How Cigarette Smoke Can Damage Your Clothes – And What You Can Do About It

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Although you may enjoy a cigarette break occasionally, the smell that cigarette smoke leaves on your clothes can be bothersome. University of California researchers found that thirdhand smoke—residual contamination from tobacco smoke that lingers in the room even after someone stops smoking—can settle on surfaces and seep into fabrics, making it very stubborn to remove. In the long run, thirdhand cigarette smoke can cause damage to your wardrobe and be challenging to deal with. Here’s what you need to know and what you can do about it. 

How cigarette smoke is damaging to your clothes  

Experts say that when you light up a cigarette, the smoke it releases contains over 4000 compounds. This includes tar, a cancer-causing chemical characterized by a sticky, brown residue that sticks on and stains surfaces, including your clothes and upholstery. Not only do you get brown stains left behind on fabrics, but your clothes also emit a foul odor. 

Unfortunately, even after tobacco smoke dissipates, smoke is likely to adhere to surfaces and may be difficult to remove even after repeated washes. Alarmingly, it’s not only the smell that remains from the residue but also toxins like lead and cancer-causing dioxin that are harmful to the human body — even if you're not the one smoking the cigarette. Aside from chronic diseases, ScienceDaily reports that thirdhand smoke can trigger inflammatory skin diseases, too, such as contact dermatitis and psoriasis. So when you smoke, your clothes can be damaged by permanently adhering toxins, eventually making it a source of those substances, as well. 

What you can do to prevent clothing damage from cigarettes 

Reduce the damage by washing 

Although your clothes may be contaminated, there are still ways to get cigarette smoke out of them. As our post “Practicing Sustainable Fashion” highlights, it’s critical to care for your clothes to lower your carbon footprint and lessen the need to shop; with enough care for your cigarette smoke-stained garments, you can make your current wardrobe last. An easy way to get rid of the smell is by immediately washing your clothes in cold water with detergent right after exposure to cigarette smoke. Add baking soda to your wash cycle or soak your clothes in a solution of baking soda and water for more intensive cleaning. Another handy alternative is to use white vinegar, which can trap and neutralize odors caused by tobacco. 

Use an odor-eliminating spray 

Outside of washing, you can use odor-eliminating sprays conveniently sold at grocery stores right after smoking or after drying your clothes. These neutralize lingering smells in fabrics. You can spray them directly on your clothes or apply them to vents, air conditioners, filters, or even the clothes stored in your cabinet to reduce contamination among fresh laundry. Likewise, you can also directly spray distilled white vinegar and water onto used clothes and hang them to dry if you want to reduce the tobacco smell before washing. 

Prevent damage with smokeless cigarette alternatives

To completely prevent smoke damage from cigarettes, you can try smokeless cigarette alternatives, which are becoming increasingly popular. Nicotine pouches, for one, are small, easy-to-use bags of nicotine tucked under your lip for around thirty minutes. In particular, ZYN Spearmint pouches can be great because of their subtle, pleasant, and satisfying mint flavor — which also eliminates smoker's breath. Because it is smokeless, it prevents staining or discoloration in your teeth and eliminates damage to your clothes. You can also try Lupin varenicline tablets, which are used to reduce cigarette use among smokers. These 0.5 mg to 1 mg tablets do not contain nicotine and can successfully aid in lowering your cravings for cigarettes, so you can completely prevent smoke contamination in your clothes permanently. With these smokeless alternatives, you avoid toxins in fabrics altogether without washing them meticulously.

Tobacco smoke in your clothes can be frustrating to deal with, especially knowing that the damage can harm your health, too. With these tips, you can avoid both the foul order and the health risks that come with cigarette smoke damage to your wardrobe.

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