Help! Cod Liver Oil Smell in Clothes...

Updated on February 16, 2013
J.Y. asks from Portland, OR
33 answers

Anyone know how to get out the smell of Cod Liver Oil in cothes? I tried to give my 9 mth Cod Liver Oil unsuccessfully and he spit it out on his clothes. I washed a few loads of laundry and got the WHOLE LOAD smelling! Help! I googled this and have tried all the options I could find.....soaking in baking soda, vinegar, Nature's Miracle, and lastly Dawn soap. The smell is STILL there. Any ideas? THANKS

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J.H.

answers from Spokane on

Hi J.! Yeah, I know of a great de-odorizer called SOLUMEL. I
have been telling all kinds of women about it...it completely took dog pee smell from my son's mattress and I shampooed my carpets with it and it kept me from having to replace the carpet
(I thought I'd NEVER get the smell out of this old carpet!). It really, really WORKS! I girl I knew when I lived in California can tell you more about it.....e-mail Sarah at
____@____.com
by the way...if you are desperate, I have a half a bottle left!
:>) J.

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A.N.

answers from Eugene on

Hi J.!
There is a website called smelly washer.com I recommend for anything. You probably got it on the inside basin of the washer and smeared it with the washing. Any oil is hard to remove but this stuff works wonders!
Good luck, I was impressed.
~A. N. from Bend, OR
____@____.com

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J.P.

answers from Spokane on

Hi J.,
Try wrapping the clothes in newspaper for awile. Newspaper absorbes smells pretty good. I wish you luck and I hope you can get the smell out.

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C.P.

answers from Yakima on

Hi! J...You might want to try Borax..its found in the laundry soap isles..It is a powder..like laundry soap..Its worth a try..I know it works on sour milk.urine and formulas.
Another remedy you might try also is lemon juice..Id try the bottled and pour quite a bit in it,, but still dilute some what also..Since its quite a few pieces you might want to try several bottles of lemon concentrate..
Either of these can be done in the washer..just dont be in a big hurry..they will need time to soak..possibly overnite.
I would put the stuff in the washer and start out just like your washing a normal load..and if none of the clothes would be ruined by hot temp. of water..thats what I would use...otherwise use the luke warm.
Good luck to you..
C.

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D.B.

answers from Anchorage on

have you tried tomato juice?? I have NO idea if this would help but it takes the fishy smell off of dogs. Maybe fresh squeezed lemon.

Good luck, keep us all posted.

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S.P.

answers from Anchorage on

try lemon juice. lime might work too.

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T.A.

answers from Richland on

My only advice is adding orginal Pine Sol to your load of laundry it helps to get the smell of old massage oil out of my sheets for my massage business. It may works for this too!
Good Luck

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B.S.

answers from Phoenix on

I can tell you what worked for me. My daughter spilled cod liver oil on the hem of her slacks (a cotton/poly/spandex blend). She stuck them in the washer with a few sweaters (cotton/nylon blend) and a little cotton dress, and everything came out smelling strongly like fish. So we tried, and failed, with the following soaks in the washer: a strong vinegar solution; Dawn liquid detergent; Borax; baking soda; the Orange stuff; the Green stuff; Odo-Ban. NOTHING worked and this whole process took us 3 or 4 days of soaking/washing/repeating. Lastly we tried filling a small bucket half full with water, and adding a pint of lemon juice. Soaked each item, SEPARATELY, overnight, then washed each item separately, and hung them outside to dry in the sun. Could still smell fish in the sweaters and very strong still in the pants, but the 100% cotton dress was finally odor-free. She had decided to toss the 2 sweaters and pants, but I went ahead and left them outside. Within 2 days the sweaters were odor-free, but not the pants. After about 6 days, I had forgotten about the pants, and went to get them on trash day to toss. The fish odor was gone! I washed them, dryed them in the dryer and there is absolutely NO TRACE of the fish odor left. I don't know if it was the lemon juice (which we had washed out after soaking) or the sun, but I'm leaning towards the sun. Because the pants were a blend, they didn't fade. I spent about $15.00 on all those other products, but the lemon juice cost about $1.50, and the sun was free. Hope this helps!!!

