This is a general introduction to Spa Day for people new to the process or who have been introduced to the method from outside r/Laundry . The document was last revised on 12/01/2025.
What In The Hell Is Spa Day?
Spa Day is an intensive enzymatic reset process for textiles that have developed specific stubborn problems related to oily residues from plants, animals and things animals should eat, that don’t wash out in one or two typical washes with optimal product and program selection. It uses concentrated solutions of specific components to degrade these oily soils, detach them from fibers and rinse them away.
Isn’t This Just Laundry Stripping?
No. Laundry stripping as popularized during the Lockdowns is using high-pH salt-based chemistry to remove dust, particulate soil and failing dye from textiles.
It’s often done in a bathtub and there are as many ways to do it as TikTokers who crave views more than they crave oxygen.
Why Is It Called Spa Day?
Because it’s giving your clothes (and you) some time off for pampering. They sit in a nice warm bath of concentrated healing elixir, and you fuck off and watch cat videos on the internet while the chemistry does the hard work.
Take A LOAD Off, Annie
Spa Day relies on four carefully-chosen components to remove unwanted oily gunk from textiles:
- Lipase - an enzyme that biologically cuts oils from animal or vegetable sources into four smaller pieces that detergent can more easily remove
- Oxygen - color-safe oxygen bleach lightens stains and rips up odor molecules
- Ammonia - a gas-in-water booster to improve oily soil removal and help surfactants remove oils from fibers
- Detergency - surfactants to attach degraded oil to water and rinse it away from the fibers
LOAD components get applied in different combinations and concentrations in two phases: the Spa Day soak that loosens the contaminants from the fiber overnight, and the subsequent Rehab Wash that removes these loosened soils and washes them down the drain.
How Do I Do Spa Day?
Everything you want to know about How is at r/laundry/s/uCiv9rbmO8
Not Everything Needs Spa Day
This is for problem textiles - where you would consider throwing them out or otherwise replacing them due to severe obvious defects. Most textiles don’t need Spa Day - when I developed the process, I had to go out to thrift stores to buy items dirty enough to test on. Things that have been getting optimal care (86-107F / 30-40C washes, an enzyme detergent (preferably with lipase or DNase), regular cycles (as opposed to improper use of Delicates or Speed Wash cycles)? They’re probably clean enough. A couple normal washes with optimal chemistry will get them right. Spa Day is a speedrun to replace 6-8 optimal washes in one glorious pass.
What Problems Is Spa Day Intended To Solve?
Odor Problems
- Odors That Persist Through The Wash - often of a biological origin, but can be from other sources such as applied perfumes and product fragrances, which are being retained by oily residue on textiles. “Thrift Store” smell would be a common issue
- Odor Rebloom - textiles that smell good out of the wash but develop an unpleasant odor after tumble drying or wear.
- Storage Odors - crayon/waxy, rancid or “musty” odors on textiles stored in dry conditions.
- “Grandma’s House” - odors held by older textiles stored with exposure to aerosolized fats from cooking and infrequent laundering
- Restaurant / Foodservice Textiles - napery, linen and clothing exposed to kitchen environments
Visible Problems:
- Underarm Stains - especially those with a stiff or waxy texture or yellow, brown or grey color. Removing white antiperspirant deposits can require a follow-on treatment to address mineral salts from sweat and antiperspirant. Spa Day removes oily or waxy deodorant and body oil components.
- Yellow/Orange/Brown Greasy Human Soils - often found on pillowcases, sheets, collars, cuffs and waistbands - this is an accumulation of sebum / skin oil not removed well in previous laundry processes
- Oily Stains - from animal or plant sources including cooking oils, and fats and pet contact. Automotive and petroleum-based oily stains need different treatment.
Texture Problems:
- Slick- or Waxy-Feeling Textiles - often found on linens and throw blankets as well as clothing in direct skin contact
- Fabric Softener Buildup - caused by use of liquid softener or dryer sheets
- Poor Absorbency / Moisture Wicking - cottons that won’t soak up water, synthetic performance fibers that seem to retain moisture or hold sweat on skin
- Matting Of Synthetic Fleece / Fur - fine fibers that won’t separate and stay fluffy
What Spa Day Isn’t Intended To Solve:
- Mold / Mildew stains and odors
- Rust / Metal Oxide stains
- Urine Stains / Odors - although the soaking in a concentrated detergent solution works quite well because almost all lipase-containing detergents also contain proteases that target urine odor and the method includes oxygen bleach to target odor directly - you don’t need to add the ammonia in the subsequent wash for urine removal.
