Is this normal for fabric conditioner?

[Fabricquestion]

I bought a dress from eBay, said it was worn once or twice. Unfortunately the seller had washed it with fabric conditioner which smelled awful and gave me a headache. But I was quite surprised that the smell barely dissipated at all after hanging it out the window for a couple of days. Also, every time we touched the dress we’d get the perfume on our hands and would have to wash our hands. It’s like it rubs off on everything. Is this normal?

I’ve washed it twice now, once with vinegar and once with my own detergent, and it’s got rid of about 80% of the smell. Is it worth persevering with?

I had this with a blanket. I had to let it soak for the best part of a day in a vinegar solution then washed again and line dried thankfully it worked!
If you love the dress keep going 😊

Thanks. I’ll try soaking it in a bowl of vinegar solution.

I was so shocked by the strong smell. It smelled absolutely disgusting!

It will be unstoppables probably, it’s hard to get rid of the smell especially if someone uses the matching detergent and softener.

I’m starting to regret buying this dress now. Also worried I might have transferred some of the smell to the washing machine and then it’ll go on our other clothes.

Could I ask for some further help please? I’ve managed to get rid of the smell, after three washes, a couple of days in the freezer, and a LOT of hanging it outside.

But unfortunately, after trying it on, it made me itch a lot so there’s obviously something still there that I’m allergic to.

Is there anything else I can do? Is there any point in just washing it lots more times in the hope that the problem might go away? Or is the problem so strong that it’ll never shift?

Can anyone help further please? Is it worth persevering with? If I wash it several more times, is there any chance I’ll stop being allergic to it or is it stuck like this now? Even without the smell it’s still making me itch.

Very much unknown.
How much did this item cost and are there anymore available on vinted etc to buy and save yourself the hassle?

bicarbonate of soda is good for smells. leave it sprinkled on for a couple of days, shake off.

What's the fabric?

Can you ask the seller what they washed it with, sometimes using too much fabric softener can leave a waxy residue on clothes. Baking soda is usually my answer

I bet it was sprayed with Febreeze, lots of things I buy from Vinted reek of the stuff.

It isn’t a smell any more. I’ve got rid of the smell now so it’s something else, it made me itch all over when I put the dress on.

It isn’t Febreze because I know what that smells like, the seller already said she didn’t use it, just that it was washed weigh fabric conditioner. It felt so horrible when it first arrived!

The fabric is 100% viscose.

OP you might just be allergic to the fabric

I’m not allergic to the fabric. I know this because I have the same dress in a size smaller, but I gained weight so I found rhe same dress in a size larger.

If you weren't allergic to the smaller dress then you shouldn't be to the larger one. Perhaps it's psychosomatic - you now can't think of the dress except as "tainted" in some way, because of the extensive cleaning it needed?

As fabric softener is kind of greasy I would soak the dress in washing up liquid to try and dissolve any residue.

I think persevere with a few more washes, you might have to soak it in vinegar in between to "strip" the detergent out of it

I think most fabric conditioners have animal fat in them. Try handwashing in Fairy Liquid. Hang it on the line and get the sun (haha) on it. It will eventually disappear.

It’s awful isn’t it? There is an advert at the moment on tv saying if your clothes stink to use some vile smelly stuff to mask it and they show a load of demented people sniffing clothes and looking like they’re high at Woodstock.

NO. If your clothes stink, wash and dry them properly ffs. That fabric conditioner stuff that reeks is dreadful and has a nuclear half life of probably a hundred washes. I had to pay to dry clean one dress it was so nauseating. The dry cleaning did the job though - back to no-smell fresh normality.

Try soaking in soda crystals as they will degrease the fabric. Then rewash with your own detergent

It sounds as if the seller went OTT with the fab conditioner to make sure it was, in her world, clean and fresh.

Try a rinse and spin, followed by a wash with just water, no detergent. In doing so, switch machine off part way through cycle and leave overnight. Then switch on again in the morning.

Some machines “unlock” when you switch off mid-cycle, so don’t forget and open the door!

Thank you very much everyone. I think I’ll try and carry on with the process! I wish people wouldn’t use fabric conditioner, it’s so greasy and it’s unfair on buyers.