Late last year I tried laundry stripping for the first time and after seeing the nastiness it got out of our sheets & towels, I was hooked! It’s really simple to do (and honestly kind of addictive 🙈) so today I’m sharing the laundry stripping recipe and the step by step for getting the job done! (post includes affiliate links; full disclosure statement available {here})
What is Laundry Stripping?
While you might not be able to see it, over time your clothes and linens develop a build-up of residue from body oils, laundry detergent, and fabric softener. Laundry stripping is the deep cleaning process of stripping all of that residue away. The amount of nastiness that you can get out of your “clean” laundry through the laundry stripping process is both amazing and horrifying all at the same time 😂! It’s as simple as soaking your laundry for several hours and then throwing it in your washer and dryer – I’ll share the laundry stripping recipe along with the step by step of the laundry stripping process.
Laundry Stripping Recipe
The laundry strip recipe or formula is pretty simple. It’s a 1:1:2 ratio of Borax, washing soda, and powdered laundry detergent. For a standard bathtub that’s filled about ½ full with hot water, add:
How to Strip your Laundry Step by Step
1. Gather the Items You Want to Strip
Gather up the items that you want to strip – towels, sheets, and workout clothes are some of the most common items to strip but anything that’s machine washable in hot water is fair game! If it’s something that you’ve sweated in a lot or just worn or used the heck out of, chances are there’s a good bit of detergent build-up along with the build-up of oils and other human nastiness. You do laundry stripping on clean clothes (which makes it all the more crazy how much yuck you’ll see come out of them!).
I’m going to strip a set of sheets, some older towels that my sensitive nose thinks have a slight smell to them when wet, and my daughter’s duvet cover:
The duvet cover is a real test because my daughter is always kicking her top sheet off and using only her duvet. Over time it’s gotten discolored in spots and even bleach hasn’t been able to restore it to a whiter white.
Use common sense by sorting the laundry you’re stripping by color just like you would when using the washing machine. Since we’re using hot water, you obviously don’t want to put a red t-shirt in with your white sheets and you only want to strip non-delicate items that are ok to put in hot water.
2. Fill Your Tub
Fill your bathtub about ½ full (or only as full as you need to in order to fully submerge the items you’re stripping – I fill my large soaking tub about ⅓ full) with HOT water. If you have a large sink, you can also use that as long as you don’t have too many items (but beware that your sink will be out of commission for several hours!). You can also use a top-loading washing machine.
3. Add the Ingredients From the Laundry Stripping Recipe
Sprinkle the Borax, washing soda, and powdered detergent (plus the Calgon if you’re using it) into the tub using the laundry stripping recipe above. Stir the water to dissolve the powders and mix them together. Use gloves throughout the laundry stripping process for safety.
4. Submerge Your Laundry and Stir
Submerge your items in the water and stir them around the tub a bit. From this point out, you’ll want to come back every hour or so to stir (and become horrified at how gross the water is getting), allowing your items to soak for 5-6 hours. This is what my previously clean blue water looked like after an hour of soaking:
This is after three hours:
And this was at the end after 5 hours (I pulled the clothes back so you could see the nastiness in its full glory) – so gross!! And remember, this was CLEAN laundry!
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5. Remove Laundry & Wash
The last step is to drain your tub, squeeze excess water out of your laundry, and then run it through a wash cycle in your washing machine (don’t add any detergent). I then do an extra rinse cycle to make sure all of the gross stuff that was in the tub water is totally rinsed out of it.
Then throw everything in the dryer as usual and marvel at your super clean and white laundry!
So how did my batch of laundry look and smell after I stripped it? Everything definitely looked whiter – I could tell a noticeable difference especially with the set of sheets I washed. When my daughter comes home from college to visit, she’ll have a cleaner than clean bed to hop into:
Bedroom Sources: Pendant light | Bench | Duvet cover | Bed skirt | Blue fringe end pillows | White tassel pillows | Lumbar stripe pillow | Lamp | Grasscloth wallpaper (Powder Blue) | Headboard, nightstand, & art prints are no longer available
And my towels that had a funk to them passed my sensitive nose sniff test when wet. As far as my daughter’s duvet, it didn’t restore all of the discolored areas to the original super white white but it definitely whitened them up quite a bit which was a job even bleach hadn’t been able to do so I was happy with the results! If you guys try laundry stripping, let me know how it works out for you!
