What do you do to get rid of that dirty clothes odor?

On the clothing side of things you could get some good Merino blend t-shirts and underwear. Merino wool is really good with odor control.

Wool and Prince makes them nice Merino blends clothing. I like smart wool for their underwear that's Merino wool.

Drying the clothes out by hanging is a good first step. To eliminate the odor use the prewash cycle along with your normal wash settings and put a cup of vinegar in the prewash bin. Only people that like their clothes being abused still use top loads so I am presuming you have a modern front load. You might get a detectable smell of vinegar in your clothes at that strength but it will eliminate the strong stinky laundry smells. Follow up by putting them through the speed wash cycle with just detergent if needed. Or you can try less vinegar to start and see if it is enough to kill the smell. I find a full cup is usually required with my LG.

Having worn gis for over 40yrs, putting them in a gym bag soaking wet with sweat, and sometimes blood, and then traveling as long as hours that way, they can get that smell. Vinegar in the prewash plus max detergent level with my preferred brand - Arm&Hammer with oxyclean liquid does the trick every time. Vinegar in the wash has other pros too. I buy the 2 gallon packs at Sam's or the 1 gal size at Aldi.

"We" are told not to mix bleach and ammonia...

can you mix vinegar and other cleaners? Or have them one cycle after another in the wash?

as a public servant, I wore a suit and tie daily, and I showered -- almost! -- every morning. Then I retired. After telling myself at that time that if I shaved every day, I wouldn't go to hell, I grew a beard. And I realized I didn't need to shower daily. IN FACT! I could go a week or more without a bath.

I had once met this otherwise attractive young woman with a back pack headed toward the local convention center to take a shower. I asked her where she was living. "White Park" she said. All the homeless people live there -- camping out. I asked her when was the last time she took a shower. She confided: "About six weeks ago." I didn't notice any particular strong odor, but then there was a breeze blowing,.

Sometimes I don't want to bother with a shower. I have a wet bar in my hallway on the first floor. I give myself a shampoo and beard-wash, and then the "three-point" operation with a washcloth and soap.

But as for the OP's question -- use Lume Deo or Mando frequently. As far as I'm concerned, it's not how your clothes smell that's important. It's a matter of how they FEEL. If you begin to feel sticky between your body and your shirt or pants, it's time for a bath and a change of clothes.

Then, there's also the matter of Demodex mites, also known as eyelash mites. Everybody has them, but they are most numerous on old people. Can everyone intuitively understand how this might be possible or likely?

Supposedly the mites don't have an anus. Instead, they gorge themselves on dead skin, and eventually explode.

I say the mites are sufficient incentive to shower more than once every six weeks.

My mites are Aztec or Egyptian mites. I have discovered they have been building pyramids with dandruff on my scalp.
Alas, with a bottle of Head and Shoulders, I have become Death -- the Destroyer of Worlds.

DAPUNISHER said:

Only people that like their clean clothes being abused still use top loads

Click to expand...

FTFY

Some people just don't do anything to really get dirty. I'd rather have holes in my clothing than stains if it came to that choice. Unfortunately with my last top loader replacement, it is so gentle that I have stains anyway, from same activities that my old top loader handled. Modern washing machines pretty much suck, retro Speed Queen is where it's at.

OK, I read OP, not the thread...

Suggestions, may not work for you, but work for me (you're working out harder than I am!):

Let your sweaty clothes dry before tossing in the hamper (not in the dryer, but somewhere, somehow where they dry naturally... put on a hanger or drying line). That will keep the humidity in the hamper down. The bacteria that cause the odor don't do well in a dry environment. But once the odor has developed, it will linger, is my experience. That odor forms partly because bacteria are in conditions that allow them to develop/multiply. I don't use deoderants anymore. What I do is spray my armpits with 70% rubbing alcohol and rub with opposite hand to kill off the bacteria that are there before I work out. I sniff the armpits of a shirt before I workout in it. If it smells of batch, I wear a fresh shirt instead. I don't use a hamper, my laundry goes in an open topped container and I haven't noticed an odor problem. I stay on top of my laundry. I never wait until I'm running out of whatever to do my laundry. I do it when there's enough for one load. My washer (top loader) has low/med/max fill settings. I never use the max setting anymore. I don't think the machine does a good job on that setting. So, when I have enough whites or non-whites for the medium fill setting (or low), that's when I do a load of laundry. 95+% of the time I dry outdoors, hopefully on a sunny breezy day. If I use my dryer, it's to make sure that line dried laundry is fully dry, but I don't do that alot.

I go cycling 3-4 days a week on average, and this works on my funky jerseys.

Instead of tossing them in hamper where they'll get all wrinkled and never dry and just get musty, hang them up. Have a designated part of the closet for clothes that are destined for wash. I basically have mine setup with freshly washed, worn once, and to wash. I just use a hanger that is different than the others to act as the divider. Socks, underwear and dry towers after several uses are really the only thing that goes in the hamper. Avoid putting anything in there that's damp it will never dry and just gets all musty. I do this mostly to stop stuff from getting all wrinkled but also acts as a way to make sure sweaty stuff dries properly and quickly.

Even towels, hang them to dry before you toss them in. Ex: after you showered several times with same towel still leave it dry like you normally would but next shower use a new towel and toss the old one in hamper.

Gotta air them out before putting in basket for an extended period of time.

Similiar I guess, my gym towel gets nasty quick. My wife always notices it first... I sweat, wipe myself off, and then stick it back in my bag. Leave in there for a few weeks before washing or changing it. Once I pull it out and use it at the gym and notice the smell.... its far too long since I should have changed it.

Get some Sport soap!

I've used Molly's Suds, Rockin Green, & Active Wear to great success. Just toss a scoop into your washer machine, or two scoops if its a big load and it will rid all your active wear of the dreaded funk.

Nathan's is the original, and it is sold at REI to get the funk out of backpacking gear.

Try changing your washing powder or whatever you are using if the odor is not getting off your clothes.