Have you an Oxy clean type of cleaner?

Try washing them in some white vinegar & if you can let dry in the sun, sometimes baking soda will also work.

Mary, put them in a bag with regular charcoal in it. Seal it up and leave it for about a week. Put the charcoal in a recycled butter dish or cool whip bowl with a few holes poked it in so the charcoal doesn't get on the clothes. Just DON'T use the self-lighting charcoal. In a week, you will be able to wear the clothes.

20 Mule Team Borax might help. It says on the box it is also for removing odors. Hanging out in the sun is also a good tip.

Sue

Hang them outside on a sunny, preferably windy, day.

I feel your pain. I don't get headaches, but I only use unscented products.........Love the homemade laundry detergent!!!

Hubby gets a headache and my eyes burn walking down the laundry aisle in the grocery store! I don't want to be smelling like that, thank you very much. Thankfully they moved the pet food to another aisle, so now we don't need to go there.

Vinegar! I once answered someone that was asking this question about stinky towels that would not stop stinking, they had gotten soured and she couldn't get rid of the smell. I mentioned vinegar and she used it and it worked. That's what I'd do, soak it some too!.

A lot of people would be amazed at the soap (and 'softener') that comes out in the wash water when you run a load of wash with no soap and just some white vinegar. I routinely use a little vinegar in the rinse *instead* of softener.

I never understood the concept of coating clean wash with something. (Feel the same way about air 'fresheners'.) My clothes get soft enough for me in the dryer. My towels are absorbent, not slick with 'softener'. I don't use liquid detergent either because it has additives that build up in the washer. I know most liquid soaps and lotions contain preservatives; presume that's true of liquid laundry detergents.

Good info, Chisue. Also, fabric softener does not come out with just one laundering. It takes a few washes to get it out, but I bet the vinegar would help make that happen faster. Add a cup of white vinegar to the rinse water.

I read somewhere, I think on the laundry forum, to add water to your fabric softner. I buy a container of softner, I use the unscented Downy, and pour half into the old bottle and then add water to both. Now you have two bottles for the price of one. In my opinion you get the same softness from the watered down softner.

alot of times you can soak it in water with baking soda dissolved in it

I found a nice shirt for my grandson in a thrift store, and after I got it home I realized from the smell it must have come from a home full of smokers. I sealed it up in a plastic bag with lots of baking soda, left it for 2 days, and ALL the cigarette smell was gone. I don't know if it'll work as well for perfumed detergent odor, but it's worth a try. I always use unscented detergent, I cannot stand the incredibly strong smell of the perfumed ones. Seems like they put double the amount of fragrance they did years ago.

I also don't want lavender scented dish soap. I had a hard time the other day... lemon or orange is okay, but the one I wanted didn't have it! lol lavendar, mountain fresh, blech! I don't want scented dish soap either! lol

Thanks everyone for your informative responses...I did use vinegar and it helped some...but will try again with some of your suggestions...thanks again ...Mary

Earlier this year, I had toss a top I got at goodwill. It smelled even after several soakings in strong vinegar solution, and then a couple of weeks on the clothes line.