[Guide] How to wash your BJJ Gi

Here is a quick checklist for washing your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gi. This method removes sweat, bacteria, and odour while mitigating shrinkage + wear and tear and protecting the health and safety of you and your training partners. Caring properly for your training gear also improves its resale value (especially helpful for kids who seem to need a new size every season).

Do:

✅ Wash immediately after training (or at least take it out of your gear bag)

✅ Use fragrance-free detergent

✅ Wash your gi in warm or cold water

✅ Always hang to dry

✅ Wash your belt

✅ Boost the clean by adding vinegar, baking soda, or Stink Bombs to the load

Don't:

🚫 Leave dirty gear in your training bag overnight

🚫 Use fabric softener or scent boosters

🚫 Wash in hot water

🚫 Tumble dry

It doesn't take long to realize that your usual laundry routine doesn't cut it for your gi.

The most difficult challenge tends to be figuring out how to wash your gi so it smells clean, feels soft, and doesn’t shrink!

You probably tried extra detergent and scented fabric softener. Now, your gi smells like BO + Axe + Downy—a unique malodorous experience (you're nodding your head).

Scented products do not remove the bacteria and buildup that cause bad smell. In fact, these products work by using silicone polymers to coat each strand of the material. This seals everything into the garment - including the bacteria that causes the bad odour in the first place.

Fragrance can also cause direct harm to you and your training partners. Fragrances in scented laundry products can trigger asthma attacks, skin reactions, respiratory difficulties, and even fertility issues. This may not concern you, but someone in your gym needs their puffer to get through class. And taking care of your BJJ fam is what matters.

How to remove odour from BJJ training gear

Try these natural (and cheap) methods to boost cleaning power and get your gi and rashuguard germ and odour free.

1. Add a cup of baking soda directly into the tub of your machine to sanitize and remove odour

2. Add 1/2 cup vinegar to the rinse cycle to remove odour and soften fabric

3. Use Nature Clean Stink Bombs

The first two options work OK. But after years of build-up, my gear smelled sour. So I gave in and bought a pack of Nature Clean Stink Bombs. At $6.99 for 10 pods, it wasn't a huge investment.

After years of having to wash my gis one at a time and a specially dedicated load for rashguards only, I tested this product by using a single pod along with my regular detergent to wash a full gi, 3 rashguards, and a sports bra.

My training laundry came out clean, soft, and free of the sour smell and the layers of product residue from my training partners. I want that for you, too!

Now go tap people out and smell good while doing it!

P.S. I also tested Nature Clean Stink Bombs on a load of pool gear after my kids’ swim lessons. I washed two swimsuits and two towels. While the chlorine smell lingered a bit, it was much decreased. I strongly suspect that if I used two of the pods it would be gone altogether.

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