MAKING THE TRANSITION FROM SCENTED TO UNSCENTED
Steps Regarding Skin
Stop using all skin products that contain a scent.
Begin using only skin products that are unscented, this includes deodorant and make up.
Sometimes scented skin products will wash off the skin by just washing in unscented soap, but it might take one to four washings to succeed in removing the scent.
However, some scented products are very stubborn to remove. If there is a stubborn scent on your skin, try using 99% isopropyl alcohol, as this will often cut through the scent and remove it. If this is done, you may then want to wash off the smell of isopropyl alcohol with unscented soap.
Steps Regarding Hair
Stop using all hair products that contain a scent.
Do not use hair dye, bleaches, highlights, perms, straighteners, and other such products in your hair.
Begin using only hair products that are unscented.
Often the scent from the previous scented hair products will disappear after regular washings with unscented shampoo, although it may take a few weeks or a month to succeed. You will know you are making progress if the scent smell lessens over a period of a number of washings.
However, some hair products are designed in such a way that the scent is not removable. The scent will not wash out regardless of the number of times it is washed with unscented shampoo. This is especially true with some hair dyes and some hair perms. When the scent cannot be removed by washing, it is only removed by cutting off the hair.
Additionally, you need to be careful regarding what your hair touches. Scent can transfer to your hair from what it touches. Therefore, your pillow, and any thing else that your hair will touch, should be unscented.
Your hair can also pick up scent and other odours, such as cigarette smoke, from the air. If you will be in an environment where scent or other odours will be in the air, you might want to protect your hair by wearing a cap or wrapping your hair with a scarf.
Steps Regarding Clothing
Never wash unscented clothing with scented clothing, as the scent will be transferred from the scented clothing to the unscented clothing, and all of the clothing will become scented.
Getting scent out of clothes is just as difficult as getting it out of hair. Scent is usually made from a group of chemicals called VOCs or Volatile Organic Compounds. Heat makes the scent vapourize and leave the garment. Therefore, heat is often a necessity, in order to remove scent from clothing.
It is often easier to get the scent out of new clothing, than to try to get it out of clothing that has been laundered with scented laundry products. So we will begin with getting rid of the “new clothing smell”.
Below are steps to take to accomplish this task:
1) The clothes are washed in hot water, with baking soda and unscented soap. The hot water helps get the scent out of the clothes; the baking soda absorbs the scent to prevent it from going back into the fabric; and the unscented soap helps prevent the baking soda from making the clothes stiff.
2) When it is determined that there is no more scent in the clothes, then they go through a soap wash to remove any remaining baking soda. Optionally, an additional clear wash may also be done at the end, as an extra rinse cycle.
3) The number of times the clothes need to go through the baking soda wash will depend on the degree of scent that needs to be removed. Some new clothing is treated heavily with formaldehyde and it takes approximately six baking soda and soap washes in hot water to remove the formaldehyde smell.
4) The best time to check to see if the scent smell is gone, is after the hot wash and before the cold rinse, because scent out-gasses more when it is hot.
The steps to washing scented laundry products out of clothes are identical to the steps above for washing the “new clothing smell” out of clothes. However, scented laundry products are often more difficult to get out and may require more washes.
Additionally, some laundry products are designed in such a way that the scent is permanent – it will never wash out. Fabric washed with these kinds of laundry products can never be made unscented.
The steps to washing out any other kind of smell from your clothes, is also identical to the steps above for washing the “new clothing smell” out of clothes. One just needs to keep repeating the process until the smell is gone.
If the washing machine that is being used has had scented laundry detergent or scented fabric softener used in it, you will need to first remove the scent from the washing machine. If you don’t, the scent on the washing machine will transfer onto the clothes.
Below are steps to take to accomplish this task:
1) Removing all soap residue on the actual washing machine. Do this by wiping down the entire washing machine, inside and out, using a cloth and clear water.
2) Do a full load wash, using hot water (as hot as possible) and a cup of baking soda. Don’t put any clothing in this wash, as you are really washing the actual washing machine. The purpose of the baking soda is to remove the scent of the residue of the scented laundry products from the washing machine.
3) Check to see if the scent is gone.
4) If the scent is still there, but diminished, it means you will probably succeed in your goal. Therefore, you need to just keep repeating steps 2 and 3 until the scent is completely gone.
5) However, if the scent is still there, and and not diminished, it probably means that the scent is not removable. When this is the case, the clothes will need to be washed in a different washing machine, in order to succeed in removing the scent.
It is advisable to hang the clothes to dry in a scent free place, rather than put them in a dryer. This is due to the fact that most scented fabric softeners and scented dryer sheets leave a scent residue on the dryer drum, which is extremely difficult to remove.
Hanging the clothes outside in the summer hot sun, might also remove the scent, but it might take a few months to accomplish it. (There is also the possibility that at the end of the summer, some scent will remain.)
Cotton and linen are very absorbent of scent and odours, but they will also release the scent and odours in the hot water/baking soda/soap wash.
Silk and wool should never be washed in hot water. Thankfully, silk and wool are less absorbent of scent and odours than cotton and linen, and release the scent and odours faster than them as well. Sometimes silk and wool will release the scent and odours by just hanging them up and letting them air out in a warm location, with a breeze.
Another option is to put clothes (it doesn’t matter the fabric) in a plastic bag. Sometimes, over time, the plastic will absorb the scent or odour – leaving your clothes scent and odour free. This method is more unpredictable in its results, but worth a try.
Be aware that your clothing can also pick up scent and other odours, such as cigarette smoke, from the air. If you will be in an environment where scent or other odours will be in the air, you will need to check your clothes afterwards for scent or odours. If necessary, those clothes might need to go through the baking soda, soap, and hot water washes described above.