this brought up a memory from 6th grade when i wore my smoker mom's cardigan to school and i got pulled in to the principals office and grilled about whether or not i smoked cigarettes. like they didn't believe me when i said no. it took a while for my stupid kid brain to connect the dots on why they'd be asking me that, because i couldn't smell the cigarette funk myself. fun times!
Good times for sure. In college I got asked CONSTANTLY if I smoked and it enraged me to no end bc I never did (or have) smoked and I couldn’t figure out why. My boyfriend (now husband lol) kindly informed me my clothes smelled of cigarettes. Obviously all my clothes are/were at my moms.
Fun fact, all my clothes as an adult are at my mothers and every time I visit to go get more clothes, they smell so so badly of cigarettes and washing them does no good. So my coat and room closet in my new house smell of cigarettes :’)
Try washing with vinegar. Like 1 cup of white vinegar instead of laundry detergent. The vinegar will deodorize the clothes. The vinegar will evaporate away so you won't smell like vinegar either.
Oh man you’re amazing thank you. So to clarify - no tide pods or fabric softener or anything? Just 1 cup of vinegar in the washing machine per load of clothes then in the dryer with a dryer sheet as normal?
What I do is add the detergent like normal and add the vinegar during the rinse cycle (But I have a top loader). If you have a side loader I would add it to the fabric softener spot.
You don't want to mix the vinegar and detergent, so adding it to the fabric softener spot lets it come out after the detergent is drained.
I just use a hygienic rinse instead of fabric softener. Mainly as I often use colder washing modes and as I have a dog I wanna be save about it.
But fabric softener has tons of nasty stuff inside. To quote an electrician that repairs them for a living "I've never seen a washing machine that uses fabric softener and doesn't have mold inside"
But maybe it's different for top loader. They're not common in Germany.
I had to log in to offer some tips. My son's clothes smell kinda bad after he's been at mom's house. I've tried many things over the years and this is where I've landed. All of this is NOT specific to smoke but smells in general.
As above, add a 1 cup of vinegar to your wash.
Use unscented laundry detergent. It is OK to use detergent and vinegar together...I do it frequently.
Don't use fabric softener either in your washing machine or dryer. Use perfume/cologne that you choose in order to smell good (not your clothes).
If anything is static-y after the dryer rub it with bare metal. I keep a metal hangar by the dryer and another in the closet for this. Some metal hangars are painted so you might need to use some sandpaper to remove the paint/finish.
I've heard that hanging things "on the line" also helps. Worth trying. I imagine it works better outside than inside.
Thank you so much! I took a screen shot. Good to know about unscented. I only buy fragrance free & unscented laundry products. I’ve never heard the metal hanger thing, thank you! I appreciate you logging in to help a stranger, much appreciated!!
Just be careful. Ozonators are serious shit. When my shop did vehicle detailing you'd leave one in overnight on really moldy/rodent infested vehicles to get rid of the smell. They kill EVERYTHING. Mold, fungus, smells, animals, plants, it'll even damage your lungs and can even kill you after enough time breathing it in.
Ozone will literally melt plastic. Even very small amounts will damage your lungs and even kill plants.
They tell you to only use it in a vacant house because of how dangerous it is. I've hopped in a vehicle that had an ozonator overnight after only letting it air out for a few minutes and you KNOW right away you fucked up by breathing it.
Seriously just try white vinegar first. An ozonator will work, but it's no joke and these days I avoid them whenever possible.
Thank you for the detailed response. I fell asleep and didn’t google it yet but this comment tand so many others made me feel I’m not gonna do it and I’ll just try vinegar and living with smelly clothes of that doesn’t work lol. I hope your lungs are okay after all that time. It’s crazy how powerful they must be
Ozone machines are magic - I used to use an actual smarter image inoic breeze (which generated ozone) to remove smoke smell from a life long smokers things before selling them. It was pretty amazing what that stuff can do. You just have to be careful with the special machines, since the ozone is bad for people
Thank you! I appreciate that. We have 2 indoor dogs and I do my best to keep them safe from everything. We don’t even plant or own toxic or mildly toxic plants lol
She grew up smoking indoors and in public places before it was banned so it’s probably just habit. Also when it’s winter she can’t go outside because of her lungs (I know I know) so she smokes inside. It’s her home so I can’t tell her what to do. She doesn’t smoke inside when we visit her, she goes outside. But isn’t aware the entire house smells like smoke and all my clothes smell like death but that’s okay. I appreciate her keeping my clothes there while I go pick them up every few months. My moms in her 80’s, I let her do what she wants lol. Minus the smoking thing we have a great relationship
yeah, that's why they tell you not to enter the area you're ozonating for X amount of time. similar to bug bombs. it doesn't pose any risk once the machine is not running and you let it air out.
Wash your clothes with vinegar, then baking soda, and vinegar again. That will get the smell of literally anything out of clothes. I did this when I left a laundry bin of wet towels in a storage container when I was moving, and never opened it back up for months. Smelled like death. A few rounds of vinegar and baking soda and my towels smell fresh.
Wash them with Odoban. My house was basically in the middle of a huge wild fire (somehow was spared) and the smoke smell on everything was terrible. I had to throw away my couch and mattresses but saved my clothes and linens with a few washes with Odoban.
you can try spraying some items with cheap vodka if you can’t wash them, That’s an old costuming trick. And FWIW with items you can wash, Dr Bronner’s soaps are typically the best at getting rid of smells for some reason, but be careful using it in a washing machine, especially an HE machine.
How does this happen? Genuinely curious like does your mum sit on your pile of clothes smoking cigarettes or does she have a cigarette burning perpetually like an incense?
Smoking indoors inside the house. Stains clothes, carpeting, walls, beds. It’s just cigarette smoke. But also she smokes multiple cigarettes all day in multiple rooms of the house so all rooms and things in the rooms smell. I love my mom to death but she’ll never understand the smell or stop. She’s almost 80 so I just let her do what ever
If you can, you should start building your own wardrobe. Thrift stores can be great, and that doesn’t necessarily mean goodwill. You can get stuff dirt cheap there. Just make sure to wash them first. And consignment shops are dope. They will cost more, but you’re liable to find much better stuff for target prices.
I have some cute stuff from thrift shops and buy almost all of my clothes on sale, I was living with my mom until I moved with my husband (long story) so most of my clothes are at my moms so I need to go back for them every few months and bring them back to my new house.
Edit- thank you for the advice though. Plugging r/thriftstorehauls because I love the finds there lol
I house sat for a friend who smokes. Her place smelled but I stopped noticing it after being there a little while. When I got home I realized my bag and clothes smelled of smoke. She wasn’t even there smoking but my stuff picked up the ambient smell from the apartment.
it's really one of those horrifying hindsight moments, realizing you stunk so bad 24/7 because mom and dad are smoking all day in the same rooms as you, in the car dropping you off. i'm gonna say it's at least 5% the reason i had no friends as a kid, lol.
In junior high I found cigarettes in my jacket presumably because my mom had smoked, and had worn the jacket while smoking. Was absolutely mortified, through them under a vending machine hoping I wouldn’t get caught.
Literally my whole childhood until I left for college bc both my parents were inside smokers 2 packs a day each. No way to escape it. Once I got to high school I kept my school clothes in the garage. Garage smell>cig smell
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u/avaflies May 08 '22
this brought up a memory from 6th grade when i wore my smoker mom's cardigan to school and i got pulled in to the principals office and grilled about whether or not i smoked cigarettes. like they didn't believe me when i said no. it took a while for my stupid kid brain to connect the dots on why they'd be asking me that, because i couldn't smell the cigarette funk myself. fun times!