Fish Oil Follies: Removing a Tough Laundry Stain & Odors (Stain Removal)

I'm rather a huge fan of fish oil pills - I take two every single morning without fail. But, when those little gelatin capsules decide to do some damage, it can be a smelly mess that lingers. Read this email I received from Jennifer K a few days ago:

"Hello christina, my name is Jennifer and I have a question for you, I was doing laundry one day and of all days did not check his shirt pockets, so I did the wash and I found out I left a fish oil capsule in his pocket he didn’t take, now his shirts smell like the ocean, fishy, how can I get rid of this smell? I tried washing it in baking soda, but did not help he smell is still there… please help…"

Okay, Jen, here we go. Oil stains on clothing can in fact be some of the very toughest stains to remove. From your email, it sounds like you've actually managed to remove the stain but have the stinky fishy scent left as an everlasting reminder. (For any of you who have oil stains to contend with - corn starch can be very helpful when rubbed gently into the oil stain to pre-treat before tossing into the laundry. Or, cover the oil stain with a good amount of cornstarch and let it sit and soak up the oil before pre-treating with laundry detergent and washing as usual.)

Here are a couple of options to remove stinky fish smells from clothing:

1. Add two full cups of white vinegar to your load of wash. Vinegar is a heavy duty natural odor neutralizer and I think it might help to remove that nasty scent. If even that doesn't work -- try soaking in a small container of water with a few cups of white vinegar to neutralize the scent and then wash in the hottest possible water that is safe for the fabric.
2. Sit out in the sun - the clothing that is! (Although, you can certainly join the clothes if you want to.) There's a wonderfully natural and effective way to remove stinky odors - let the sun at them. Let the clothes sit out on a clothesline and the sun and fresh air may deodorize the clothes au naturel.

Jennifer, let us know how it goes, okay? The vinegar method should work -- and it should get the clothes looking pretty darn clean to boot.

Other Articles of Interest:
How to Remove Lipstick Stains

Dozens of Ways to Use Baking Soda Around the Home

Laundry Tips & Hints