How to Get Perfume Smell Out of Clothes, Including Thrifted and Baby Clothes

Scented laundry products are made to stay on fabric. In a 2022 study in the journal Indoor Environment, researchers in Japan washed the same polyester shirt ten times with detergent, fabric softener and a scent booster. By the tenth wash, the shirt was giving off 2.8 times as much fragrance vapor as it did after the first. When they stopped the booster and then the softener, the levels dropped fast and kept falling over the next few washes. So if you're wondering how to get perfume smell out of clothes, the short answer is: air them out, wash with an unscented enzyme detergent and no softener, add oxygen bleach or a vinegar rinse if the care label allows, and expect to repeat.

The same steps work for cologne. They also cover how to get detergent smell out of clothes, like the scented detergent that comes home on thrifted and hand-me-down clothes. If you want to know how to get fragrance out of clothes in general, start here too.

Below is the order we'd try things in, and why each step helps.

Why won't the fragrance wash out?

Because it was made not to. The authors of the Japanese study explain that fabric softener coats the surface of the fibers, and the fragrance is thought to get taken up into that coating. They also note that manufacturers use microcapsules and other methods so the scent lasts after washing.

The compounds that built up wash after wash were the heavier ones that repel water. That matters, because washing is mostly water. A 2020 study in the Textile Research Journal from the University of Alberta found something similar with body odor compounds. Laundering removed the water-friendly one more easily than the two oily ones.

One limit on that 2.8 figure. It comes from lab instruments. Two trained smellers in the same study rated the shirt about equally strong all the way to the tenth wash, though they said the smell got sharper and rubbed off on their hands more.

So one wash with unscented detergent often leaves a faint scent behind. That doesn't mean it failed. You're partway there.

How to get perfume smell out of clothes, step by step

Start at the top. Only move down if you can still smell it.

Read the care label before each step, and test anything new on an inside seam first.

1. Air it out before you wash

Odor compounds leave fabric on their own. In a University of Alberta thesis, body odor compounds came off fabric fastest in the first three hours, and cotton held the least after that.

So hang the clothes outside or by an open window for a day or two before washing. It costs nothing and it's safe for every fiber, including the ones that can't take the stronger steps below.

The thesis tested body odor compounds, not perfume, and we didn't find a study that timed how long fragrance takes to air out of clothes. The day or two is our guess.

2. Wash with an enzyme detergent, and skip the softener

Use an unscented detergent that contains enzymes, or add an unscented enzyme laundry booster. The American Cleaning Institute says to look for ingredients ending in "-ase" on the label, and lists lipase as the enzyme for oil-based stains.

Our reasoning: the compounds that build up are the oily kind, so an enzyme aimed at oil should help. We didn't find a study that tested enzymes on fragrance.

Leave out fabric softener and dryer sheets until the smell is gone. Softener is how a lot of the fragrance got onto the fibers in the first place.

Use the hottest water the care label allows. That's the ACI's advice when a wash isn't getting things clean.

Two cautions for wool and silk. They're protein fibers, and protease enzymes break down protein, so repeated, long exposure to protease detergents isn't recommended for them. Wool also shrinks with hot water and agitation. For wool and silk, skip the enzymes and the hot water and rely on airing out.

3. Add oxygen bleach if the label allows it

Oxygen bleach, sometimes sold as color-safe bleach, helps remove odors as well as stains. The ACI calls it the gentler kind and says it's safe on washable fabrics. It works best in warm to hot water. Add it to the wash water before the clothes go in.

Chlorine bleach is a different story. The ACI says not to use it on wool, silk or spandex, because it yellows them for good. It also says to check for special finishes before using it, like the flame-retardant finish on some children's sleepwear. For a smell problem, we'd stop at oxygen bleach.

4. Try a vinegar rinse

Add white vinegar to the rinse cycle. The fabric softener compartment works for this.

UGA Extension describes vinegar as a mild acid used to neutralize leftover cleaning-product residue. It says vinegar is safe for all fibers but can change some dyes, so check colorfastness first. The ACI uses a vinegar soak (one cup per gallon of warm water) to clear out detergent residue left by hard water.

Our reasoning: if some of the fragrance is sitting in leftover detergent or softener, rinsing that residue out should take some scent with it. We didn't find a study that tested this on fragrance directly.

