Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (2024)

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:

¼ cup Borax Detergent Booster (available {here})

¼ cup Washing Soda (available {here})

½ cup powdered laundry detergent – I use Tide (available {here})

Optional – ¼ cup Calgon (available {here})

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (1)

The Calgon (which is a water softener) is something you should consider adding if you have hard water. For some reason it’s been out of stock pretty much everywhere for a while now plus our water isn’t that hard so I haven’t used when I’ve done laundry stripping. But if you have hard water and can get your hands on some, definitely throw it into the mix!

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:

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (2)

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.

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (3)

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.

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (4)

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:

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (5)

This is after three hours:

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (6)

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!

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (7)

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.

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (8)

Then throw everything in the dryer as usual and marvel at your super clean and white laundry!

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (9)

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:

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (10) 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:

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (11)

and you can get the details on our laundry room {here}:

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (12)

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,

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (13)

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!) (2024)

FAQs

Laundry Stripping Recipe (That Gets Crazy Amounts of Nastiness Out of Your Clothes & Linens!)? ›

As a rule of thumb, the ratio for your strip laundry recipe should be 2 parts TIDE POWDER DETERGENT, 1 part baking soda, and 1 part Borax. For most standard bathtubs, you can use ¼ cup of baking soda, ½ cup of Tide Ultra , and ¼ cup Borax.

What is the best recipe for stripping clothes? ›

As a rule of thumb, the ratio for your strip laundry recipe should be 2 parts TIDE POWDER DETERGENT, 1 part baking soda, and 1 part Borax. For most standard bathtubs, you can use ¼ cup of baking soda, ½ cup of Tide Ultra , and ¼ cup Borax.

Why is laundry stripping bad? ›

Avoid laundry stripping for dark fabrics to prevent color bleeding in hot water. Exercise clothes, particularly those with spandex, may degrade due to the stripping solution. Wool will likely lose the lanolin in its fiber, which is a natural substance that protects the fabric's integrity.

What is the formula for laundry stripping? ›

The laundry stripping recipe involves adding borax, washing soda (sodium carbonate — not baking soda) and laundry detergent in a 1:1:2 ratio. For a bathtub, add 1/4 cup borax, 1/4 cup washing soda and 1/2 cup laundry detergent. Stir until all three dissolve completely.

Does laundry stripping remove odors? ›

If your sheets look dingy, stripping will help remove buildup and restore brightness. Note: the stripping recipe of Borax, washing soda, and detergent is not a bleach. If your sheets or towels smell musty even after washing, stripping will help remove trapped odors and freshen them.

Will laundry stripping work without borax? ›

White vinegar: This is an excellent alternative to borax for stripping clothing. Baking soda: Baking soda is a versatile cleaning agent that can help neutralize odors and lift residues.

What does laundry stripping remove? ›

Essentially, laundry stripping is a method of washing that removes detergent residue, fabric softener, minerals from hard water, and body oils that have collected on your laundry over time. By soaking garments and linens in hot water with an at-home borax solution, the fabric is stripped of any residue.

Does Borax ruin clothes? ›

Yet, borax is not as strong as chlorine bleach, meaning it won't damage your clothes with regular use. From the alkalinity boost and hard-water softening to oxidative properties, there are many reasons why borax is one powerful laundry additive.

Can you use OxiClean for laundry stripping? ›

'I usually use Oxiclean (I buy this pack from Amazon) to strip my laundry without Borax and washing soda,' says Lucy Searle, Editor in Chief of Homes & Gardens. 'I don't use it on colored fabrics but I do use it on towels and sheets, piling everything into the large deep sink I have in my laundry room.

What is a substitute for Borax? ›

Borax Substitute is sodium sesquicarbonate - a mineral compound, with similar pH to borax, making it ideal for cleaning and laundry. It is gentler than Soda Crystals yet stronger than Bicarbonate of Soda.

Can I use baking soda instead of washing soda to strip laundry? ›

According to Arm & Hammer,1 the correct product is washing soda, not baking soda.

How to make towels soft again? ›

Using Baking Soda
  1. Place a small- to medium-sized load of towels in your washing machine.
  2. Sprinkle ½ cup of baking soda over the towels in the drum.
  3. Add detergent as normal, but skip the fabric softener.
  4. Run the load on either a warm or hot cycle.
  5. Once the wash cycle is complete, dry the towels on low to medium heat.
Feb 15, 2024

Can I use baking soda instead of washing soda? ›

Baking soda is commonly used alongside detergent to fix stinky loads, and it can boost detergents as well as bust some stains, but washing soda is the typical go-to for most tough laundry jobs. Baking soda is gentler than washing soda, so it won't be as efficacious.

Does Febreze permanently remove odors? ›

When you spray Febreze, the water in the product partially dissolves the odor, allowing it to form a complex inside the "hole" of the cyclodextrin doughnut shape. The stink molecule is still there, but it can't bind to your odor receptors, so you can't smell it.

Does baking soda remove laundry odor? ›

Baking soda can be used in laundry to spot clean, freshen and soften fabrics, eliminate odors, and boost bleach whitening abilities. "Baking soda is a versatile cleaning tool," says Becky Rapinchuk, cleaning expert and founder of Clean Mama. "It can freshen, deodorize and soften your laundry."

Does vinegar really remove odors? ›

The acetic acid in vinegar neutralizes alkaline odors, which means it can help get rid of cooking smells cheaply and easily. Some people make a diluted solution of vinegar and keep it in a spray bottle to mist around the room. This covers a lot of area at once for a quicker fix.

How do you strip clothes fast? ›

How to Strip Your Laundry
  1. Fill your tub with hot water.
  2. Pour 1/4 cup of borax, 1/4 cup of washing soda, and 1 cup of powdered laundry detergent into the tub.
  3. Place your linens in the solution and stir.
  4. Leave the mixture to sit overnight, stirring occasionally.
Nov 30, 2023

Does vinegar strip color from clothes? ›

Vinegar will lock in color so that your clothes don't fade quite as fast—but don't worry, it won't seal in that pungent vinegary smell along with. It will completely wash out by the end of the cycle, just leaving the crispest, most vibrant clothes without the lingering odor.

How much vinegar do I use to strip laundry? ›

Materials
  1. 1 Cup White Vinegar.
  2. 1/2 Cup Baking Soda.
  3. 1/4 cup Glamorous Diva Wash (optional, but highly recommend)
Jan 23, 2024

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