Please help - I did something stupid!

[KiteMarked]

Yesterday I broke a small jar of garlic-infused oil and mopped up the mess with a few tea towels.

I threw them in a load of washing a few hours later, and now all the clothes smell of garlic.

I've re-washed the clothes twice now (third load going now) but I'm swiftly losing hope.

Will I have to bin them? The smell is revolting!

I’d probably soak them with some washing up liquid in hot water for a bit before washing them again.

Tbh I’d consider a squirt of washing up liquid in the washer but I’d reckless like that. Probably isn’t the best idea...

Id clean your machine

Try using a washing machine cleaner before you do anything else.

Maybe wash your clothes in bio washing and add some sodium bicarbonate.

Then hang your clothes outside for a bit.

I’d have just binned the tea towels. But lesson learnt.

I’m sure the smell will fade in time.

I'd probably do a few loads to rinse my machine out using diluted disinfectant/bleach etc

Hang your clothes outside, it should help a lot!

Vinegar in w wash load

Soda crystals in your machine for a couple of hot washes

Soak the clothes in some washing up liquid while you wait

Thanks. Plenty of options to try!

Dettol washing machine cleaner on the hottest wash you have, meanwhile soak the clothes in a strong solution of dettol laundry cleanser, then put on a wash with more laundry cleanser added to the drawer.

Binning the teatowels would have been soooo much cheaper...

I’d soak the clothes in bicarbonate of soda and in terms of the machine I would run a very hot wash with bio powder with a solitary hand towel in there, a few times if necessary.

Thanks for all the advice. I've managed to get the smell out!

Soaked the clothes in the bath with several capfuls of dettol.

Ran the washing machine with a drum clean powder, but it still smelled a bit so I did a bleach rinse. No smell after that!

Washed the clothes again after their bath, and voila!

My dd said she could just barely smell the garlic "if you concentrate really hard" - but not all the clothes in the wash were affected, just a few. I think we can live with that.

I appreciate all the advice. Next time I'll bin the tea towels!