For any of you that are new around here, if you’re looking for more details or sources for anything in our bathroom, you can find those {here} in my master bathroom reveal post:
and you can get the details on our laundry room {here}:
And be sure to check out some of my other favorite cleaning posts:
How to Clean Your Washing Machine {here}
The Best Way to Clean Stainless Steel Appliances {here}
Shark vs. Dyson Cordless Vacuum Face-Off {here}
XO,
Gianna says
What exactly is inside of Borax? This Brand or Product is not available in Germany but I would really like to try this.
kim says
boron – sodium borate – It’s been banned in the EU and UK, I understand, for being ‘toxic’. it’s a necessary nutrient for bone and teeth health. I’m not of the understanding that it truly is toxic to humans.
KW says
As always it’s a matter of dosis, that makes the poison.
And borax can be teratogenic.
So here in Germany I recommend natron and soda. Drying outspread on green lawn. Then rinse again, if needed. Perfect white 😉
Vera says
There are many “everyday” things that are teratogenic (Teratogens are substances that cause congenital disorders in a developing embryo or fetus. A teratogen is anything a person is exposed to or ingests during pregnancy that’s known to cause fetal abnormalities. They can also increase the risk for miscarriage, preterm labor or stillbirth)
These include drugs, medicines, alcohol, cigarettes, infections and viruses. Environmental toxins and chemicals.
All of these can, and do, cause serious injuries to the embryo and fetus.
Cara says
Can this recipe be used for colors? All my towels are dark gray, brown or blue. We have well water and the towels are not soft anymore. I use very little detergent, but it isn’t helping.
Janet says
I have discovered that I have a really nasty allergy to fabric softener sheets and and all my clothes and sheets and towels ITCHED. I tried stripping on my sheets and towels and I had to do it twice to get the all chemicals out but it worked. I still have the problem of the clothes. I don’t think I dare put my polyester tops and slacks through water that hot. Can I use hot water to dissolve the powders and then pour them and the clothes in a warm water tub? Is there some other way to get rid of the fabric softener residue from the dryer sheets? Shouldn’t dryer sheets be declared illegal?
Grace says
I recently did this after an entire load of jeans went through the dryer with not one, but TWO lip balms that melted and left spots on all my pants 😫. I wish I could post a picture of the water. It was literally BLACK with all the excess dyes from my jeans. Luckily all my pants still looked good and not faded after all was said and done. But I was in shock over what came out of my clothes!
Peejay says
I came here because of expensive brand new sheets that were very stiff right out of the package. High quality 100% cotton, moderately high thread count, and so stiff they seemed like they could have stood on edge all by themselves. White with small light blue floral pattern. We downsized from King to Queen so I bought a bunch of new Queen sheets – same brands I’ve been buying for years, in various blue and white florals, toiles, batiks, etc, to mix and match. Never had a stiff set of sheets before these.
I know manufacturers put sizing / on new products to make them look crisp and non wrinkly and new, but they were unusable as is. I washed and dried, no fabric softener, still stiff stiff stiff. For now, I’m using nice soft vintage kings on the queen bed with sheet straps on the fitted sheet corners, and it doesn’t matter if the flats are a bit too wide.
So, stripping the laundry per your instructions seemed in order to get off the manufacturing chemicals and sizing. I did that, with a few changes:
1. I had Borax and used it
2. I didn’t have washing soda so I used baking soda
3. Didn’t have Tide, the only powdered laundry detergent I had was a travel size Surf
4. Didn’t have and couldn’t find Calgon
5. I didn’t soak them in the bathtub upstairs, as lugging wet sheets down to the laundry room didn’t sound appealing, so I used our top loading washer, which has a deep water option. I figured once I filled it up and let the sheets slosh around for awhile and hit pause it would just sit there and let the sheets soak, but periodically it completed the load. So I kept refilling it and putting in the ingredients, letting it do its thing, rinse, drain, repeat. The water was always grey. On the last try I put vinegar in the softener dispenser, and set it for a double rinse. Now the very stiff wet sheets are in the dryer on high with wool dryer balls.
Comments:
1. We’ve always had top loaders, and l like a high water level so I can see and hear the laundry slosh around .
2. The most recent set (Amana) came with samples of Arm & Hammer pods and we liked the convenience so have been using them.
3. Just me and hubby, neither of us is particularly sweaty or oily, no dirty work clothes, no workout clothes, and no kids.
4. Haven’t used softener for many years.
a. Never used it on towels – it works by plumping up the fibers with wax, and waxy cotton fibers aren’t going to absorb water.
b. Plus the chemical fragrances and other junk isn’t healthy, and they glom up the inside of the dryer.
5. I bought wool dryer balls a year or so ago, and didn’t notice if they work or not, but I’d like to think that they do. Hubby is convinced that the friction wears out his clothes, particularly his favorite flannel shirts, and he doesn’t like the bouncing ball noise.
6. I’m willing to try vinegar but I‘m not convinced it’s going to work. Hubby dislikes the smell of vinegar, though after this stripping load neither of us could smell it.
