August 19, 2021

Natural Laundry Stripping – No Bathtub Required

Have you tried the laundry stripping technique that’s been floating around the internet and in mom circles long before the internet? I shared a post over a year ago with directions for stripping your laundry naturally (linked below) and while it’s a method that works, I’ve been experimenting with laundry stripping IN THE WASHING MACHINE. It works, it’s definitely easier, and the best part is that you let the washing machine do the work for you.  No hauling heavy tubs of wet laundry from a bathtub to the washing machine.

What is stripping laundry?

Traditionally speaking, stripping laundry is just removing any residue from some detergents and fabric softeners, or a build up of minerals from hard water that you aren’t able to remove from your laundry with traditional laundry washing methods. You’ll see this method talked about regularly in cloth diapering groups and laundry forums. It consists of filling the bathtub with hot water, soaking laundry, stirring and babysitting laundry, watching for that satisfying dirty water after about four hours, rinsing, and laundering as usual. It’s a process! You can see more here but I recommend following the much easier method in this post!  (I have a top load machine but I’ll give some tips for a front load machine as well.)

Does Clean Mama regularly strip laundry?

This isn’t something that I regularly do because I don’t find that I have build up from laundry products or minerals, but of course, every once in a while our sheets and towels need a good stripping and after seeing the results this is a process that I use if I feel like our laundry needs a deep clean.We have a community well and our whites can get a creamy tinge to them from time to time and this takes that away really easily.

Why would you want to strip laundry?

If you have sheets, towels, cloth diapers, or any other laundry that you feel isn’t getting clean or might have some build-up trapped in the fibers, laundry stripping might be a good option. I recommend this method over some other methods as the ingredients are safe AND effective!

Natural Laundry Stripping – NO bathtub required!

Gather the laundry that needs to be stripped. You don’t want to overfill or crowd the machine – in other words, don’t throw all your laundry in. I gathered up white towels to show you this method – white sheets and towels are what I use this method on the most.

Gather the ingredients:

• 1-2 scoops Oxygen Whitener
• 5 sprays of Clean Mama Laundry Detergent Spray – my favorite laundry detergent – it has enzymes in it which makes it especially effective for removing stains and minerals. If you prefer powder, use 1-2 scoops of Clean Mama Laundry Super Powder
• 1/2 cup Super Washing Soda – laundry booster ( I usually purchase Arm & Hammer – you can find it in the laundry aisle)

Add the ingredients to the top of your CLEAN laundry – make sure that what you are washing is clean first. This method can be used on whites and colors.

Set the washing machine to HOT and SOAK – every machine is different but the premise is that you want the water as hot as it can go and you want the laundry to soak for at least an hour or two.

Here’s what I set my machine to:
HOT
HIGH SPIN
HEAVY SOIL
SOAK

If you need to stop/pause the machine to let it soak, you can do that – that’s most likely what you’ll need to do with a front load machine.

Once the laundry is rinsed and clean, put it in your dryer and dry as usual and enjoy your clean and fresh laundry!

You can find the Clean Mama Laundry Products here.