Hi everyone, I'm looking for advice because I've been struggling with a persistent laundry odor for several years, it's humiliating and I'm really hoping someone might have experienced something similar. The smell reminds me of old urine or ammonia. I've noticed that new clothes seem fine at first, but after being washed in our washing machine with other dirty laundry, they sometimes develop this unpleasant smell. Over time, it has seemed to affect almost all my clothes, including newer items, and ordinary washing hasn't consistently solved the problem. This has become much more than a laundry issue for me. I've become extremely anxious and self-conscious about the possibility of the smell bothering people around me. When I hear people coughing, sneezing, or sniffing nearby, I get frightened and worry that there might be a connection, although I haven't been able to confirm that my clothes are causing anyone's symptoms. Unfortunately, this fear has had a huge impact on my life. I've become isolated, spend most of my time at home, avoid going out, and struggle with depression and anxiety and bipolar type 2 i didn't want to make anyone sick so i isolated myself away and it stole years of my life. It's affected my confidence, social life, and ability to enjoy everyday experiences. I've felt embarrassed and alone with this problem that it has made me massively depressed for a long time, and I desperately want to find a practical solution so I can move forward with my life and gain my life back my happiness. I haven't had anyone independently confirm the smell, so I'm trying to understand what's actually causing it rather than jump to conclusions. I'm planning to have the washing machine cleaned according to the manufacturer's instructions and try a fragrance-free detergent designed to help with odors. Has anyone experienced clothes developing an ammonia-like or urine-like smell after washing? Could residue, the washing machine, drainage, or something else be responsible? What steps would you recommend to identify and safely eliminate the odor? I'd genuinely appreciate any helpful advice or personal experiences. Please be kind, as this has been a very distressing and sensitive issue for me i feel so humiliating and i don't know what to do so i made a redditaccount to get help. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I am VERY new here, but have been perusing and decided to try out spa day on a couple of dog beds that I was considering throwing out and replacing. It's hard to tell from the before picture how bad they were, but I was really impressed with how they came out. I didn't have time to do the full recommended time, only about 4 hours, and had to do it in the bathtub, but the results were pretty fantastic.

Call me a convert! Currently trying out switching my laundry detergent and adding the Downy rinse out odor product to my regular loads and that's really helping too.

Finally achieved laundry nirvana in my 10+ year old machine. With patience, perseverance, some deep cleaning and later regular maintenance, I got it to 0 stank.

Photo shows the wash water left after a large towel load.

I’m in the midst of a glitter bomb emergency, and Google suggested that I can use fabric softener to loosen the fibers to release some of the glitter. TBD if this will work, but I pulled this jug of softener from the depths of the cleaning closet for the job. I only ever used this to make homemade wrinkle releaser, but now that I know more about laundry science, I am curious if this more like rinse and refresh than a fabric softener? Maybe this is even the OG and existed before Downy’s version!
I tried to look it up, but it seems like the product is no longer sold anywhere.
The first three ingredients are the same as rinse and refresh, and it doesn’t seem like it has any of the quats usually found in softeners.
Curious what the laundry experts think!

Apparently we all have the same husband, because i found a post explaining my exact issue: Husband sweats so much that my organic percale sheets have a greasy film where he sleeps.
I plan to do a spa day! But how do I keep them for getting greasy?
We’ve been using Persil after being told to stop using powders by our landlord. I’ve been trying to read all these blogs, but I’m freaking confused. I want to get something without fragrance since I’m sensitive to smells.
I live in San Diego county. Water is pretty rough here.

Hi, you guys taught me about using FEBU so I've been doing that and my laundry is not the problem, that's all great. Since starting to use it a few weeks ago, my washer has developed a new smell and it is nottt pleasant. How can I fix it? I've used affresh on a cleaning cycle once and the smell was better until the next time I did laundry and it came back. I also have always kept the lid open.

Okay I love Viscose and rayon, tencel, cotton blends and modal. and occasional wool blends (such as allbirds). Also polyester upf clothing. I live in a hot humid area and we use Kirkland or tide powder (whatever is at Costco) or tide free & clear (also Costco)

And I’m not supposed to be using regular detergent? I also thrift clothing and sometimes resell, and just washed a farm Rio dress I thrifted. Did I ruin it and all the other clothes I have? I wash everything right away …

One of my allbirds clothing has the oddest smell after I wash it, but it goes away. Who was going to tell me this if I wasn’t randomly scrolling the laundry subreddit 🥲

First tried treating with shout remover, washed in regular tide detergent. Then did a biz soak for several hours (probably around 6-7hours) and manually scrubbed at the stain, another wash with tide. Unfortunately it did dry. Am I cooked?

I think they may be from plums? Every other food stain I can get out pretty easily, but not plums.

Lately I feel like my biz soaks aren’t doing anything! Did they change the formula/anyone else having this experience?

I just came to London (from the US) and the laundry situation is completely different. My boyfriend came a few weeks before me, and I’ve noticed his clothes have gotten pretty coarse feeling/a bit crunchy. From various posts I’m reading I’m seeing things like “hard water,” “powder,” “bio,” and other things that I haven’t encountered before!

I’m used to having a LARGE washer and a separate dryer. We now have a very small washer. Bf bought a drying rack.

Looking for some basic recommendations for our day to day clothing - we wear a lot of casual clothes (jeans, tshirts, sweatshirts, cottons, some button downs).

Thanks!!

Am I asking for trouble by starting to use FEBU in the communal, commercial machines in my building? I've been pleased with the results of using citric acid. However, there are "pet designated" machines, but the hair is everywhere and there are a few machines with visible mold on the door gasket and the dispenser flaps. I also use Lysol sanitizer. Right now I'm finishing up a container of Tide Free and Clear pods. I used to buy the German Persil, but the tablets became hard to get and the powder was inconvient. I was using Persil when I was washing all my clothes myself.