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R.L.

answers from Anchorage on

Hello, I don't know if this will help any, but try using fresh lemon juice on the clothes before washing. It is used to get rid of other bad smells on people, why not clothes? I hope it helps and works.

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D.W.

answers from Seattle on

I can't hepl you with smell but if you still want to try the cod liver oil with your little one without the risk of such a bad smell you can try the lemon cod liver oil both of my 2 sons (2 and 6) love it they actually beg me for it as if were candy the brand is carlsons cod liver oil it tastes like lemon oil and smell is limited. Have you tried this brand yet? (it's in a green glass bottle)

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T.K.

answers from Portland on

I know this sounds weird, but spraying hairspray on an oil stain works really well (before you wash, and let it sit for a couple of minutes), but I'm pretty sure if you've already dried the clothing, it's set for good. Good luck

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M.S.

answers from Spokane on

My advice that has been a lifesaver for the stinkiest of stinks is Sol U Mel from Melaleuca...it takes every smell you can drum up and as a mom of an 18-month old boy, 2 huge dogs through puppyhood, a carpenter husband, cat, and 3 chickens--I know all about this!

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T.J.

answers from Seattle on

I've never had your specific problem but have successfully removed several odors from laundry by using spray and wash, scented laundry detergent, and downy, followed by dryer sheets in the dryer. If you don't like using products with a fragrance you might try one wash with them dry them then wash them again with fragrance free products to remove some of the fragrance. There's also a woman who had a show on tv, she calls herself the Queen of Clean, I'd see if she has a website and write to her maybe. Good luck!

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M.L.

answers from Portland on

Vinegar has always been my life saver when it comes to funky smells in the laundry. Try adding a cup of it to the wash. You could let it sit for 15 minutes or so, and then let the wash cycle complete.

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T.B.

answers from Seattle on

If distilled white vinegar didn't work, try vanilla. It can sometimes do wonders. . .

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M.R.

answers from Spokane on

Hi
I've never used cod liver oil so I don't know about it specifically but I do know that amonia works very well to take out certain stubborn oders.
I'd try it in the sink on one item or even a rag to see how it affects the fabric and if it will do the job. I'm assuming that Dawn got the oily part out. It works great for me for that.
Good Luck.
M. R

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M.S.

answers from Seattle on

The problem is that it is an oil, and you have to wash it with something that cuts oil to an extreme, and also maybe even covers the oil smell with another better oil smell. In my massage experiences, where we used a lot of strong smelling oils, we had to use TSP, or Trisodium Phosphate, to launder- the best blend I have ever used was; one part arm and hammer baking soda detergent, one part TSP (massage supply store, or google it), one half part liquid Dawn, one half part orange oil all purpose cleaner( usually in the natural selection of cleaners), and three squirts lemon essential oil (not drops, squirts, also found in massage supply stores)
I have never seen it fail, no matter how badly the oil smell. That's a trade secret by the way ;)_

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M.S.

answers from Seattle on

If you have a soak setting on your wash machine, I would try soaking the clothes in Borax. Then maybe more Borax after it starts agitating. I always put Borax in my diaper pail and my diapers always came out fresh smelling and clean. (I also used bleach when I washed the diapers so that could be why they were always white) If that doesn't work, maybe you could try a cup or so of peroxide in the load after agitation begins. Peroxide is the main ingredient in all the oxi-type cleaning and stain removal products. Hope these ideas work. Good luck!

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T.M.

answers from Missoula on

I'm having the same trouble! I've washed everything three times, once in vinegar and baking soda....STILL smells as bad as it did before I washed everything, except NOW it's on everything.

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R.M.

answers from Portland on

Its a pretty tough one. I think the only thing that worked for us was dedication. I had to wash the stuff so many times. I would also recommend another type of cod liver oil. My little girl loves it so much, she brings me the dropper and asks for it. Its Carlson's and its lemon flavored. You can get it at the Natural food stores, or we bought it online. They also make little pills that are fruit flavored too. And, it comes directly from Norway, so its the highest quality and most concentrated in Omegas.

