing soda, and powdered detergent mixture. Then you can add in your sheets, towels, or workout clothing and let everything soak for 4-6 hours. Lastly, wash and dry like normal.
According to DailyMail.com, this 3 ingredient soaking system is more powerful than using bleach!
For laundry stripping, you’ll need 1/4 cup Borax + 1/4 cup washing soda + 1/2 cup powdered detergent
- Borax is a popular laundry booster for lifting acidic stains, making fabrics whiter, and dissolves great for this soaking technique.
- Washing soda or sodium carbonate is also great for soaking hard to remove stains due to its high alkalinity and helps to remove hard water build-up in the laundry. In case you have a hard time finding it, I found my Arm & Hammer washing soda at Walmart, and it seems readily available there.
- It’s recommended to pick a powdered laundry detergent as it will dissolve easier than a concentrated liquid one. I am using powdered Tide, and if you need an allergy-friendly option then maybe consider Tide Free & Gentle (or your favorite brand.)
Hip Tip: Mixing hot water and a small amount of powdered laundry detergent is actually another popular hack for cleaning up carpet and upholstery stains. As always, you’ll want to test a small area first.
Here are a few tips to consider when laundry stripping:
- This is a pretty powerful deep cleaning method that shouldn’t be used on delicates or anything needed to be washed gently. Reserve this for ultra stinky gym clothes, sports shirts, towels, and sheets. Also if you do this on colored items, keep like colors alike to avoid bleeding.
- Reserve this method of stripping laundry every few months so it won’t damage your fabrics. This isn’t meant as an everyday laundry routine. Also keep in mind that I have affordable white towels from Costco, so if you have some expensive fancy ones, proceed at your own risk.
- I did use this method to strip my husband’s often stinky white undershirts with success. They aren’t perfectly white, but do smell and feel clean now!
- You don’t have to use a bathtub! I used mine because I don’t have a top-loading washing machine. You could also use a large bucket or do this in a sink using the same ratio but smaller amounts of the recommended cleaning powders.
Laundry Stripping Solution
PrintSupplies Needed
Directions
1
Place towels or clothing in a bathtub or top-loader washer and cover with HOT water.
2
Mix Borax, washing soda, and powdered detergent together. Sprinkle mixture over contents in the water.
3
Mix the apparel, bedding, and/or towels around in the solution and let soak for 4-6 hours, making sure to mix once every hour for as long as they soak. I actually used the end of a broomstick because my water was too hot to touch!
4
Drain the water and transfer contents to the washer. Wash and dry laundry like normal, except now you don’t have to add more detergent.
5
Enjoy your soft and clean laundry!
Now I’m searching for more things to wash with this laundry stripping method!
This is going to be helpful as I’d like to tackle some of my son’s funky smelling football and baseball clothes next. My sister in law recently told me she used this same method in the sink to soak some of her husband’s hats that had a funky smell, which I think sounds smart, too!
Share with us in the comments if you’ve tried laundry stripping!
See why so many Hip2Save team members have these cotton Amazon sheets!
I just add Borax to the wash – most of the buildup on clothes is from to much soap when washing – sometimes I rinse twice because the rinse water if not clear – makes a difference in smell also.
Does anyone have a used & proven way to effectively clean white baseball pants to remove the red clay dirt????
YES! It’s in this post here: https://hip2save.com/2017/04/05/wow-this-spot-cleaner-is-awesome-and-the-regular-cost-is-only-1/
Try power washing them at your local self serve car wash by hanging them on the clips made for washing floormats. Worked on my oldest’s college uniform.
I use Dawn dish soap.
Fels Naptha soap for baseball ⚾️ pants!
I would soak my daughters in white rite for hours and scrub by hand before putting in the washing machine
I’ve literally seen someone wash them with high pressure water at those drive in car washes where you wash your car yourself, and all the stains came out! Maybe try soaking in oxyclean first or spray with shout and let sit for a bit before “pressure washing”.
We use to use a pressure washer in the drive way the spray with LA totally Awesome from the dollar tree and wash on heavy
I use soilove & it’s amazing. I find it at my 99c store. I spray it on & let it sit then wash. It’s colorsafe too
I remember my mom soaking my brothers in Biz. I don’t even know if it’s still around?
I just saw Biz at my Target!
When my twins played baseball I used purple cleaner for car engines. You can get it at Walmart or auto supply stores. I put it in a spray bottle and and sprayed the bad spots, let it soak in and then washed as normal. My boys white pants were always red when they got home. Sometimes you may have to treat them a second time before you dry them.
I soak whites in a combination of powdered Oxyclean and bleach. Sometimes I have to use a brush. Seems to do the trick.
Yes try dawn in the spray bottle lightly spray all over and let sit overnight. Wash the next day! Then wash in cold water with no laundry soap and vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser ☺️
Power waSher. Nothing beats it
For softball/baseball pants use Murphy’s Oil Soap and White Bright, soak overnight. Wash as normal next day. They come really white!
Fels Naptha is all I use for sports uniforms now. If it’s a hat do it with a toothbrush in the sink!!! It’s the best
Soak in iron out.
Yes! Iron out is the best. Would soak both daughter’s softball uniforms in a bucket for a couple of hours or overnight. Nothing else would get the dirt and GA red clay out!
