Almost every laundry problem people have is a smell problem, and almost every solution people reach for is a scent. Those are different things, and understanding why is the difference between fixing something and covering it for a week.
There are only about four sources of smell in fabric. Once you can tell them apart, the right answer for each is obvious.
One: body oil
This is the main one and it causes most of what people call staleness.
Skin produces oil constantly. It transfers into clothing, it is not water soluble, and it sits in the fiber. Over days and weeks it oxidises, and the products of that oxidation are what you smell. That is why a shirt can smell fine coming off and noticeably stale a fortnight later in a drawer, having done nothing in between.
Oil is also why cold water so often fails. Cold water does not dissolve oil well, and a cold wash on a load that is mainly body soil moves the oil around rather than removing it. This is the single most common cause of clothes that come out of the machine already faintly off.
The fix is warm water and enough of it. Not hot, warm. Towels, bedding, socks, underwear, and anything worn while sweating belong on warm, and this is the setting most households under-use.
Two: bacteria
Bacteria live on the skin, transfer to fabric, and metabolise the compounds in sweat. What they release is what gives worn clothing its sharper smell, as distinct from the flat staleness of oxidised oil.
They need moisture to be active, which is why a damp garment develops a smell within hours and a dry one takes days. It is also why drying something out is such an effective short term measure.
Ordinary washing removes them along with everything else. The reason this becomes a persistent problem is not that they are hard to kill, it is that they keep coming back to a surface that still has oil on it for them to work with. Deal with the oil and the bacterial smell largely stops recurring.
Three: mildew
Different from the first two and much more stubborn.
Mildew grows on damp fabric left damp. A load forgotten in the washer overnight, a towel folded before it was dry, a bag of gym kit left in a car. The smell is unmistakable once you know it, and unlike the others it does not fade with airing.
The critical thing about mildew is that heat sets it permanently. A load that smells musty and goes straight into the dryer will smell musty forever. Never dry anything you can still smell.
The treatment is a hot wash with oxygen bleach, or a soak in a solution of it for several hours first if the smell is established. Then sunlight, which is genuinely effective on mildew. And only then the dryer, once you have confirmed by smell that it is gone.
Four: detergent residue
The one nobody suspects, because it is caused by the thing people believe is the solution.
Too much detergent does not rinse out. It stays in the fiber, it is slightly tacky, it holds onto oil and dirt from subsequent wears, and it holds moisture. Clothes with residue in them get dirty faster and smell sooner, so people add more detergent, which makes it worse. It is a genuine loop and a lot of households are in it.
Fabric softener does the same thing deliberately, by coating fibers with a waxy film. On towels it destroys absorbency. On activewear it seals the fabric and the odour becomes permanent.
The fix is uncomfortable but simple: use about two tablespoons of liquid for a normal load, which is far less than most people use, and stop using softener. To clear existing residue, run a few loads with no detergent at all and a cup of white vinegar in the rinse, and expect the water to look dirtier than you would like.
Why scent does not solve any of these
Scented detergent, dryer sheets, and fabric spray add a fragrance layer on top of whatever is there. None of the four sources is affected. In the case of dryer sheets and softener you have also added a coating, which makes the residue problem worse.
For a week it seems to have worked. Then the underlying smell comes back through the fragrance, and the combination is worse than either alone. Almost every household with a stubborn laundry smell has been through this cycle at least twice.
Working out which one you have
Flat and stale, worse over time in storage, is oil.
Sharp, appears within a day of wearing, is bacteria on top of oil.
Musty and earthy, does not fade with airing, is mildew.
Present on everything, including things straight out of the machine, with fabric that feels slightly stiff or tacky, is residue.
The Indianapolis part
Two local factors push things toward the harder end of that list.
Summer humidity is the first. From June through September the drying window narrows, damp laundry stays damp longer, and the mildew route becomes much more available. The practical rule in those months is that a load never sits in the washer, not even for an hour, and nothing gets folded until it is unambiguously dry.
Hard water is the second, and it feeds the residue problem directly. Minerals bind with detergent, less of it is available to clean, and people compensate by adding more, which is exactly how the residue loop starts. Half a cup of washing soda in the wash deals with the minerals so a normal dose works, and it is a better answer than a bigger scoop.
When the wash itself is the limitation
Oil needs temperature and volume of water. Residue needs rinsing. Mildew needs a genuinely hot wash. All three are things a small home machine, running short cycles with little water, does not do especially well.
The machines at our self-service laundry on West 71st Street reach higher temperatures and move considerably more water per cycle, which is what it takes to dissolve oil and rinse residue out rather than dilute it.
Our machines and the store are cleaned daily, and doors stay open between loads.
Nou wash-dry-fold service is there for the loads you would rather not stand over.
The short version
There are four sources and each has its own fix. Body oil is the main one, it is not water soluble, and cold water will not shift it, so anything worn while sweating goes on warm. Bacteria need moisture and keep returning while oil is still there. Mildew comes from fabric left damp and heat sets it permanently, so never dry anything you can still smell. Detergent residue is caused by using too much, and the cure is using far less plus vinegar rinses. Scented products address none of the four and the coating ones make residue worse. Work out which smell you have by whether it is flat, sharp, musty, or on everything.
WaveMAX Endyanapòlis is at 2814 W. 71st Street, easy to reach from northwest Indianapolis and the surrounding area. If a smell has outlasted your machine, call us at 317-388-5954.