Get Funky Vomit Smells Out Of Clothing With A Handy Ingredient You Already Own
They're the three words you never want to hear when a bathroom is nowhere in sight: "I feel sick." Nausea can strike on a plane, train, amusement park ride, or in the backseat of a car. When it does, clothes become collateral damage. And it's not just the sight of mushed-up, half-digested food that makes cleanup gross, the revolting scent of throw-up can often trigger contagious vomiting and convince you that trashing a barf-covered outfit is the best solution. Fortunately, there's a way to spare your threads from the landfill. You can get funky vomit smells out of clothing with a handy ingredient you already own: baking soda.
No household is immune to the nastiness of vomit. Whether it is the result of food poisoning, a stomach bug, or one too many alcoholic beverages, puking is a part of life. However, knowing how to successfully remove upchucked bodily fluids from clothing goes a long way to erase unpleasant memories of being sick. Moreover, if you're prone to gagging at the mere whiff of vomit, it's critical the odor of tossed cookies is eliminated from clothes before any of the stomach-churning scent can set in.
Keep in mind that like blood and urine, vomit is a protein stain. Consequently, you want to treat it immediately, though this doesn't mean reaching for vinegar as you would to get rid of vomit out of carpet. Instead, you'll be employing a baking soda cleaning hack to erase the smell of regurgitation.
Using baking soda against vomit smells
To start, slide on a pair of disposable gloves to protect yourself from potential contamination. Next, remove any solid bits that may have adhered to the garment by scooping them with a spoon or scraping them with a dull knife. Focus on lifting off any upchucked pieces rather than rubbing them deeper into the clothing's fibers. From there, turn the garment inside out and rinse it using cold water on full blast. The force of the water will help flush the vomit away from the fabric.
Once the stain is reduced to a wet mark, pretreat it with a baking soda paste. Simply combine ½ cup of baking soda and a few tablespoons of water to create a puree that is easy to spread. If the mixture is too thick, add more water to create a frosting-like consistency, then apply an even layer directly on the vomit stain(s). Allow the baking soda blend to sit on the fabric for 30 minutes before machine washing the item following the directions on the care label. If the vomit smell persists after the first wash, repeat the process a second time.
Another option is to add baking soda and lemon juice directly to the puke marks prior to placing the garment in the washing machine. The chemical reaction of the lemon and baking soda will help dissolve some of the acid and protein contained in vomit and neutralize the foul odor.