Best/Most Cost Effective Scentless Clothes Washing***NEW MATERIAL ADDED!

So I recently came across a method for washing hunting clothing that intrigues me...  it says to use Borax and Baking Soda. Both are said to remove odor and clean clothing etc. And it seems about the most cost effective method I've seen so far. However my question is, I have heard many times that deer smell bacteria that our bodies give off and get on our clothing. To my knowledge neither Borax nor Baking Soda is an antibacterial. Am I wrong in this line of thinking???  

I have used both of these to wash my hunting gear in the past. Each of the products are used in the industry for cleaning and eliminating odors -like a box of BS in the frig or being used in detergents. I believe that they may fall more into an anti fungal than antibacterial product. Both do have several medicinal uses if you care to do alittle research.

I just wondered if anyone else had thought about this besides me. I too have used BS to remove odors many times and it works well. But I was just curious about the bacteria aspect.

I use any brand of the hypo-allergenic scent free laundry detergent (waaayyyy cheaper than any "hunting" detergent)  and add about a cup of baking soda. It works great for me. The bacteria is taken care of by the hypo detergent/hot water.

Yes but last I read Cheer Free was the only one of the hypo's that did not have UV brighteners. LOL all this mixin' & matchin' I think I'll just go back to using good ol' Sportwash.

Good point. I forgot to mention that part. You don't want to look like a glow worm in the ole tree stand!

Hey palehorse, sorry if my last response sounded negative, it wasnt meant to be so I hope it didnt cone across offensive.

I used to use that, but found it was very, very hard on the fabric, destroying the material quickly turning my expensive camo to rags. It's worth spending a bit more money on the commercial scent and UV free detergents, and finding other areas to pinch the pennies in. Just my thought on it.

The Borax was hard on your clothes?

madeforthewoods wrote:The Borax was hard on your clothes?

No, the baking soda. I thought the same about it's scent control ability. And actually, that's wrong as well, it ABSORBS and HOLDS odor.

No, the baking soda. I thought the same about it's scent control ability. And actually, that's wrong as well, it ABSORBS and HOLDS odor.[/quote]

So then what do you pre-hunt spray down with? Because the normal spray I use contains BS

madeforthewoods wrote:No, the baking soda. I thought the same about it's scent control ability. And actually, that's wrong as well, it ABSORBS and HOLDS odor.

So then what do you pre-hunt spray down with? Because the normal spray I use contains BS[/quote]

Most of the time I use the Scent Killer spray, but sometimes it's Dead Downwind. I prefer the later, but most of the time I get that stuff for Christmas and rarely buy it for myself, so I use what I have. What a lot of people don't know is that your supposed to spray your clothes with the sorry until they are damp, and then let it dry before wearing. That's how to properly use a scent killing spray, not just mist yourself down with it after getting out of the truck before you walk into the woods to go hunting.

Good call, I think I remember reading that on the bottle now that you mention it. I read a post on a forum once where a guy actually filled a bucket with Scent Away spray and then dunk his clothes in it rather than using any detergent. That would get expensive.

Hey guys...

Just found a new recipe for homemade scent away spray that I've never seen before. It uses no baking soda or peroxide. It's made with a product called "Safe Hands" it's an unscented antibacterial used for hand santitizing. You mix 2oz of it with 30oz of distilled water which yields 32oz of spray. It kills bacteria to aid in scent elimination. The bacterial agent in it is benzalkonium chloride. I bought a 7oz bottle of unscented Safe Hands for $3.81 total with tax. I made 3  32oz bottles and 1 16oz bottle of homemade scent away spray. Walgreen's was the only place I could find the unscented Safe Hands liquid. It comes in a pump that makes it into a foam. It has no odor and I see no reason why it won't work. And it won't leave white powder on everything or bleach my clothes like the old homemade BS & peroxide kind did. Very cost effective too!

No offense taken madeforthewoods. Thanks for the heads-up on the baking soda, slowbow. Now that you mention it, it makes sense. People use it to ABSORB odors.

I use purex free and clear - I called the company and they assured me that there are no dyes, scents or UV brighteners used in that product. All I use now.

BTW - Baking Soda is used to COLLECT odors - not to repel them or disinfect.

Then the Purex company LIED to you. I have a bottle right here in front of me, it contains "disodium diaminostilbene disulfonate" which is an optical brightener; google it. Cheer Free is the only "Non-hunting" Laundry Detergent which does not contain optical brighteners. Thats why it is recommended by the military to wash any military camo garments. Can't have the enemy looking for our snipers with a UV scope and picking them off! Nor can we have deer picking out us in the woods because we washed our hunting clothes in the wrong stuff.

OK so I was digging around online and found this ...... AND IT WORKS AWESOME! For the bar soap I used a bar of Hunters Specialties Scent-Away bar Soap. I bought it for $1 on clearance at Walmart after hunting season. It costs me about 9 cents per load, and the best part is my wife is all about it too so I got her using it now too instead of smelly Tide LOL. I hope this works for everybody and helps save you guys some cash! Let me know how you like it. Here's the link ...

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/making-your-own-laundry-detergent-a-detailed-visual-guide/

Made foir woods - perhaps we both have been lied to - Cheer is hardly UV free - and you are right Purex is not despite the damn name. Here is a link showing a chart produced bfor baby cloth diapers and it shows detergents that are UV free http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/Articles.asp?ID=264

Well I was using the Cheer Free because it was recommended by the military for washing military camo, because it supposedly had no brighteners, I googled all the ingrediants and could not find any brighteners myself, but that does not mean there are not any, I am no chemist I can definitely say that. But that to me is irrelavant now because I use the homemade stuff in the link I posted above on November 29. That I know for sure has no brighteners because I make it myself. And it really works; I used it on some of my work clothes that smelled like gas, chainsaw exhaust and other undesirable smells and it got rid of them all, plus it cleaned the clothes extremely well. It is all my family and I are using now, both for our everyday clothes and hunting clothes.

I wash my cloths and equipment with just water, hose or in the machine. Air dry outside and leave hanging under the deck where they won't get wet. I put them in plastic bags with a tie for transport to camp where I hang them under the camper awning. Leaves them pretty sent free. When on a trip and think they need cleaning, I rinse them in the river and hang them back up to dry.

I rarely have deer react to my entry trail. That may be my sent control practice but is more likely that there are so many other people (bird hunters, squirrel hunter, hikers, bikers, fisherman on the river) on the public land I hunt the deer would go crazy if they panicked or changed there activity every time they came in contact with human sent left by people passing through.