Emergency Laundry Question

November 8, 2010 1:50 PM

Emergency Laundry Question: I had some bad laundry experiences over the weekend. A dry cleaner left this awful kerosene smell in a jacket, which they tried to cover with perfume. Another laundromat over-bleached my dress shirts. How would I go about removing the odors -- of inept dry cleaning and bleach -- from these clothes tonight?

Many thanks in advance.

posted by jason's_planet to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (4 answers total)

Unfortunately, I don't know a way that doesn't involve washing again. You can probably wash it by itself on the delicate cycle or by hand in your sink, but it won't be ready by tonight.
posted by zug at 2:01 PM on November 8, 2010

The kerosene smell is dry cleaning solution that has been used too often. For that, and bleach, put in the dryer on fluff or air, or just hang in the sun.
posted by theora55 at 3:22 PM on November 8, 2010

If you go the "hang in the sun" route, turn the article of clothing inside out. Strong sunlight will quickly bleach the color out of anything. In the case of a white shirt, outside out is fine.
posted by Splunge at 6:46 PM on November 8, 2010

Also, find another dry-cleaner. That smell is the smell of shoddy work.
posted by Splunge at 6:47 PM on November 8, 2010 [1 favorite]