How to Wash Toxins Out of Shein Clothes: A Guide

Concerned about toxins in your clothing? You’re not alone. Many everyday fabrics, especially from fast fashion brands, can harbor potentially harmful chemicals like heavy metals, formaldehyde, and ‘forever chemicals.’ In this guide, we’ll show you how to effectively wash toxins out of your Shein clothes (or any fast fashion garment) using both gentle and heavy-duty laundry techniques — making your garments safer to wear.

What Toxins Come Up in Fast Fashion

Ultra-fast-fashion brands like Shein, Zaful, Temu, and AliExpress operate on extremely rapid, low-cost production cycles — and independent tests from environmental and textile research groups have repeatedly found that some of their garments can contain concerning levels of chemical residues. These include lead, formaldehyde-based finishes, phthalates, and other additives commonly used in low-cost dyes, prints, and synthetic fabrics.

These chemicals don’t simply sit on the surface of the fabric. Many are bonded during heat-setting or finishing, meaning they become part of the garment’s structure. In other words, trying to completely wash toxins out of certain fast-fashion clothes is a bit like trying to remove the blue dye from denim — you might reduce what’s on the surface, but the underlying treatment remains.

This doesn’t mean washing is pointless. The right techniques can help reduce surface residues, chemical odors, loose dyes, and leftover manufacturing compounds. But it’s important to understand that at-home laundering cannot undo a garment’s entire production chemistry.

How to Wash Toxins Out of Clothes: Heavy Metals

Heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and chromium can appear in clothing — especially in low-cost garments from fast-fashion brands like Shein — due to inexpensive dyes, plasticized prints, metallic embellishments, and unregulated finishing processes. These metals can bind to fabrics during production, but some surface-level residues can still be washed out with the right method.

Use Laundry Detergent with Strong Surfactants

One practical approach is to use a laundry detergent formulated with strong surfactants. Surfactants reduce surface tension and help lift away residue, pulling contaminants off the fabric during the wash and rinse cycles. This is particularly useful when trying to wash toxins out of Shein clothes or similar fast-fashion items that may carry excess dye or manufacturing residue.

Look for detergents labeled heavy-duty or industrial-strength, which often contain surfactants such as: SLES (sodium lauryl ether sulfate) & SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate).

These ingredients are designed to break down tougher residues, including loose particles of metal-containing dyes and finishing agents.

To maximize effectiveness:

• Use the hottest water setting your fabric allows,
• Choose the longest wash cycle, and
• Add ½ cup of Borax or washing soda to increase alkalinity and aid in breaking down stubborn residues.

PRO Tip: While this method can significantly reduce unbound heavy metals and surface contaminants, it cannot fully remove metal-based dyes or compounds that have chemically bonded to the fabric. Inexpensive fast-fashion garments sometimes contain dye formulations that are extremely difficult, or impossible, to eliminate through home laundering alone.

Limitations of Washing Techniques

Even with strong detergents and hot water, washing can only do so much. Some substances — especially metal-based dyes, resin finishes, or heat-bonded treatments — simply cannot be removed at home. Laundry helps reduce surface-level residues, but it can’t undo the chemical processes used during fast-fashion production.

It’s also important to handle questionable garments carefully before they reach your washing machine. Items with metallic embellishments, bright dyes, sticky plastisol prints, or heavy chemical odors may release dust or residue when first opened. Always unpack and sort these clothes with good ventilation and wash them separately.

💡 ECO Tip: The most reliable way to avoid chemical exposure is to skip brands that cut corners on dyes and finishing processes. Washing can reduce residues, but it can’t fix the toxic production methods fast-fashion companies continue to use.

How to Wash Out Formaldehyde: Is it Possible?

Formaldehyde, commonly used as an anti-wrinkle finishing agent in synthetic fabrics, cannot be fully removed from clothing. According to Herrero et al., when observing both ‘organic’ and conventional maternity clothing, regular washing practices failed to eradicate the chemical (2022). The study detected formaldehyde in 20% of samples — both washed and unwashed.

The reason behind this is that formaldehyde clings closely to the textile fibers. Therefore, removing the chemical would require heavy-duty treatments, which would strip away some layer of the fabric itself.

A Mitigation Technique for Formaldehyde:

While you can’t fully remove formaldehyde-based finishes from clothing, you can reduce some of the surface-level residue and odor using pH-shifting rinses using two popular laundry ingredients: baking soda and vinegar. However, instead of them, which neutralizes their effect, use them separately in two stages:

Step 1: Alkaline Pre-Rinse (Baking Soda)

Add ½ cup of baking soda to a cold-water rinse cycle or dissolve it in a basin.
This helps loosen and dilute any unbound formaldehyde on the surface of the fabric and neutralizes some of the chemical odor.

