Removing Perfume Smell from Clothing

April 5, 2011 by Debra Lynn Dadd

Question from Margaret

I bought some jeans at the Goodwill last week and when I got home and smelled them in my clean home environment, I could smell perfume (there were too many odors in the store for me to detect it there). I have washed them numerous times, including in baking soda, and put them in the dryer, and I can't get the perfume smell out. I even tried washing them with Pet Odor Eliminator to see if that would do anything. This has happened to me once before with jeans that I bought at the Goodwill. I finally threw out that first pair of jeans after umpteen times washing them, as I could still smell the perfume. I'm not severely chemically sensitive--I work in an office in downtown Denver and tolerate that--but I don't want to wear jeans that smell like perfume! I know that can't be good for me with my mild chemical sensitivities. Why can't I get this odor out?

Debra's Answer (updated 11/20 with reader’s suggestions)

I don't know why perfume smells are so difficult to remove, but there are more things to try. Here are reader’s suggestions:

• Sometimes new clothing is scented because of a finish called “sizing,” which easily washes out.

• Mystical will usually remove odors from all cotton clothing al though I have had cases where it did not do so well.

• We have recently purchased a vapor cleaner. We chose the LadyBug 2350 but I’m certain there are plenty others out in the marketplace.

• Sometimes powdered milk helps.