Best Laundry Scent Boosters for Odor (2024)

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When I first wrote my article on how to get the sweat smell out of laundry, laundry scent boosters and beads simply did not exist. Sure, you could buy things like OxyFresh to boost cleaning properties.

Also, there was always Febreze spray to keep in the laundry room. I’ll admit that I would spray it on smelly armpits that did not seem to come clean after washing.

However, it wasn’t until I visited my younger daughter at her apartment that I discovered the magic that is laundry beads made to make your clothes smell good.

At first I thought they were a waste of money. Then I tried them. Thus this article on what I think are the best laundry scent boosters for smelly clothing.

Best Laundry Scent Boosters for Odor (1)

Note: My purpose in writing this article is to compare and contrast the scent boosters I’ve tried. I’m also including links to shopping sites. That way, if you like what you read and want to shop, you can do that with just one link or tap.

Also, if you click or tap any of those links, I may earn a commission from the retailer. There is no cost to you for using my links. But I need to be upfront about all of that.

Best laundry scent boosters for odor

I’ve gotten so many questions about how to get the sweat smell out of clothes, including bo aka body odor. With the advent of laundry scent boosters, I figured I should probably try these beads out in my washing machine and see if they can help with odors.

I mean, they are marketed as scent boosters. However, I wondered how they would do at reducing odors. So, I did a wash test.

Which brands of laundry booster did I try in the washer

I went out and bought five different brands of laundry boosters. These are from my local grocery store.

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How I tested these laundry boosters

I did multiple loads of laundry using a different kind of scent booster bead each time. Every load also included basic Arm and Hammer detergent.

All of the clothes were washed after I’d sweated in them. Trust me–you didn’t want to sniff the armpits of my shirts before I washed them.

Normally, when I have underarm odor in my clothes and I want to get the armpit smell out of my shirts, I’ll presoak them. I didn’t do that before using these scent booster beads.

Also, I did not try them at different water temperatures because I wash all of my laundry in cold water. That’s a personal preference but also a way to save money by not using hot water.

Plus, I wash workout gear in the gentle cycle. So, I didn’t test these out with different load types, because I was happy with the results on my everyday odor by washing my stuff like I normally do.

In addition, I found that adding the scent beads to the washer before adding clothes was the best. You pour the amount of beads you want out into the cap and then dump them in.

When I added them after the fact, I found little bits of residue on my clothes at the end of the washing cycle. This could be because of the cold water or the gentle cycle, I’m not sure.

If you have a high-efficiency washing machine, you do not put the scent beads in the little drawer with your laundry detergent. You’re supposed to put them directly in the washer drum. So whether you have a top loader like I do or a front loader, always add the scent beads before adding the clothes and starting the wash.

Finally, some of these brand manufacturers suggest you use additional products in their laundry lines to help make the long-lasting scent and the long-lasting freshness, well, last. This includes their dryer sheets. I did not do that. I felt like if I did, then I wouldn’t have a true sense of whether or not these scent boosters actually worked as advertised.

Which laundry scent booster was the best

There was a hands down winner. And it was the Arm and Hammer Clean Scentsations laundry booster.

After using the Arm and Hammer product, none of my shirts smelled where they previously had body odor. In fact, they came out so not smelling of anything that it kind of reminded me of the clean smell of using bleach in the laundry.

Except I hadn’t used bleach. Also, the Arm and Hammer laundry booster does not include bleach. The product was long lasting and did not irritate my sensitive skin. Also, it did not trigger my asthma as other products I tried felt like they would.

There was also a runner up–the Downy Unstopables. Of the four sweaty shirts I washed with this Downy laundry additive, three came out without a hint of underarm odor. The fourth shirt? I had to wash it again. However, in the end, it came out with a nice, light clean scent.

It’s not that the rest of the candidates didn’t work. This is all about preferences. And for me, it’s just that their scent was so overpowering that I was just turned off.

For some reason the smell of Gain makes me sick to my stomach. The scent booster smelled too much like the laundry detergent, which I refuse to use.

So, if you like laundry with heavy perfumes, then by all means try these laundry boosters that I didn’t like However, if you’re looking for scent beads to reduce odor on your clothes, I would recommend Arm and Hammer Clean Scentsations.

Laundry scent beads odors of different brands

Now that I’ve told you my favorite of the five I tried, I thought I would add some additional commentary on the different scents I tried as well as different fragrances from three of these brands.

