Getting Perfume Smell Out of Hunting Shirt

[UnionMillsNW]

Hey Folks,

Yep. It's exactly what it sounds like. I gave a lady friend my hunting shirt to sew on a zipper. She did a great job sewing...and then washed it with what must have been a barrel of perfume. I've tried soaking, washed it with and without detergent. Washed the shirt using vinegar and baking soda. Soaked the shirt overnight in water and baking soda. Left the shirt in a bag with baking soda for several days.....still a faint perfume smell (although it's not choking me now).

How do I neutralize the smell in my shirt? If I can smell it every animal in five miles has to be getting a whiff.

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[mrblond]

let the dog use it as a bed

 

[GrayGoose]

 

[po18guy]

Dry clean then spray with Febreze if still needed.

 

[Kruel J]

Hang it up outside for a few days. Let it rain on it.

 

[Koda]

get a new shirt, it can take a while. Fragrances are nasty toxic stuff and they make them so they last a long time. Just keep washing it in unscented laundry soap, probably a dozen times since the scents in the washer and dryer too.

 

[Nosferatu]

What kind of material is it?

 

[joshkk]

Hunting Laundry Detergent Products | Dead Down Wind

Dead Down Wind™ with ScentPrevent® offers No Scent Hunting Laundry Detergent Hunting Scent Eliminator & Removers from Stain Removers to Laundry Bombs.

deaddownwind.com

 

[salmon creek gary]

Let me begin by admitting I have no genuine clue, but that won't stop me from having fun with a little theorizing.

Ozone (used by auto detailing shops to neutralize odor in vehicles). Maybe find a shop that'll let you toss your shirt into one of the cars they're deodorizing.

Hunting deer, or elk? Bundle up your shirt for a couple days in a dried leaf & blossom potpourri made from those flowers & shrubs that attract deer the instant you plant them in your yard (never mind if they're called deer-resistant or deer-repellent . . . that's a myth).

Bear? Wrap a big ham sandwich in your shirt for a couple of days. Don't get drowsy in the woods.

Cougars? Soak it in beer. Sophisticated? Martinis, maybe. Trophy class: Large denomination U.S. currency.

 

[dangerranger60]

I used to have a bird dog that loved to tangle with skunks! One of the things that makes expensive perfume stick as well as it does is Skunk oil!
Prell concentrated shampoo worked as well as anything to get skunk oil off the dog! another thing that might help is put a porous bag of charcoal in a sealed plastic bag with the shirt and hang it in the sun for a couple days. The heat from the sun brings the smells out and the charcoal absorbs it! Good Luck DR
The dog was a Liver and white Springer Spaniel, I once tried tomato juice to get the smell off. All I got was a smelly Pink dog! DR

 

[OldBroad44]

Dry clean then spray with Febreze if still needed.

After a quick look at the ingredient list all I gotta say is I wouldn't wear anything treated with fabreze against my skin. And I wouldnt be keen to be using it, either, as that involves spraying it and breathing some. Lots of complex molecules. Also, fabreze has a perfume of its own. Turns out people didn't use much of it until perfume was added, even though it does kill objectionable odors. They were encouraged to use it by smelling something associated with freshness after using it rather than smelling nothing after.

I suggest washing shirt twice, second time with no soap because of chemicals and perfumes in laundry soap. (Sound like you have already done thus part.) Then soak shirt in water into which a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide has been dumped. Available in drug stores in a little brown bottle that is water with a few percent of hydrogen peroxide, which is H2O2. That is, water, H2O, with an extra oxygen atom H2O2. That extra oxygen atom is not bound very tighty and is very inclined to jump to some other molecule. So hydrogen peroxide is a strong oxidizing agent. That means its good at breaking up double bonds. Many strongly odorous molecules as well as dyes are molecules that depend on double bonds for their odors or colors. Hydrogen peroxide is used as a disinfective, deodorant, and bleach. Use as little water as possible that is enough to cover the shirt so HP will be as concentrated as possible. I would use cold water, as warm water might cause the HP to break down spontaneously by itself instead of reacting with and destroying nasty smelling molecule. My guess is if it works, it will be fast. Probably within an hour. I'd do it outdoors in the shade, as light causes HP to break down spontaneously into water and oxygen. Outdoors because we don't know what your stinky molecule is or what it would be once oxygenated. This treatment may bleach shirt.

Another possibility is to have the shirt dry cleaned. The solvents used in dry cleaning may be able to remove the stinky molecule.