Step 2: Acidic Rinse (White Vinegar)

In a separate rinse cycle, add 1 cup of distilled white vinegar. Vinegar’s acetic acid helps remove residual odors and can slightly weaken the hold of some surface-level finishing agents.

Why Cold Water Matters

Cold water is essential during the process, because heat can set formaldehyde-based resins even deeper into the fibers, making them harder to remove.

Laundry Stripping: A Heavy-Duty Solution

If you’re looking to thoroughly clean your clothes and remove accumulated residues, the laundry detox method is an effective solution. This process targets build-up from detergents, fabric softeners, sweat, body oils, and even environmental pollutants that cling to your clothes over time. It’s especially useful for cotton, linen, and some durable synthetics that can handle hot water.

A Simple Laundry Stripping Recipe

For a simple detox solution, combine 1 cup of non-toxic laundry detergent, 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide, and 1/4 cup of washing soda. To apply this technique, you can either use a bathtub, sink, or your washing machine:

• Washing Machine Method: Add the detox solution to the detergent dispenser or directly in the drum, then load your clothes and run a normal wash cycle with hot water.
• Bathtub or Sink Method: Fill your container with hot water and dissolve the solution in it. Then, submerge the affected garments and let them soak for 4-5 hours, stirring occasionally to ensure even coverage.

Safety Tips for Laundry Stripping

First and foremost, protect yourself — as you wash toxins out of clothes with the laundry stripping process, always wear gloves. This keeps harsh chemicals off your skin. Secondly, avoid treating delicate fabrics such as Tencel or silk, which are prone to shrinking and fading, with this method. Laundry stripping isn’t suited for those materials, as they can shrink or fade.

Lastly, after soaking, rinse the clothes thoroughly and run an extra rinse cycle with no detergent to remove any leftover residue.

How to Clean Shein Clothes with a Salt Soak

A salt soak is a simple, gentle way to clean Shein clothes and reduce some of the chemical odor or excess dye that fast-fashion garments often arrive with. While it won’t remove deep chemical treatments, a saline soak can help lift loose dye, reduce strong factory smells, and make delicate fabrics feel cleaner without harsh products.

This makes it a great first step for people trying to clean Shein clothes safely — especially if the item smells synthetic, plasticky, or overly “new.”

How to Prepare A Salt Soak

To prepare the soak, dissolve sea salt or table salt in filtered water. The recommended ratio is about 1/4 cup of salt per several cups of filtered water, using enough water to fully dissolve the salt.

To make this soak more heavy-duty, you can mix TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) into hot water, only if the fabric allows it. To check whether it does, you can look at the recommended water temperatures on the clothing label.

As for the next step, fill a bathtub or sink with the saline solution, submerge the contaminated clothing items, and let them soak for a few hours, giving them an occasional stir. After the extended soak, drain the water, and rinse the items thoroughly.

ECO Tip: Salt soaks are useful for both new and pre-loved Shein or fast fashion items — especially pieces that arrive with noticeable dye smell or factory odor. They’re a gentle way to freshen the garment before moving on to stronger cleaning methods like a vinegar rinse or laundry stripping (for sturdy fabrics).

Is Temu Safer Than Shein When It Comes to Toxins?

Shoppers often wonder whether Temu is “safer” than Shein, especially when it comes to chemical residues, dyes, and finishing agents. However, independent investigations from environmental groups show that both brands operate within the same ultra-fast-fashion model, relying on extremely rapid, low-cost manufacturing with limited transparency around chemical controls.

In practical terms, this means:

• Both Shein and Temu garments can contain similar types of chemical residues, especially in printed synthetics and brightly dyed items.
• Neither platform provides detailed disclosures about factory-level dye chemistry, finishing treatments, or compliance testing.
• Toxin risks are linked more to production speed and cost-cutting than to the brand name itself.

So, while washing can help reduce surface-level residues, Temu isn’t inherently “safer” or less toxic than Shein. The same precautions — gentle first wash, salt soak, alkaline detergents, and separating strong dyes — apply to both.

Hidden Toxins in Fast Fashion

Even though many of us are conscious of the chemicals in food and cleaning products, the clothes we wear every day often carry hidden toxins that can harm our health. In recent years, studies have found that clothing can be a significant source of lead, phthalates, PFAS (the “forever chemicals”), and other dangerous substances. These toxins can not only irritate your skin but also pose long-term health risks.

For example, in a 2021 study, clothing samples from popular fast fashion brands like Shein, Zaful, and AliExpress were tested for toxic substances. The results were alarming: 38 samples contained dangerously high levels of lead, phthalates, and PFAS, with some items having 20 times the legal limit for these chemicals.

Here are some of the most concerning toxins commonly found in clothing:

Lead

Lead contamination is possible not only through fast fashion clothing but also accessories. Studies have found that over 25% of fashion accessories from stores like Ross and Burlington contained concerning lead levels, ranging from 0.03% to 1.7%.