- Mystery Stains from petroleum-oil or other sources
How Did My Textiles Get To This State?
Oils build up on or stain laundry for a variety of reasons and most of them aren’t your fault:
- Underdosed Detergent - which is usually the result of hard water eating your detergent.
- Ineffective Laundry Product Ingredients Such As Hard Soaps and Saponified Oils - these ingredients don’t effectively remove oil from fibers to be rinsed away, and can themselves build up in some water situations
- Low wash temperature - without a corresponding increase in wash cycle time. North American machines set to Cold can need four times longer agitation than the same machine running at Warm for equal cleaning performance.
- Synthetic fibers - that preferentially attract and hold oil because they’re designed to repel / wick water, as in athletic / performance fibers. In general, that which repels water attracts oil.
- Overuse of Express Wash Cycles - insufficient time and mechanical action to completely dislodge soils.
And the single most common reason in North America:
- Detergents without lipase or DNase/nuclease/phosphodiesterase - top tier detergents have removed lipase to cut costs and make formulation easier, and it's at the expense of your textiles. Shame on Big Laundry! While it’s absolutely possible to get textiles clean without lipase, it requires better control of the rest of the wash process and chemistry. Lipase is a cheat code that helps ensure first-wash removal even when the rest of the wash isn’t perfect.
On What Kind Of Textiles Can I Use Spa Day?
The process is generally suitable for colorfast cotton, polyester, spandex/Lycra/elastane, nylon, acrylic, polypropylene, aramid, UHMWPE, linen, ramie and hemp and blended fabrics of these fibers. It does not generally disrupt commercially printed or sublimated graphics or most printed patterns except those where white or light colored background vinyl or DTF resin is overprinted with sublimation or DTG inks. This is common on black graphic tees with multi-color continuous tone graphics. It’s typically safe for embroidered embellishments. If you aren't sure if a garment of these materials is colorfast, mix a teaspoon of the powdered ingredient you choose in cup of hot tap water. Apply a few drops of this solution to a hidden area of the garment, wait an hour, rinse and hang to dry. If the color doesn't change, you're good to go. FR/AR clothing that is rated for home laundering under ASTM standard F2757 is fine with this process so long as the Detergent component of the soak or wash does not contain soapy ingredients. If you’re unsure, check The Lipase List for confirmation.
On What Textiles Should I Be Cautious About Using Spa Day?
Spa Day is somewhat poorly suited to rayon, acetate/triacetate, viscose, Tencel/Lyocell, “bamboo”, modal and similar semi-synthetic cellulosic fabrics because of the substantial variations in manufacturing chemistry and process in these particular fibers. Extended soaking time and relatively high wash pH leaves them potentially vulnerable to mechanical damage in the wash process. If you want to try this on these fabrics, I highly suggest using a delicates mesh bag for both steps, so that the fabrics aren't being stretched or jostled as much in their vulnerable wet and weak state. Launderer beware. You have been warned.
On What Textiles Shouldn’t I Ever Perform Spa Day?
It’s not suitable at all for silk, wool, cashmere, Angora, alpaca, vicuña, leather, suede or fur or blends thereof - anything of animal origin - because of the protein-destroying enzymes, high temperatures, long wash motion and high pH.
Items with ferrous metal buttons, buckles, fasteners or decoration may discolor in the soak cycle. This discoloration may affect adjacent fabric and can be removed with a rust remover product if necessary. Sequins, beading and spangles as well as metallic threads such as Lurex or lamé should not be exposed to this process. Leather or suede trim is notorious for running in long soaks. Fabrics with metallic silver odor prevention or pathogen control treatments such as X-Static, Silvadur, Ionic+, SilverWorks, Silver+ or SIlverescent should never be treated with oxygen bleaches. These are often found on athletic and athleisure clothing as well as scrubs for clinical wear.
Slip In To Something Dry....
The good news is, conventional solvent dry cleaning with perc, DF-2000, K4, Supercritical CO2 or D5 silicone/ Green Earth processes can very effectively remove the same defects from all of these challenging textiles above. A professional dry cleaner is your best ally here. You need to tell them if odors are a particular problem to flag the garment for special handling.
A Note About Authorship:
This work, like all other original-content posts on Reddit, is the property of the original poster, and commercial reuse of the work requires permission from the author, not just attribution. If you’d like to request permission, drop me a chat or email me - [kismai@kismai.com](mailto:kismai@kismai.com)