Hi. I did this method and I also have a front loading machine. The soap is not all rinse out. I’ve officially done a normal cycle, rinse cycle, and I’m running them through another normal cycle bc there is A LOT of soap left. Any advice??
This looks like more work I will not be doing. Humm, in the old days they cleaned clothes with stones at the riverside. My relatives used to use winter washers too!
Please make a disclaimer that this could be a hazard with young children. Leaving water in a bathtub for that long unattended can be dangerous. Using a sink or the washing machine would be much safer in this case.
Seriously? You need a disclaimer to tell you that it’s dangerous for kids to be near a filled tub? It’s not the bloggers responsibility to make sure your kids are safe, it’s yours. I would really hope that you wouldn’t need to rely on a disclaimer to tell you that.
lina is probably the best hip2saver. she puts out well-researched, well-thought of posts, unlike some here who like to post catchy titles only to find out it was just a click and bait.
Well thanks so much for your compliment and for reading my posts! I am just one small part to this fantastic team of writers and lucky to be part of it. I can assure you no one means to be click bait-y. 😃
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2288028124600129&id=100001788916824 Sharing my process is making baseball uniforms white again.
Kristin Sharing my process in making white baseball pants white again. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2288028124600129&id=100001788916824
Thanks so much! Tried it today on my husbands running shirts we were going to throw out (pit stains-yuck). We were pleasantly surprised it took out the majority. Going to modify it slightly to soak in a bucket. Talk about dirty water. E gads!
Oh good I’m glad you had some nice results!
Thank you a gazillion times!!! I recently moved to a state with VERY hard water. My kitchen towels feel greasy after washing. It has been driving me crazy. These towels don’t absorb the water. It makes doing dishes a royal pain (no dishwasher). I’m off to Walmart for the ingredients to trip and clean these towels. Thanks Again!!
Wow is all my husband and I can say. His whites have never looked so white.
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing Erin!
I have a UPS worker in the house and would like to strip his shirts. They are dry fit material and can’t be replaced so I’m a little nervous. Anyone tried it?
I have started putting less soap in the washer for clothes that are not really dirty. Going to use the washer to do this. My brother would be upset if I took over his tub (my bathroom has a shower and his has a tub) for that many hours.
Hello, I was wondering how much detergent to use for a he washer. I have norwex ultra power plus, its just a small little bag and I dont want to use a lot of it. Thanks!
Hmm honestly I would just use what you would normally do for a load.
I love your post! My only feedback is a typo, you wrote sodium bicarbonate as washing soda. Washing soda is actually sodium carbonate! Baking soda is the bicarbonate one, common mixup. You can bake baking soda to 400° to turn it into washing soda, though! Just thought the distinction was important bc this definitely does not work with baking soda.
No sure why she didn’t respond to this but I appreciate the update info!!!
Thanks so much Betsy! Fixing now!
I think the front loaders are great at saving money on water, but to get clothes really clean, you need a lot of water. We are moving soon and I am going back to a top load washer.
Anyone know how to go about this process using a washing machine to soak. I don’t have a tub and I’d like to strip my towels. Any help is appreciated. I have a non agitator Whirlpool. I plan on using a broom to mix periodically.
What I meant by asking for help is – how to drain the water after soaking before I run a wash cycle. I don’t know if my washer has that function without going through a wash cycle.
This will most likely depend on your machine on how to fill with fresh water to soak, and release. I’d google your machine brand and the term “how to fill “your brand” machine to soak” https://products.geappliances.com/appliance/gea-support-search-content?contentId=35640
Can I do this with black cotton or cotton blend t-shirts without fading? My husbands shirts don’t seem to ever get completely clean of deodorant and slight sweat smell.
YES, there’s lots of folks who do this with dark workout clothing and it releases the bacteria and gunk.
The miracle for me with armpit stains (and the yellow/whiteish residue left from antiperspirant) (and overall sweat) has been Ammonia. I spray diluted regular household ammonia (maybe 30-40% ammonia:70-60% water) and detergent (laundry or dish detergent!) and scrub that in a bit. After letting that soak, I will pour boiling water (from a kettle) through the area (eg with the shirt stretched over a bucket). Also sometimes I will then soak them in a bucket with Resolve powder over night and then put in the usual laundry. You might be able to skip the boiling water part but I’ve never tried. I like super hot water in my washing!
But if you have a high amount of buildup, this method (from the link below) is truly remarkable. Then my method above for maintenance.
https://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/how-to-remove-yellow-armpit-stains/
Be aware that laundry discoloration, particularly white, has a lot to do with the chemicals naturally in one’s water. If your water is high in manganese and you add bleach to anything you put in the machine a chemical reaction occurs that gradually turns your whites more and more orangey brown over time. They will never come out until you get a filtration system that removes the manganese completely. I have lived through this. Our best technique for getting our laundry white again with this high manganese content—–Move—-and we did. It was so nice to finally have great water and clean laundry needing not special filtration or treatment. Good luck out there.
I would like to strip my towels, but I’m concerned about washing them afterwards in my high efficiency washer. I ruined a previous HE washer because I used a fabric softener that wasn’t HE. Won’t there be a lot of the washing powder left in the towels? I really don’t want to tear up another washing machine.
Those are some dirty towels… I’ve never had a problem washing my towels and linens in Clorox (double rinse)- they come out smelling fresh and are crisp white…
I was just thinking I really need to come up with an extra household chore- this is PERFECT! ; )