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C.M.

answers from Bellingham on

no advice for the laundry, but if you want to try Cod Liver Oil again, try Nordic Naturals, it has a really neutral smell and a very mild orange flavor. My 11 month-old takes it no problem

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K.O.

answers from Portland on

Vinegar. You have to deal with the initial stench of vinegar, but that will go away. I promise, it kills all funky smells. Just add a little, maybe 1/4 c. or so, to the water.

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A.D.

answers from Eugene on

Have you tried OxiClean? I find that it does wonders for stains, and might be the trick for smells too. Soak for many hours and then rewash.

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D.L.

answers from Seattle on

J. you could try BORAX in with your laundry soap...It works great for hard water smell & stains...I use it all the time in every load of laundry to help with the water in our mobile home park. Let me know if it helps.
D.

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D.B.

answers from Seattle on

Tide has partnered with Dawn to create a grease fighting laundry soap; perhaps that might do the trick.

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C.P.

answers from Medford on

Try using lemon essential oil. It will break up the grease and wash out of the clothes.

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J.F.

answers from Bellingham on

try a few srops of tea tree oil in the wash with the clothes that smell. it works for my husbands smelly gym clothes!

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C.S.

answers from Portland on

AVON Skin So Soft Bubble Bath. A cap full cleans out mechanics grease and other hard/stubborn stains. You can use the sensitive skin one if you have allergies like I do or try a scent... it smells lovely when you are washing but will do linger after the dryer. I tried this after one of my fellow avonian's did a test. I sell via my website and offer Free shipping anywhere in the USA. One small cap full does the work of one huge capful of regular stuff! Also, you can mix the cod liver oil in their breastmilk/formula. Get the lemon flavored kind and mix in food too. This worked for my babies when they were tiny:)
checkout-www.youravon.com/csurber

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K.W.

answers from Seattle on

I was going to suggest vinegar, but since you've already tried that...how about febreeze? I sometimes have to go to that extreme with my husband's work clothes. I let the clothes spin in the dryer for a few minutes then open it up and spray several times. Most of the time it works doing that just once, but I like to check after 10 minutes or so to make sure it doesn't need another dose!

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K.B.

answers from Anchorage on

I'm not sure if this will work, but here goes... I had one of my cats pee on a blanket and pillow, and one of my daughters' dress up princess dress, and I used Simple Solution. They carry it at Petco. There's one that you pour on the carpet undiluted, and one you can use in your steam cleaner and laundry that is concentrated. I used the concentrated one for the steam cleaner and laundry. No trace of cat pee smell. Dunno if it will work on cod, but just thought I'd let you know what actually killed cat pee smell! (Just make sure you let it sit on the clothes for the whole time like it says.) Best of luck!

K.

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J.B.

answers from Medford on

I was going to say Dawn dish soap, but you tried that. Maybe try more Dawn. How long did you soak it in Dawn. Maybe soak overnight in plenty of dawn. Then, rinse with the vinegar or hydrogen peroxide or lemon juice. Lemon goes well with fish. JK

New thought: Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap might help. The peppermint oil could bind with the cod liver oil to help wash it away.

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G.S.

answers from Seattle on

My husband is a fuel tanker, and so I've dealt with smell of fuel on his clothes and tried all kinds things like you did. Well I met a couple in store, the man use to be fuel tanker also and told me to use 2 cans of Coca-cola Classic in your load with detergent and will take smell right out. It worked for me. I've also gone cheap and tried using generic colas but it is not a guarantee. Try it and post if it works. Thanks!

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M.A.

answers from Seattle on

J., I haven't had issues with odor after trying vinegar--however, since it hasn't been mentioned in other replies, I thought I would let you know (if you don't already) they make a product for hunters to add to their laundry which is supposed to remove all odors. Apparently it works as intended but I've never tried it--and am not a fan of hunting. You should be able to find it in a store geared towards hunters/fishermen etc. like Cabelas. Good luck!

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