Never put vinegar or any other acid in the same wash as chlorine bleach. The ACI warns against mixing them.

5. Soak, then repeat

For a stubborn piece, presoak it in water with oxygen bleach or an enzyme booster. The ACI says to soak at least 30 minutes, and as long as overnight if needed. Then go back through steps 2 to 4.

Plan on more than one round. In the Japanese study, the scent fell over a series of washes, not all at once. The authors also say clothes washed in scented products for longer than their test may be slower to clear, which matters for secondhand clothes with an unknown laundry history.

What if perfume was sprayed right on one spot?

Treat it like a stain, and do it before the piece goes in the dryer. The University of Illinois Extension suggests this order:

1. Soak 15 minutes in one quart of lukewarm water with half a teaspoon of dish liquid and a tablespoon of white vinegar. Rinse.
2. Sponge the spot with rubbing alcohol.
3. Soak 30 minutes in one quart of warm water with a tablespoon of enzyme presoak.
4. If a mark is left, wash with whichever bleach is safe for the fabric.

Go easy with the alcohol. UGA Extension says it can fade some dyes and damage acetate, triacetate, modacrylic and acrylic.

How do you get detergent smell out of baby clothes?

A common version of this problem: you soaked a bag of secondhand baby clothes in vinegar, washed them in unscented detergent, and they still smell like someone else's laundry. That's normal after one round.

The steps above work for baby clothes too, with a few changes:

• Wash the secondhand pile on its own. Keep it separate until it smells clean, so you can tell when it's actually done.
• Check sleepwear labels before any bleach. Some children's sleepwear has a flame-retardant finish, and the ACI says to check for it.
• Keep wool knits out of the enzyme and hot water rounds. Air them out instead.
• Plan on repeating. We didn't find a study on baby clothes in particular, so this is the same plan as above: air, enzyme wash, vinegar rinse, more air, repeated until the smell is gone.

If the clothes are cotton, that helps. As the next section explains, washing gets odor compounds out of cotton more easily than out of polyester. If you're still building a baby wardrobe, our guide to eco-friendly baby clothes covers what to look for.

Why do some fabrics hold smell longer?

It's more complicated than "polyester holds everything." For fragrance in particular, the research is mixed:

• A 2005 study applied scent compounds to cotton and polyester and found cotton held on to more of them. The gap was biggest for the compounds that evaporate faster.
• In the Japanese softener study, which fabric gave off more total scent depended on the product. With one softener, cotton gave off about 1.4 times more. With another, polyester gave off about 3 times more.

Where fiber clearly matters is body odor and washing. The 2020 Alberta study found laundering got odor compounds out of cotton more effectively than out of polyester. Odor built up over the first five rounds of soiling and washing, then leveled off. The authors point to incomplete removal, especially from polyester, as the cause.

The University of Alberta thesis found polyester and nylon took up more odor compounds than cotton and viscose, and nylon still held the most after 24 hours.

Worn clothes show the same pattern. In a 2014 study, a trained odor panel rated polyester shirts from a spin class as significantly less pleasant and more intense than cotton ones. A 2007 study rated polyester fabrics highest in odor intensity after wear, with cotton and wool lower. We cover both studies in more detail in polyester vs. cotton.

So if a thrift store smell is more stale than flowery, fiber matters even more.

How to get smell out of thrifted clothes (start before you buy)

The easiest smell to get rid of is the one you never bring home. What to check when buying secondhand:

• Read the fiber label. In the studies above, cotton washed clean more easily than polyester. A polyester or nylon piece with a strong smell in the store is a bigger project.
• Know what the label covers. Many labels list the main fabric "exclusive of trim," so linings and trims can be something else. Our post on what "exclusive of trim" means explains how to read that.
• Check wool and silk care first. They shouldn't get repeated protease enzyme washes or hot water, so airing out is most of what you can do.

Buying secondhand online means no sniff test, so the fiber content on the listing matters more. Our roundup of the best used clothing sites covers where to shop. Greener Closet shows fiber content on its product pages, so you can check before you buy.

If a piece still smells after a few full rounds of airing, enzyme washing, oxygen bleach and a vinegar rinse, we'd stop there. Keep it for yard work or pass it along.