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I've bought a squeezy silicone toy and some kitchen utensils in a chemical store and didn't notice they smell a LOT under 2 masks (2 cause I'm allergic and sharp chem smells irritate my pharynx quite bad). I've washed it like 5 times with dish soap, regular soap, shampoo, soaked in baking soda and vinegar for an hour, nothing helps, the smell is as strong as before... Idk if they keep all their stuff piled up under broken detergent bags or smth, but it's melting my breather even from an arm's length... 😫

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  • Leave it outdoors (under cover) for a week, where air circulates?
    – Weather Vane
    Jan 16, 2022 at 14:02
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    Hi CupOfRedTea, Welcome to Lifehacks. Don't forget to review the Tour and Help center to find out more about our site. That said, your two most viable options are to return the 'defective' goods for refund, or to 'gift' them to someone with less sensitivity to the odour. Certain kinds of plastics acquire a detergent-like odour as they age. There is no 'fix' for the deterioration. Good luck.
    – Stan
    Jan 16, 2022 at 20:16

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Something that works for me is to soak the item in a solution of Borax and white vinegar. I use it to remove the smell from empty glass jars that had very potent smelling items in them like pasta sauce, pickles and Caesar dressing. Like yourself, I tired all the other solutions I found online and none worked very well until I used Borax/vinegar combo.

It works so well, that even after my jars have been deodorized, I store the leftover solution in a separate large glass jar and can reuse it multiple times for deodorizing other jars or small objects.

You can purchase some from many big box stores and it's usually in the Laundry aisle. Since I'm in Canada, I get mine from Canadian Tire. This is the most popular brand of Borax: enter image description here

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  • Looks like something that'll be hard to find where I live, but I'll look around, thanks!
    – CupOfRedTea
    Jan 25, 2022 at 22:11
  • Apparently you can also purchase it online if that's easier. The company's page lists all the other retailers near your location that sell it. Hopefully, there's a store near you that does carry it. 20muleteamlaundry.com/where-to-buy
    – nnamerz
    Jan 27, 2022 at 9:42
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If chemicals haven't worked you could try heat. Heat oven to 350 and flip them every 20 minutes until the smell is out.

https://youtu.be/iIGb6dkvhvQ

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If none of the suggestions you get work, might I suggest a new brand?

I have oxo-branded silicone utensils that have never smelled at all.

https://www.oxo.com/categories/cooking-and-baking/utensils.html

I don't have a link for the toy as I don't know what kind of toy it is.

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Use colorless technical alcohol. Fill a receptacle fit for your utensils, put your utensils in the receptacle, fill with alcohol until you cover them and wait 2 hours and then evaluate.

Also try with vinegar but alcohol when it dries out will leave no or negligible smell.

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    What do you mean by 'technical' alcohol? In most jurisdictions you would need a licence to posess pure alcohols, especially in sufficient volumes to do what you suggest.
    – Chenmunka ♦
    Apr 13, 2022 at 8:37
  • Isopropyl alcohol, i was talking about, its a strong alcohol that i used to clean metalic scisors at work.,, if not then find a strong alcohol that has not been colored. use a enclosed recipient
    – Cris
    Apr 15, 2022 at 7:14

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