Laundry stripping my T&N Linen Sheets

This time at home has certainly had some pretty interesting effects on me and my hobbies. Never someone who was super clean, I’m now following three home cleaning accounts on Instagram, getting excited to try new cleaning products (I’m looking at you Dawn Powerwash.), and watching Roomba suck up all the stray dog hair on my floor is sometimes the highlight of my day.

On my journey to becoming a Clean Person™, I discovered a new trend taking social media by storm: laundry stripping. The first time I heard about it, I watched in horror as my best friend’s little sister quite literally shared her dirty laundry in her Instagram stories, checking in every hour on her work-out clothes as they soaked in the magic solution for 6 hours and the water they were in got darker… and grosser….

My curiosity was piqued, to say the least. The next day she did her towels. Same result. I had to know. How dirty really was my laundry?

Wanting to do it right, I went to the new Clean Queen of the Socials, Sarah McAllister of Go Clean Co, who runs a home cleaning service out of Alberta, CA. Sarah offers handbooks on her site that walk you through the best way to clean everything from floorboards to the detergent drawer in your washing machine. Her Instagram highlights offer a peek into the extensive handbooks, including a highlight where she breaks down laundry stripping.

 

So What is Laundry Stripping?

Laundry stripping is the act of soaking your laundry, either in a bathtub or a top-load washing machine, to release them of things that cause a lack of softness and absorbency, such as calcium, mineral buildup, and detergent.

Go Clean Co’s recipe goes as follows:

• 1/4 cup Borax
• 1/4 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda
• 1/4 cup Calgon
• 1 generous scoop of powdered Tide

Fill your bathtub up with very, very hot water, and add in the laundry you want to soak. Sprinkle the detergent mix over the top and stir the clothes every hour for 4-6 hours. Drain and wash in a regular wash cycle in your machine.

 

Laundry Stripping My Sheets.

After more than a year of continual use of my (well-loved) Cloud Linen Sheets, plus our super hard water, I felt like they were getting a little dingy. I thought back to my best friend’s laundry stripping post and started itching to see what would come out of my dirty laundry.

I watched Go Clean Co’s laundry stripping Instagram highlight and got to soaking.

Following the directions, I checked back in every hour to stir the clothes and peek to see if my water was magically pulling horrible things from my sheets.

After checking every hour for 6 hours, I pulled my sheets from the water, and . . . I’m not sure it got much from my sheets. The water had a blue tinge and was cloudy, but I am pretty sure that is just from the detergent mixture. I realize it sounds kind of crazy to be disappointed—the sheets I sleep on every night weren’t as disgusting as I thought. This is good news!

 

 

But I couldn’t help but feel slightly let down until I got my sheets out of the dryer. They smelled so much better, looked less dingy, and, in general, felt so much fresher. When I got in my bed that night, my husband and I both commented on how great the sheets felt. There is nothing like getting into a fresh, crisp, cool bed to help you fall asleep.

The next weekend, I did our guest bedroom sheets and two loads of towels. I’m hooked.

 

Some Pro Tips.

I highly recommend using rubber cleaning gloves to stir the sheets every hour—the water stays pretty hot for a while.

I recommend removing any jewelry on your hands before draining the laundry. The detergent water got very slippery and one of my rings almost slipped off.

As satisfying as it is to see the water once all the laundry is removed, it is much easier to drain the tub with your clothes still in it. Sheets especially are so large and difficult to wring out. I would open the drain for the bathtub and come back about 10 minutes later to move the sheets to the washing machine.

 

Have you tried any other viral cleaning trends we need to give a go? Let us know so we can finally become the Clean Person™ our parents never thought we would be.

Think your sheets are beyond stripping? Shop our amazing Linen Sheets now and treat yourself with the gift of luxurious linen.