Lead enters clothing through several common manufacturing processes, mainly in the form of:

• Metallic decorations and buttons
• Fabric dyes and prints, especially bright colors
• Chemical treatments used to finish garments
• Zippers and other metal accessories

The health consequences of wearing lead-contaminated clothing are serious and well-documented. When absorbed through skin contact or accidentally ingested (particularly by children touching or mouthing clothing), lead is associated with damage to the brain and nervous system.

Children may develop learning disabilities and behavioral problems, while adults face increased risks of cardiovascular disease and organ damage.

Phthalates

Phthalates are chemicals used in fast fashion to increase the flexibility and durability of plastics. They are commonly found in waterproof garments, synthetic fabrics, and clothing with plastic-based prints or decorations.

They are often discussed for their potential to interfere with hormone regulation, particularly with repeated exposure, though research is still ongoing. Children are frequently highlighted due to closer contact with clothing and greater sensitivity to environmental factors.

Key concerns associated with phthalates in apparel include:

• Absorption through skin contact
• Higher exposure risk for children and pregnant women
• Common use in waterproof and printed clothing
• Potential links to hormone and developmental disruption

PFAS

PFAS, or Perfluoroalkyl and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, are another category of dangerous chemicals that are hiding in our clothes. A recent study by Arnika and IPEN found these toxins in nearly two-thirds (63.8%) of tested clothing, including children’s wear. What makes this particularly concerning is that manufacturers deliberately add PFAS to make clothes water- and stain-resistant.

Moreover, the study found that PFAS are virtually ubiquitous in outdoor gear, as 62.5% of tested outdoor jackets contained PFAS. Some jackets even contained PFOA, a globally banned chemical.

Scientists call PFAS “forever chemicals” for a frightening reason — once they get into your body or the environment, they don’t break down. Instead, they build up over time, potentially causing serious health problems. What makes these chemicals dangerous is that their effects can show up years after exposure, and they can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy.

Why Avoid Synthetic Fabrics

If you often find yourself searching for how to wash toxins out of Shein clothes, it may also be worth rethinking the fabrics you bring into your wardrobe. The most common examples of synthetic fibres — which are produced quickly and cheaply — can retain excess dye, finishing agents, and manufacturing residues. They also shed more microfibers, which contribute to indoor dust and can make certain chemical odors harder to remove through washing.

On average, a household accumulates around 44lbs of domestic dust a year — 6 of which represent microplastics from synthetic clothes, upholstery, and furniture. Even when we rub synthetic clothes against surfaces, they shed microfibers that pollute the air.

So, while you can reduce surface residues with proper laundering, synthetics will always be more difficult to “detox” than natural fibers. So, consider switching to the latter, prioritizing fabrics like cotton, linen, and hemp.

How To Make Better Choices

Our skin is remarkable — it’s our body’s largest organ and a gateway to wellness. By choosing what we wear mindfully, we can nurture our health and feel our best every day. The following trusted certifications now can help us make informed choices:

• OEKO-TEX Standard 100: Guarantees the fabric has been tested and is free from hundreds of harmful chemicals
• GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard): Ensures organic fiber content and environmentally responsible production from field to finished product
• Cradle to Cradle: Evaluates the complete picture — from material safety to water use and social impact
• Fair Trade: Focuses on ethical production while ensuring clothes are made without harmful chemicals

Switching to healthier clothing doesn’t need to be overwhelming. Start with the basics — the clothes closest to your skin matter most. Think about your everyday underwear, t-shirts, and pajamas. Natural materials like organic cotton, hemp, and linen not only feel better but let your skin breathe naturally.

Remember, small changes add up. Maybe start with that new pair of pajamas or those socks you’ve been meaning to replace. Your skin – and the planet – will thank you for it.

Final Thoughts

We hope this guide helped you understand why some Shein clothes — and fast-fashion garments in general — may arrive with chemical residues, and how to reduce them through proper washing. And while searching for “how to wash toxins out of Shein clothes” is a great first step, the bigger picture always comes down to where and what you choose to buy.

Your clothing choices influence not only your own exposure, but also the kind of production practices you support. Choosing better fabrics, opting for natural or certified materials, and being more selective about where you shop can make a meaningful difference over time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• “Toxic Chemicals in Ultra Fast Fashion Could Be Harming Your Health.” Good On You, 25 Sept. 2024.
• Dominici, Rita. “From Clothes to Skin: Chemical Safety in Ultra-Fast Fashion and Luxury Brands.” Oslo Metropolitan University, 2 June 2025.
• Herrero, Miguel et al. “Early-Life Exposure to Formaldehyde through Clothing.” PMC, 29 June 2022.
• “Hazardous Hems: How Fashion Wreaks Havoc on Health.” Earth Day, 23 Oct. 2025.