I send all my clothes out to a service except for underwear, some delicates, bedding and sometimes towels. I wash most of it on the heavy, hot water cycle which clocks about 44 minutes on the machine.

Any insight, advice appreciated. Thanks.

I am usually a medium-to-large load person, probably stemming from my city-living laundromat days where I'd wait until I absolutely HAD to do laundry before schlepping everything down to the 'mat. Having my own washer and dryer in my own house feels like such a luxury, but I still don't want to run the machines every single day. I have an aversion to small loads. I don't overstuff the washing machine, I promise. My husband and I share our laundry (I promise he does other chores that I don't touch) so I end up washing clothing maybe once every 7-10 days.

My MIL is visiting and I guess she sees things differently. She has run a tiny load on average once per day since she's been here (3 weeks). I saw her once wash ONE towel in the washing machine and then wash one outfit in a separate load right after. We are not hurting for towels (I left a stack out in the guest bathroom). I realized that the washing machine is constantly running at her house too, so I don't imagine it's just because she packed poorly (and she told me that she over packed??).

She's a visitor, I'm not going to say anything. But I was wondering, am I the weird one who waits for medium or large loads? What is everyone else in the world doing? I know small loads can be better for the machines, so I'm just trying to understand what people are doing.

I need your help on getting rid of the wet dog like smell from my clothes!

Recently I started to notice this smell like a wet dog on some of my clothes. I notice this smell once I go outside and when my clothes get exposed to outside air.

Especially clothes with synthetic fiber (polyester) seem to develop this smell. Cotton ones seem to be fine.

I tried a lot of things — ammonia soak, laundry sanitizer, switching to tide powder, enzymes, rinsing with citric acid… Ammonia soak seems to get rid of the smell temporarily, but it seems to come back after a couple of wash. My clothes smell fine after each wash and dryer.

Strange thing is, my apartment building has multiple laundry machines but no matter which one I use, my clothes start developing the smell. I’m struggling to identify the cause and the ways to get rid of the smell — is it coming from the water? Or the machines? Or the air??

I’d appreciate your help!!

I used the API KH & GH kit to test my water which resulted in 143ppm GH and 125ppm for KH. Do I need to soften my water for laundry with these numbers?

Hello ! I've been sent here by the nice folks at r/HomeMaintenance that spoke very highly of you.

I moved into a new rental with a front loader and every single one of my loads of laundry stinks. A musty earthy smell.

Now I've tried EVERYTHING. Took out the drawer and scrubbed every crevice. Cleaned the filter. Ran a load with vinegar. Ran a load with bleach. Bought those stupidly expensive cleaning tablets and ran a load with them. My clothes stink a bit less but still stink !!!

I've been told the smell might be lingering even after proper washing ? I don't think my clothes are the problem as I've never had this problem before :(

Any help is appreciated, thanks !

(Edit: typos)

My cat (pictured lol) and I both have long hair, and one of my sweatshirts seems to be a magnet to hairballs every time I wash it. Any ways to prevent/remove these other than a sweater-shaver?

Does anyone have favorite unscented stain treatments? I love my oxyclean max force spray but it makes my entire load smell like it no matter how much citric acid I use or how many rinses I do.

Hey trying to see if I'm better using powder/liquid instead of washing pods. I live in Scotland so I think we don't have hard water and usually wash on the eco cycle. I've read Ariel and Tide seem to be go to products but I believe tide has the brightening things which are damaging?

My primary concern is the longevity of my clothes to prevent fading/damaging the fibres.

Also is it worth using citric acid as fabric softener? I've read it can bleach parts of your clothes and I'm guessing the pods have some fabric softening element to them already so switching may require more.

Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone! I picked up this Portal hoodie recently, but it’s slightly cream/tan rather than gray/white (which I assume is the previous owners fault)

I was going to soak it in Oxi White Revive after work today, but I’m not sure if that would be the best option because the inside of the hood is a dark color (Slide 2 is to show the print of the hoodie).

Hello

Thinking about what oxygen bleach product I might try next and wondering whether I should specifically look for one with TAED, considering that I would never use it below 40 degrees anyway and use long wash cycles.

My understanding was that it just activated the oxygen bleach faster/at lower temps but have recently leaned that it activates it differently, creating peracetic acid which is more powerful than peroxide.

My very limited understanding makes me think that it’s probably a pretty good idea to switch to a TAED-containing formula but keen to hear thoughts! I also thought maybe the slower action without TAED might actually be better for allowing enzymes to start working before potentially being denatured by the oxy but not sure whether that’s actually a real issue.

Specific products are probably irrelevant but I’ve used Vanish (has TAED), currently have Sard (no TAED), and deciding between plain sodium percarbonate in bulk and Ecostore next (has TAED). I don’t love the fragrance of Vanish and Sard and also find I have to cut down on my detergent so much if I want to use them in the wash.

I recently started started cooking at in n out which causes my pants to get grease on them especially on the waist band, I’ve tried using a de greaser spray but the smell won’t go away and it’s starting to make my clothes smell. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can use to wash my whites

Hello laundry friends. Is there a reason to use Biz powder with Tide Plus Oxi powder?

Comparing the ingredient lists it appears to be redundant, but is there something about adding MORE of the same oxygen bleach and enzymes that is tangibly useful, or is there no point to adding Biz?

I made the mistake of not finding out first and now the white top part has lost its bright white and is now dull in colour.

Is this fixable or do I just have to know for next time? Is it even possible at all to stop the colours running completely?

I always wash on 30, but it seemingly didn’t stop the colour running a bit.

Many thanks!