Purex Crystals

You may be a fan of Purex laundry detergent for their Odor Stop properties. While Purex Crystals don’t have Odor Stop on their labels, the company says that they’re designed for the same purpose–get the odor out of fabrics.

Right now, there are seven Purex Crystals fragrances. They are:

Fresh Spring Waters
Cherry Blossom and Ginger
Lavender Blossom
Aromatherapy Tahitian Breeze
Fresh Mountain Breeze
Fabulously Fresh
Fresh Vibes

Honestly, anything that uses the word “fresh” to describe its fragrance is what I’m more likely to reach for when buying laundry beads. In this review I tested the Fresh Spring Waters and really liked them. However, I really like anything lavender — I keep a bar of lavender soap on my nightstand to help me sleep — so if I was going to buy Purex Crystals in the future, I would probably go for the lavender scent.

You can shop the Purex Store on Amazon for all of these products and more.

Downy Unstopables

Is it just me or do you want to spell Unstopables with two Ps? Unstoppables? That looks right, right?

Anyway, when it comes to the best Downy scent, the brand has a number of different scent boosters, not all of them called Unstopables. For instance, Downy also offers these in-laundry scent boosters:

Downy Light laundry additive
Downy Infusions
Downy In-Wash Scent Booster Beads
Downy Fresh Protect

I had to go to the Downy Procter and Gamble website to figure out the differences between these products. Here’s what I learned.

True, Downy Infusions come as beads that you add to the wash. However, primarily they are designed to be used as a fabric softener.

Downy Fresh Protect products are designed as odor neutralizers. At least that’s how P&G describes them. My take is that they’re like Febreze scent beads.

After that, it was impossible to tell the difference between the remaining two scent bead products — Downy In-Wash Scent Booster Beads and Downy Light laundry additive.

Best Downy Unstopables scents

As far as the best scent, I tried the Downy Unstopables “blue” fresh scent. However, here are others you may want to try. The scents are:

Lush (lavender & vanilla)
Old Spice
Shimmer (floral scent)
Spring (floral and citrus)
Tide (yes, like the detergent)

Target carries the full line of Downy Unstopable products.

Arm and Hammer Clean Scentsations

From what I can tell, there are a limited number of scents available for these Arm and Hammer laundry scent beads. They are:

Fresh Burst
Purifying Waters
Tropical Paradise

As far as the best or my favorite, I really like the Fresh Burst smell. However, the Purifying Waters is also a lovely, fresh scent. Both do a great job of removing body odor from laundry.

What about the Tropical Paradise scent booster? I find the scent overpowering, almost like perfume, and I don’t like that. Maybe you will but I don’t.

Finally, now Arm and Hammer has an additional kind of scent booster bead called Odor Blasters. Yes, it’s part of the scent booster line but the company advertises it as something that attacks existing odors on clothing. As I discovered in this review, that odor elimination really does work.

There’s a whole Arm and Hammer store on Amazon.

Laundry scent boosters hacks

While researching this article, I came across a number of hacks for these laundry scent boosters that have nothing to do with washing clothes. Here are two I’ve tried around my house.

Scent booster beads in the vacuum

We have a Shark, bagless vacuum cleaner. Also, we have two dogs. Despite how many times we empty the canister in the trash, the vacuum seems to blow “dog smell” around whenever we use it.

Enter scent booster beads.

Now, every time I empty the vacuum canister, I’ll add about a tablespoon of scent booster beads. When I have to vacuum, the air no longer blows the scent of wet dog but instead the fresh scent of the scent booster beads.

One thing I learned is that though I prefer the Arm and Hammer scent beads, they are very small. And they tend to leak out the vacuum canister. The Downy Unstopable beads are slightly bigger so they stay put. So I bought a bottle just to use in the vacuum cleaner.

Car air freshener

I’ve always found the scent of Febreze car vent clip-ons in the car too strong. They tend to trigger my asthma.

However, I recently learned that you can put scent booster beads in sachet bags and stash them under your seat. So I did. Suddenly, my car smells fresh and new without it being too overwhelming.

Final thoughts on the best laundry scent boosters

Did I miss any brands of laundry scent boosters that you like? If so, let me know.

Also, I’ll continue to look for different brands to try, as well as ways to save money on these odor eliminator additives. I’ll try pairing this with my DIY laundry detergent and let you know how things turn out.

I’ve put together a shopping list for you over on my Amazon storefront to make it easier if you see something you’d like to purchase to try out these laundry scent boosters for yourself. Everything on the list is Prime-eligible. If you haven’t tried Prime yet, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial.

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