Removing dry cleaning odor? - YouLookFab Forum

Category

General

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Removing dry cleaning odor?

Greyscale

Veteran

My fragrance and odor sensitivities are getting worse (I think something about being in my house all year) and I have a frustrating situation. I took in a huge pile for dry cleaning, all my favorite blazers and coats. Now it all has an odor that makes me feel sick to my stomach immediately. It’s not a perfume or fragrance - I think it might be something about the cleaning process itself.

I hung everything outside for two sunny afternoons and that helped but didn’t solve it. I still wake up feeling a bit ill when the clothes are hanging in my room. I’ve moved them to the guest room for now. But yikes. I need my favorite clothes back!

My next thoughts are:
1. Run some things through the dryer for a few minutes (not the blazers, they’ll get rumpled)
2. Steam the blazers? I try to avoid doing this too much so I don’t damage the fusing / interfacing.
3. Spray ethanol on them? We have a big spray bottle of lab ethanol for sanitizing things.
4. Just keep putting them outside every day.

I’ve had this same problem from a few different cleaners but it was worse this time. I wonder if I should switch to the more expensive wet cleaning and/or CO2 process - or if wet cleaning is more likely to add fragrance.

Any ideas or insights are welcome!

General

31 replies

Latest reply was from Joy

bella

(website)

Veteran

I am sorry to hear this. Some long term solutions are definitely in order. But for this batch, I would not dare 1-3, I would just keep airing the clothes outside. I think the smell will just go away on its own, but in time.

Joy

Veteran

I would keep putting the clothes outside too. Someone on another thread mentioned vodka sprayed on can remove scents. Maybe that would work. I will be watching this thread as I have a bed comforter that will need to be sent out for cleaning soon. The last thing I want to to smell dry cleaning fumes all night! In the past I have aired it out on the deck but the last time it was covered by 13 inches of snow. Then it needed to dry out too.

Preppy Pear

Veteran

Oh no! So sorry you are having this problem. I’d definitely continue airing them and if you have a steamer, couldn’t hurt to try - I know they can remove odors but I don’t know about dry cleaning odors. I don’t know about using ethanol - that’s new to me.

Star

Veteran

Vodka definitely removes odours but I have no idea how you could spray the entire item with it. I recommend airing until the smells disappear - they will. Oh and change your dry cleaner

cat2

Veteran

Ugh, that smell is the worst. I was told it happens if your dry cleaner isn’t changing the dry cleaning fluid often enough. I would take a test garment to a new dry cleaner, and once you find someone good, have the rest reprocessed. I don’t think the smell will come out, as it has permeated the garments.

Greyscale

Veteran

Turns out vodka is just ethanol! It’s 40% ethanol, 60% water. My lab ethanol spray bottle is 70% ethanol, 30% water. So, same effect as vodka but less water (good for this purpose). You do have to be careful with colorfastness though.

Greyscale

Veteran

Aha, that makes sense, cat2. What a bummer because I paid a lot to clean this batch ($110 in all). I have no idea how to find a better cleaner.

Bonnie

Veteran

I have not tried it but have heard that there is a professional wet cleaning process that works really well.

Anonymous

I think I'd continue to air them out, not inside, and then take a single item to a different cleaner, tell them what's bothering you, get confirmation that they feel confident they can fix it, and then wait to get the item back.

I wouldn't put anything in the dryer as that will only bake the smell into the clothes and chemical odors can permeate laundry machines. I washed clothing that had previously been washed in scented detergent and the perfume lingered in my washer afterwards. If it's really making you feel ill, this would be a correction mandatory, no halfway situation.

Minaminu

Veteran

airing will help remove the bad smell, what a bad experience!

Runcarla

Veteran

Could the original dry cleaning establishment be approached with a complaint and a request to re-process the garments? Otherwise, continue with airing out of doors.

April

Veteran

I used to hang my dry-cleaning outside for a few days until I moved and started using an organic dry-cleaner. Honestly, I don't know what "organic dry-cleaning" means, but I do know that my dry-cleaned clothes no longer give me an instant headache.

Greyscale

Veteran

Ok, they're back outside in the bright sun for a third day! Hopefully they won't fade, but the UV in sunlight can actually break down odor molecules, so it's worth having them in real sunlight.

