Comments on: The ineffable scent of sunbeams and happiness

Question: The ineffable scent of sunbeams and happiness

Shepherd — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:37:18 -0800

Line laundry smells awesome and rack laundry... doesn't. Why?

Details, if desired: I don't scent my house, and there are always windows open, so "inside" smells to me like "outside" most of the time. I use the same detergent and (rarely) fabric softener regardless of where the laundry is going to hang. I live in a smallish city with minimal air pollution compared to major urban centres (but I think this outdoor/indoor laundry-smell thing is universal regardless, unless you live next to a hog rendering plant or similar).

By: gjc

gjc — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:44:39 -0800

I would guess that it's a combination of airflow and sunlight adding and removing smells that aren't perceptible, but that make a difference. In your house, the water just evaporates. Outside, it's exposed to other things.

By: vytae

vytae — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:56:30 -0800

The general wisdom I've heard is that the UV light in sunshine kills a lot of bacteria. I can see how that would help reduce smells. Also, there's probably more of a breeze outside, which helps your clothes dry more quickly, which leaves less time for tiny beasties like bacteria and mildew to grow in their dampness.

By: Bardolph

Bardolph — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:58:01 -0800

Seconding the "sunlight" explanation-- UV rays are a great disinfectant, and may also be breaking down any odor-producing residues left on the clothes.

By: Lucinda

Lucinda — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:06:11 -0800

During the winter, we dry our clothes inside, on a line, with a fan aimed at them. The stuff gets dry, but it doesn't get the outdoorsy smell. So it's probably the sun, and the wind, and any outdoor flower/tree/cut grass smells that get stuck in the clothes.

By: notsnot

notsnot — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:10:36 -0800

Yup, UV.

My run-at-lunch workout clothes stink much less if I leave them outside in the sun than inside.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:25:51 -0800

What they all said, but I think an important factor is that drying outside dries more completely. My mother's generation would always carefully 'air' washing as well as drying it, keeping it in a hot airing cupboard until the last few water molecules were driven out. Stuff that has just been dried on a rack or whatever is never going to be quite as throroughly dehydrated as stuff that's been in a dry wind, or been thoroughly aired.

By: jamjam

jamjam — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:34:51 -0800

Outdoor air is full of microbes too, and they smell a lot better than the indoor varieties, I imagine.

By: fiercecupcake

fiercecupcake — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:01:16 -0800

Pollen contributes, which is why allergy sufferers might do better to dry their clothes and linens inside. I miss that smell but it's worth not waking up all congested.

By: jamjam

jamjam — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:33:42 -0800

Excellent, fiercecupcake! I'm sure you're right; pollen is often loaded with the fragrance of the flowers it came from, of course, and you can experience just how good it smells from sniffing beeswax.

By: HotToddy

HotToddy — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:47:15 -0800

It's not just pollen, though, because line-dried laundry will have that smell even when it's been freeze-dried in the dead of winter with four feet of snow on the ground. I'm sure it must be the UV rays.

By: Shepherd

Shepherd — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:02:54 -0800

Cool! The UV explanation makes a lot of sense, as does the airing -- the pollen less so, because there's a very consistent smell regardless of season or what's flowering.

So -- for the sake of argument -- if I dried my clothes in a tanning bed, would I be able to replicate this outdoor smell?

By: jamjam

jamjam — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:06:00 -0800

Good point, HotToddy and Shepherd. I used to have a dryer incorporating a UV bulb, but I didn't think my laundry smelled anything like as good as line dried.

By: le morte de bea arthur

le morte de bea arthur — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:09:45 -0800

Oddly, I find the smell of outdoor-dried linen much less pleasant than the stuff I dry indoors. To my nose it has a sort of metallic tang (like ozone) about it. I live in the countryside and the air generally smells really nice here... puzzling but there you go.

By: wafaa

wafaa — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:52:35 -0800

Oddly, I find the smell of outdoor-dried linen much less pleasant than the stuff I dry indoors.

I agree--I am sensitive to ozone and the smell of; that is exactly what line laundry smells like to me. Never realized it 'til now.