Getting the Chlorine Smell Out of a Washed Swimsuit

What’s in this guide

• Why does my swimsuit still smell like chlorine after washing?
• What removes the chlorine smell for good?
• Does vinegar or baking soda work better?
• Do vitamin C tablets neutralize chlorine?
• Are chlorine-removing swim washes worth buying?
• What should you never do to a smelly swimsuit?
• How do you keep the smell from coming back?
• Frequently asked questions

If your swimsuit still reeks of chlorine after a wash, soak it for 30 minutes in cool water with about 2 tablespoons of white vinegar per quart, rinse in plain cool water, and air dry it out of direct sun. That single step handles what the washing machine could not, because the smell is not dirt. It is a chemical residue that needs neutralizing, not scrubbing.

The second thing to fix is heat. If that suit has been through a warm wash or a dryer even once, the odor is baked in deeper and it may take two soaks to clear.

Why does my swimsuit still smell like chlorine after washing?

Because what you’re smelling isn’t chlorine, and detergent isn’t built to remove it. That sharp pool smell comes from chloramines, the compounds formed when pool chlorine reacts with sweat, body oils, urine, and sunscreen. They cling to synthetic fibers and sit there.

Swimsuit fabric makes it worse. Nylon and polyester blended with spandex have a huge amount of surface area and a slightly porous structure, so residue works its way in and stays put. Detergent lifts oils and dirt off the surface, then rinses away without touching the bonded chloramines underneath.

Sunscreen is usually the silent partner here. It leaves an oily film that traps chloramines against the fabric, which is the same reason your scented laundry tricks only mask the problem for a day. Perfume on top of residue is still residue.

What removes the chlorine smell for good?

A cool acidic soak. Acid neutralizes the alkaline chloramine residue and releases it from the fibers so a plain rinse can carry it out. Here is the whole process:

• Fill a sink or bowl with cool water, roughly a quart per suit.
• Add about 2 tablespoons of white vinegar per quart of water.
• Submerge the suit and press the air out. Let it sit 30 minutes, no longer.
• Rinse under cool running water until the vinegar smell is gone.
• Squeeze, do not wring. Roll it in a towel to press out water.
• Lay it flat to dry in shade with air moving over it.

If the smell survives, repeat once. A suit that has been through a hot dryer sometimes needs two rounds, and if two soaks don’t touch it, the odor has bonded to degraded elastic and the suit is near the end of its life anyway.

For the wash itself, a free and clear detergent is the better partner. Dye and fragrance additives leave their own film on synthetics, and film is the thing you’re trying to get rid of.

Does vinegar or baking soda work better?

Vinegar works better on chlorine smell. Chloramine residue is alkaline, and vinegar is acidic, so it neutralizes the thing causing the odor. Baking soda is also alkaline, which means it absorbs and buffers odors rather than reacting with them.

Baking soda is still useful, just for a different job. It’s good on mildew smell from a suit left in a wet gym bag, since it deodorizes generally. Two tablespoons per quart, same 30-minute cool soak.

Do not mix them. Vinegar and baking soda cancel each other out and give you salt water plus a fizz show. Pick one, use it alone, and rinse it out.

One caution on vinegar: keep the soak cool and keep it to 30 minutes. Acid over long periods will slowly weaken spandex, so this is an as-needed treatment, not a weekly ritual.

Do vitamin C tablets neutralize chlorine?

Yes, and it’s the gentlest option available. Ascorbic acid reacts with chlorine and chloramines to neutralize them, which is why water utilities and pool crews use ascorbic acid to dechlorinate water before discharging it. The same chemistry works in your bathroom sink.

Crush one plain 500 mg vitamin C tablet, dissolve it in a sink of cool water, and soak the suit 20 to 30 minutes. Use unbuffered, uncoated tablets if you can, since coatings and flavorings just add residue. Rinse in cool water afterward.

Swimmers also use ascorbic acid rinses on skin and hair for the same reason, because chlorine dries both out over a season of pool time. If chlorine has been rough on your hair, a neutralizing rinse does more for it than any supplement routine will.

Are chlorine-removing swim washes worth buying?

Only if you swim several times a week. These are specialty cleansers built around a neutralizing agent, usually sodium thiosulfate or ascorbic acid, plus a mild surfactant. They work, and they work on the same principle as a vitamin C tablet.

What you’re paying for is convenience and consistency. One pump in a sink, no crushing tablets, no measuring vinegar, and a formula tested not to shred elastane. For a lap swimmer or a kid on a summer swim team who’s in the pool five days a week, that’s a fair trade.

For a family that hits the pool a handful of times a summer, it’s an unnecessary bottle in the cabinet. Vinegar you already own does the job. This is one of those cases where the cheap fix is not a compromise, it’s the same chemistry with a worse label.

What should you never do to a smelly swimsuit?

Five things will make the smell permanent or ruin the suit outright:

• Hot water. Heat sets chloramine odor into the fibers and relaxes spandex so the suit never snaps back.
• The dryer. Same problem, worse. Tumble heat is the fastest way to turn a saggy suit into a smelly saggy suit.
• Chlorine bleach. You are trying to remove chlorine byproducts. Adding more chlorine is not a plan.
• Fabric softener. It coats fibers with a waxy film, which seals odor in and kills the moisture-wicking behavior of the fabric.
• Wringing or twisting. It breaks the elastic threads that hold the shape.

Direct sun is the sixth. UV degrades both chlorine-damaged elastane and the color, so dry in shade with airflow instead of on a hot deck rail.

How do you keep the smell from coming back?

Rinse the suit in cool water within a few minutes of leaving the pool, before it dries. Chloramines bond as the water evaporates, so a 60-second rinse at the pool shower prevents most of what you’d otherwise be soaking out at home. This is the single highest-return habit in the whole article.

Then don’t let it sit wet in a bag. Damp fabric in a dark bag grows mildew on top of the chlorine smell, and now you have two problems. Hang it somewhere with air movement as soon as you get home.

Rinsing before you swim helps too. A suit and skin already saturated with clean water absorb less pool water, which means less chlorine going in. Serious swimmers do this out of habit, along with using earplugs, though the soft foam ones meant for sleeping are not the right tool for the pool.

And rotate two suits if you swim often. Elastane needs about 24 hours to fully recover its shape, and a suit that gets that recovery time holds up longer and traps less residue. Pool chemistry is hard on everything it touches, including tooth enamel for frequent swimmers, so the same logic applies across the board: rinse it off, don’t let it sit. Our deals hub is where we track the household basics that make this routine cheap.

Frequently asked questions

The short version: rinse at the pool, soak in cool vinegar water when the smell shows up, and keep the suit away from heat in every form. That’s the whole system, and it costs a few cents per swim.

If you’ve been buying a new suit every summer because the old one smells and sags, the heat is almost certainly the culprit rather than the chlorine. Skip the dryer for one season and see how much longer the suit lasts.