The perfume that won’t quit: testing Dropp’s Odor Eraser on thrifted finds and gym tees

If you’ve ever slipped on a gorgeous thrifted silk blouse and thought, oh no, I’ve just adopted a stranger’s signature scent, welcome to the club. Lingering perfume and detergent musk love polyester blends, cling to elastane, and laugh at extra detergent. This is not a harder-scrub issue, it’s a molecule issue.

I’m curious about the just-launched Dropp’s Odor Eraser. It comes as pods, not cheap at around $36 for 64, and claims to target stink at the source. No sponsorship here, only the promise of freedom from that suffocating “clean” musk that haunts secondhand hauls and post-spin gym gear. I’ll be putting it head-to-head with my real-life standby, Lysol Free & Clear Laundry Sanitizer, which I use as a pre-soak for clothing that arrives already perfumed. It has quietly rescued many a silk scarf without adding its own scent.

My basic routine for getting rid of perfume smell in clothes:

• Pre-soak: 1 cap of Lysol Free & Clear Laundry Sanitizer in cool water for 20 to 30 minutes. Then wash with fragrance-free detergent.
• For synthetics with tenacious musks and woody ambers like bold Ambroxan or airy Iso E Super, add an oxygen bleach booster and use a longer cycle.
• Vinegar rinse can help rebalance pH and loosen residues. Test colors first.
• Sun and airflow are underrated. Line dry outdoors when possible.
• For dry-clean-only items, a light vodka-water mist on the lining, then air overnight. No drenching, no scrubbing.

Why it lingers: modern laundry musk and popular woody-amber molecules are designed to stick. They ride fibers, especially blends, and keep projecting long after your wash cycle. If it is your own perfume that will not quit, consider spraying skin not fabric, skipping collars and cuffs, and letting knits rest between wears.

I’ll report back on whether Dropp’s Odor Eraser actually breaks the cycle on my toughest test pieces, including a vintage blazer that smells like someone else’s bedtime routine. Until then, the sanitizer pre-soak remains my pragmatic fix.

Your turn. What has genuinely worked for you on thrift-store musk, overzealous fabric softeners, or that epic gym-gear funk? If you’ve tried Dropp’s Odor Eraser, I want the unvarnished truth.