I'll think about going back to the same place to ask them to fix it. I'm leaning against it. It's too bad, because they're conveniently just around the corner. This was my first visit, because my usual cleaner was closed that day, though I've had less extreme versions of the same problem from my usual cleaner. I wonder if I can find a place with their own plant on premises? They'd have more control over things.

April, yeah, I almost always have to hang dry cleaning outside for a bit, even when it's not this bad. Ironically "organic" can also refer to nasty solvents. Think "organic chemistry" - acetone, benzene, etc are all organic solvents but not in the eco-friendly sense. Even the usual perchloroethylene used in dry cleaning. But the eco-friendly place do use solvents that are less icky, and they describe them as organic, so it's not bogus, just confusing. The ones near me seem to mostly do wet cleaning and I need to research more about what that's good for.

Phoebe, great point. I'll cross that off the list. I stopped buying used clothing from Poshmark after one top had such strong baked-in fabric softener scent that it transferred to everything else in the load of wash, and clung to the washing machine itself. After many washes I gave up.

slim cat

Veteran

Had similar issues with jacket - kept airing it for 2 weeks. Switched to another cleaner - definitely less smell.

cat2

Veteran

I agree using a place with their own plant is best. It doesn’t need to ne on premises, but they need to have control of it. Unfortunately it’s slow trial and error to find a vendor. We found one and have been using them for decades, but it took several unfortunate experiments.

Greyscale

Veteran

Ooh, I found great reviews of a place has their own plant, uses less-harsh chemicals, and also offers wet cleaning. And has free pickup and dropoff! I'll call them tomorrow to find out about fragrance and such.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Good luck with the new place! The sun has been my best bet in these cases.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Sunshine and alcohol (after testing the ethanol on each piece) for sure. When they come in for the night, maybe hang them in a closed closet with a box of baking soda dumped out on a tray beneath them. I hope the new cleaner is better, but for that money, I'd be asking the cleaner who just did them to rerun the load with fresh solvent.

Jessikams

(website)

Veteran

Oh gross! What a frustrating problem.

cat2

Veteran

Great, hope it works out!

Ginger

Veteran

A solution I've heard from textile collectors and museums is to seal up the item(s) with activated charcoal. This is ideal for older/fragile items or those that cannot be gotten wet.

I'm about to try it with a silver storage chest I just got at an estate sale. It's really pretty clean but the "old house" smell is strong!

JAileen

Veteran

Ginger, I used aquarium charcoal to get a nasty perfume smell out of a thrifted Coach bag. It took several weeks, but did work.

Aquamarine

Veteran

Wow, how annoying and inconvenient. I’ve heard of the charcoal solution but have never tried it myself.

Greyscale

Veteran

Well, after many days of airing them outside, I finally gave up and found a different cleaner with excellent reviews. The jackets all came back fresh as a daisy. I wish I'd just done that right away. I'm out $100 but I have all my clothes back!

Actually not all back yet - I brought in a few as a test run with the new cleaner last week and got them back today. Took the clean ones to my car for a sniff test -- they passed -- and went back into the cleaner with the rest of the stinky ones. But, soon! And my first work travel since the pandemic is tomorrow, so I'm glad to have some of it back in time.

Runcarla

Veteran

Good news!

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Smart of you to do a little test batch first.
Exciting that you get to travel for work again—hope it all goes well!!

Tanya

Veteran

Glad to hear you found a better cleaner! Good luck with the travel.

Ginger

Veteran

I'm so glad the new cleaner worked!

Katerina

Veteran

What a relief that the odor is finally gone!

I had a similar experience years ago with a cream silk blouse I got back from a dry cleaner. It had a strong chemical odor and I didn´t want to wear it directly on my body, due to the chemicals. I decided to hand-wash the blouse in cold water and soap (risking that it would get ruined). It worked well though, and the smell was gone. Since then, I hand-wash all my silk tops in mild soap and cool water, even the ones that are dry clean only. So far with minimum damage. I only dry clean patterned silk tops, because the colours can bleed into each other. Jackets and coats are another story, though. How good you found a cleaner which does a good job now!

12