Of course, you might also use the tactic dogs are said to use. Put shirt on and then roll in fresh manure to cover up your own or other smell and fool prey. At least, I've seen ethologists suggest that's the reason dogs roll in repulsive (to people) smells. I kinda doubt it though. . I think deer grazing some distance from any waterways would be likely to notice if a rotten fish seemed to be approaching, and would be more rather then less attentive. And likewise cow manure. And dogs seem to be excited by the smells. And other dogs sniff them more, and the "perfumed" dog seems pleased with the extra attention they receive from other dogs and acts for all the world as if proud of their perfume . I suspect dogs, with their acute sense of smell, are simply turned on by different intense smells and adorn themselves with them in the same way we humans, with our acute vision, adorn ourselves with clothes, jewelry, colors and patterns.

 

[Xaevian]

Don't do any of that. Here's the real plan:

1) wad the shirt up and put it in a metal bucket.
2) cover the shirt with gasoline, kerosene, or mineral spirits, just enough to soak it in, no need for puddles.
3) add one burning match.

Poof, offensive scent: gone.
You're welcome.

 

[OldBroad44]

Then after using @Xaevian's method to eliminate stinky shirt, go hunting wearing just boots. Should be easy to get your deer or elk, as it will be too astonished by sight of buck-naked human to run.

 

[Stomper]

Then after using @Xaevian's method to eliminate stinky shirt, go hunting wearing just boots. Should be easy to get your deer or elk, as it will be too astonished by sight of buck-naked human to run.

Hunting out in the cold while naked? One word: shrinkage.

 

[EHJ]

So... Just spit ballin' here...
But, did your wife buy this story?
I mean, we're all here with you brother - but... This sounds like a thing I'd come up with.


(I'd try soaking in isopropyl alcohol myself...)

(ps: And if you're not married, I'd proffer that your 'lady friend' has some serious designs on you. )

 

[P7M13]

Many manufactured odors are ketone molecules and bind with oils as a carrier.
On the easy side, slosh it in a bucket with Dawn dish soap, then wash it with lestoil.
Another option to try, I note a dog in your avatar. If you don't clean your dogs food dish for a week, there's a fair amount of dog saliva in the bowl. Fill the bowl with water and dissolve all the scum, transfer it to a bucket and get your clothing article saturated with said scum.
Then wash with lestoil....

 

[Hueco]

Of course, you might also use the tactic dogs are said to use. Put shirt on and then roll in fresh manure to cover up your own or other smell and fool prey. At least, I've seen ethologists suggest that's the reason dogs roll in repulsive (to people) smells. I kinda doubt it though. . I think deer grazing some distance from any waterways would be likely to notice if a rotten fish seemed to be approaching, and would be more rather then less attentive. And likewise cow manure. And dogs seem to be excited by the smells. And other dogs sniff them more, and the "perfumed" dog seems pleased with the extra attention they receive from other dogs and acts for all the world as if proud of their perfume . I suspect dogs, with their acute sense of smell, are simply turned on by different intense smells and adorn themselves with them in the same way we humans, with our acute vision, adorn ourselves with clothes, jewelry, colors and patterns.

My dog (German/husky/malamute) once came back with, what I found to be, a rat carcass smeared around her neck and behind the ears in that typical "cologne zone."

I think she's leaning more Lord of the Flies with her choice of perfume.

OP - my wife swears by All branded detergents for odorless cleaning. They haven't proven strong enough for some things so I start with a stronger soap, bleach, or H2O2 as said above. If using a strong soap, I'll follow it with All and that helps diminish any leftover fragrances from other soaps.

 

[308]

Soak in in 25% Indian buck lure and 75% cottage cheese

 

[OldBroad44]

Hunting out in the cold while naked? One word: shrinkage.

Yup. Smaller than a Greek statue. But that's what you're worried about? Not the hypothermia?

The genitals on Greek statues, by the way, were so small for an interesting reason. The golden age Greeks thought large genitals were more animal-like and thought smaller was more indicative of civilized human perfection. So sculptors and painters deliberated shrunk the genitals compared with reality because they actually thought smaller was more attractive. Just like they would have shrunk a nose they thought too big or removed a facial scar.

 

[DLS]

Wrap the shirt in a bag to protect the surrounding food and then put the shirt in the freezer for a few days.

Thaw and wash as normal.

It works on smelly tennis shoes too.