We still have to wash difficult child 1's clothes separately. When he's been girlfriendless, he's really let himself go. When he has a girlfriend, he's more careful. But he still avoids changing clothes, changing pyjamas or changing bedding because he prefers the familiar smell of his current stuff. He wears a deodorant and washes his hair at least twice a week, but it's still too long and he gets bad acne down his back and neck from the greasy hair.
A washing trick - I learnt years ago that to get out perspiration stains or sweat smell, you splash vinegar on it then soak it in enzyme soak. I found it gets out a great deal. I was in a local play and had to wear a suit which had previously been worn by a man who was a HEAVY chain smoker (I visited their house, and I kid you not, the room looked like there was a fog machine in it and the wallpaper, benches and cupboards were stained yellow-brown - wife was also a chain smoker). He also sweated a lot, especially under stage lights, and NEVER wore deodorant and I suspect only washed round the edges once a week. You could smell him before he even entered the room. He'd worn the coat playing a bushranger on the run, and had literally run around the theatre several times a performance, wearing the suit coat.
The properties manager handed me the coat with a broom handle. "See if you can get it professionally cleaned, but we expect we'll have to throw it out and buy another".
I figured it was now or never to try the vinegar trick.
With a garment this bad (it REALLY stunk!) I soaked the whole thing in vinegar, in a bucket. It took most of 2 litres (over 3 pints). I then soaked it in a concentrated solution of enzyme laundry detergent, with the vinegar still all through the coat. It was a wool coat, so I had to use nothing warmer than lukewarm. I even got a laundry plunger into the bucket and was horrified at the colour the water was turning. At first I thought the dye was coming out, then I realised that the coat was NOT meant to be black, it was actually dark grey. The lining especially changed colour and got paler.
After several days of this, changing the water and using more laundry detergent, I put the coat in the washing machine. The rinse water was STILL looking horrible, so I washed it again. Cold water wash, because of the wool. Also, hot water wash seems to set in sweat smells, I've found. I added a few drops of rosemary oil to the final rinse.
I hung the coat outside to dry and then ironed it. It was a bit crumpled and I had to reshape the lining, but I had saved a coat. It had completely lost ALL smells (except for rosemary oil, which I could happily tolerate).
I now use the same technique for difficult child 1's clothes. I try to not let them get anywhere near as bad as that old man's coat. I do find, especially with difficult child 1's shirts and underwear, that they literally fall apart in the wash if it's been too long since they were last washed.
My favourite author, Terry Pratchett, writes about a barbarian hero (a very old barbarian hero with a haemorrhoid ring on his saddle) who never washes and rarely changes his loincloth, because as he says, "Good leather don't rot for years!"
I remind difficult child 1 of this line when it's been too long between washes. We handle it with humour and a very long broom handle.
Marg