7. They’re done, stiff but not as horribly stiff as before, no vinegar odor. Still wouldn’t be able to sleep on them. I saw a lot of grey water go bye bye so I’m confident that a bunch of chemicals and other junk soaked out. I think getting them softer would take banging them against rocks in a creek or an old fashioned washboard.
Anonymous says
Do you know if they are cotton percale or Egyptian cotton?
Eve Elison says
I had to laugh. Just because something says “soda” doesn’t mean it has the same properties as other “soda”. A huge difference between bicarbonate (baking) soda and lye – washing soda!!! Try again with correct soda and you will see the difference.
And your husband is correct. Any drier with or without balls, wear out the fabrics much faster. Outdoor drying or indoor on a clothes horse.
Peejay says
I came here because of new sheets that were very stiff right out of the package. high quality, high thread count, and s stiff they basically would have stood on edge all byy themselves.
i realize the manufacturers put sizing / start / etn them to look9?) better, but they were enable as is – ai washed and dried, them, still stiff stiff stiff.
so stripping the laundry per your instructions seemed in order. did that, tough I coulnd[t soak them for hours – i could only use the washer I(top loading) and periodically it completed the load.
ai’ll come back to finish this….
Wendy says
To get rust stain out use Black Label Lysol toilet bowl cleaner. Takes rust right out like magic. My son has that same problem.
Lorraine says
For every load I wash I use half the detergent vinegar in the fabric softener side section and one cup of baking soda in the bottom of the washer every other time I change the baking soda for borax and I have had the same towels for 20 years and they smell fantastic every time even with three boys and a husband that works outsideNever ever use fabric softener also always use hot water if possible
Marcia says
Hi I just wanted to let you all know I run into he issue that my husband kicks our sheets down or off the bed and usually just uses the comforter which it’s his sweat protein that builds up on it and from washing it with bleach cause it’s white it turned yellow. I use Oxy White Revive now on all my whites. I would recommend trying that as an alternating cleaner from bleach.
Heather Head says
I learned this from the back of an oxiclean box and was shocked about all the grimmy stuff left behind. I use a storage container by putting a few scoops of oxi in first, use my hand held shower head to dissolve the oxi with all the hot water on, and then add a load(but definitely make sure nothing could fade onto anything). I leave it over night but try to stir everything every few hours. Drain water and wring out excessive water from clothes and to the washer it goes for a normal wash. I sometimes will add more oxi the drum before loading and also we have hard water so we use the liquid calgon with detergent. But yes it is amazing at how much stuff is left on or in clothes.
Tricia says
Great info.I have a baseball player so whites were a challenge. I put baking soda in every load of white and let soak for an hr. Also you can use Cascade dishwasher detergent for loads of whites. Let it soak. It really breaks down all the yellow stains.
Barbara says
I was told many years ago to. To add WASHING SODA in every WHITE WASH with the bleach. The washing sodas keeps whites from graying. I also add washing soda to ALL my washes as a deodorizer. Borax is great for smelly clothes too.
Karen says
Sounds like this is just for whites. Any suggestions for removing the build up in colors?
Kathy Brewer says
We have well water and it does have rust. It has even discolored my sink basins and toilets of course.
I cannot wait to try this! Our towels have a “wet dog” odor even when I take them straight out of the dryer!
I am definitely going to try this method! Any suggestions on how to get the rust stains out of my sink basins?
Thank you so much!
Sherry says
Have you tried ZEP acidic toilet bowl cleaner? It will often save sinks and toilets that you’d think are beyond saving! You can buy it at Lowe’s or on Amazon.
Wendy says
To get rust stain out use Black Label Lysol toilet bowl cleaner. Takes rust right out like magic. My son has that same problem.
Gretchen says
Be careful if you have iron from well water especially if you have a refrigerator with an auto ice maker and water dispenser as you can be consuming lots of xtra iron which can be an over load on your body. Might want to check your blood levels just in case. Otherwise some people need xtra iron in which case could be good.
Bonnie C says
Years ago we lived in a house with copper pipes. The ph in the water was stripping the copper from the pipes and staining the shower, etc. A water softener/filter system solved the problem. I cleaned the shower floor with Twinkle!
Diann says
How much of each product did you use in one soaking?
Can’t wait to try this on my white sheets!
Farmersdaughter says
I am anxious to try this as soon as my washer and dryer are hooked up. I am moving into a home with a soaking tub, I have had to use a public laundromat for the past 18 months and I want my whites, sheets and towels CLEAN again! Before the public laundromat, I always used Tide Pods, Borax and Washing Soda instead of bleach or softeners. It did keep my whites super white and smelling amazing!!