I have trouble removing scent from fabric softener and or sizing in new items
Name: Grace
Country or region: Nevada
Message: I have trouble removing scent from fabric softener and or sizing in new items. Seems like you know everything about fabric I used to dye but am now too chemically sensitive and am just looking to get rid of odors rather than adding color.
From what I have read it sounds like Synthrapol would work do you know anything else that might work better or faster. I have to wash new things about 10 times before I can use them. Sometimes the fragrance never comes out esp of synthetics.
Synthrapol is just a detergent, one that is free of optical brighteners and perfumes. It's good, but probably not significantly better for your purposes than whatever unscented detergent you're already using.
There are a great many different chemicals used in finishing clothing, such as formaldehyde resins. These additives can be used, without any legal requirement for any indication on the label, to reduce the tendency of the fabric to wrinkle or to stain, or to reduce the tendency of lower-quality
direct dyes to quickly fade, or to reduce pilling of knitted fabrics. Synthetic fiber fabrics may in fact be less likely than natural fibers to have such treatments applied to them, but the dyes used for polyester or acrylic tend to be less tightly bound to the fabric than the best cotton dyes, making them more likely to cause allergies in susceptible wearers.
I'd recommend that you soak your clothing in the hottest water it can tolerate, wash it in the hottest water it can tolerate, and possibly use three-quarters of a cup of
vinegar in the liquid fabric softener dispenser on your washing machine (use less in a front loader), as a substitute for fabric softener. Be careful about color sorting, since most dye is more likely to run in hot water than in cool water. Hot water is better at removing almost anything than cool water is, but you may still have to wash multiple times, and not all fabric finishes are possible to remove at all. If necessary, to help remove fragrances, I'd also recommend you hang the clothing outside for a week or more to air it out.
If it really bothers you, consider buying clothing that is sold without any fabric finishes. If you buy PFD clothing (which stands for
Prepared
For
Dyeing), it will be free of fragrances and other fabric finishes. The best online retail source for a wide variety of PFD clothing is
Dharma Trading Company. Of course, all PFD clothing is always the same color, white, though Dharma does sell a few black items that would probably be okay. You may want to dye your cotton PFD clothing yourself, using Procion MX dye, soda ash, and salt in the washing machine. (See "
How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?".) It is not difficult to do, and Procion MX dye bonds permanently to the cotton fiber, making it suitable for people with chemical sensitivities. After dyeing with Procion MX dye, wash it out once in cool water and then twice in very hot water; this will remove any excess unattached dye, leaving it safe for even very sensitive people to wear.
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Posted: Sunday - March 25, 2012 at 02:41 PM
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