Battling Stench With Fresh Wave®

by Lola (Akinmade) Åkerström Jul 13, 2010
Fresh Wave® - Photography by Lola Akinmade

All photos by author.

Promises to keep you fresh with its ninja-like set of odor neutralizing products.

After traveling for days on end with limited access to laundry facilities, it’s safe to say that accumulating lingering stench is inevitable. While I’m more than guilty of spraying whiffs of perfume into funk-filled sneakers and onto dirty clothes to mask odor, I’m usually on the lookout for more natural remedies or products like Febreze intended for such cover ups.

But first, the marketing spiel – Fresh Wave ® products are eco-friendly and are made from natural ingredients such as lime, pine needles, aniseed, clove, soya, and cedar wood. This blend of ingredients allows the products to neutralize smoke, mildew, musty clothes, and other relatively unpleasant smells.

Instead of masking odors, Fresh Wave ® says its products use “the power of nature to neutralize them.” If you’re interested, here’s the nitty-gritty chemistry behind their battle between nature and stench:

The science behind Fresh Wave odor neutralizer is its natural molecules. By carrying an electrostatic charge on their surface, these molecules attract and bind malodorous particles. Once saturated, the Fresh Wave molecules fall away, effectively neutralizing the odor.

So when Fresh Wave® sent me a couple complimentary odor neutralizing products geared towards travelers to test, I knew exactly what to try them out on…my 12-year old beat-up Adidas running shoes.

Fresh Wave® - Photography by Lola Akinmade

Anyways, I tore into a pine needles-scented packaging box to unveil a sexy bag of gel beads (Pearl Packs), a 2-oz travel sized spray bottle, and an aromatic soy-based candle. Each pungent sachet of odor destroying beads was enough to take out an entire army with its heavy smell.

Maybe I’m not as outdoorsy as I think I am, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the pine-y goodness that instantly filled up the room.

I pulled out my running shoes, which were thankfully stinky on cue, and tossed a satchel of beads into each shoe, leaving them to simmer overnight.

The Results

By daybreak, I removed both sachets of pearls from the shoes, clearly baffled by their superhuman regenerating capabilities. Their scent seemed even stronger than the day before, and my stinky shoes had been neutralized into submission.

Fresh Wave® - Photography by Lola Akinmade

The pearl beards are designed to last for 30 days without losing strength and I wholeheartedly believe they do.

Sexy packaging? Check.

Effective? Check.

Efficient? Check.

But that odor?

Though the pearls are non-toxic and free of harsh chemicals, the word “unscented” on the packaging seemed confusing as they clearly contain extracts of lime, pine needles, aniseed, clove, and cedarwood.

If heavily-made up attendants wielding perfume bottles at malls freak you out, this set of odor neutralizing products, no matter how natural their scents, will definitely overwhelm you.

Other Fresh Wave® products include jars of neutralizing crystals, carpet shake powder, vacuum pearls which go into your vacuum cleaner bags, a multi-purpose liquid additive that can be added to laundry to remove odors, and a slew of other items.

Price: $8.95 – $150.00 I BUY at Fresh Wave Online

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