How To Get Rid of Fart Smell – 12 Surprising & Instant Solutions

I don’t know where to start on this topic because there is so much to it but you will agree with me that whether you have a chronic gas problem or you just occasionally let out a bad one it can be quite embarrassing.

For me, the worst has got to be when you are on a date and trying to make an impression and the smelliest one quietly makes its way out.

Whatever your situation, being able to get rid of fart odor before anyone smells it could save you a lot of explanations and in this post, I share with you how you can do just that.

So in short, how do you get rid of fart smells? There are two main ways to get rid of fart smells. Fart smells can be dealt with medically or non-medically. Medical solutions mainly entail diet adjustments, taking various medicines or surgery. Non-medical ways entail, using air purifiers, surface cleaners, sprays, and adsorbent materials among other solutions.

Farting can be caused by many things. Some of the common causes of farts according to Health Line include:

• High fiber diets:  as high fiber foods generally have more sulfur in them, the more of these types of food you eat the more hydrogen sulfide gas you produce in your gut which is the gas responsible for the deadly fart odor when you fart.
• Food intolerance: if you lactose or gluten intolerant you are no stranger to how the stomach acts up when exposed to milk and pizza. 
• Constipation: as feces building up in your intestines, smelly gases also build up in your belly as the food starts to ferment in your belly and when the gas eventually escapes your system it smells absolutely terrible
• Bacteria or infections in the gut: if you eat contaminated food you can catch all sorts of tummy bugs that cause an imbalance of healthy bacteria in your gut leading to smelly farts
• Colon cancer: polyps and tumor formation in your intestines block and hold up food for too long leading to the production of smelly gases in your gut as the food starts to ferment and this comes out of your digestive system as a bad fart 
• Medications: medications such as antibiotics kill off healthy gut bacteria, causing an imbalance of bacteria in your stomach which can lead to smelly farts.

Besides the above, you could be dealing with something more serious like a chronic digestive disorder such as IBS, gastritis or Chrons Disease. If you here looking for medical solutions to get rid of smells, unfortunately, this post is not for you and you would rather be consulting a doctor for advice. 

My post here focuses on how you can get rid of fart smells non-medically. However, if you have a serious flatulence issue I believe some of the tips I share here can give you some solace and help you live a normal life while you seek a medical solution.

Keeping in mind the various causes of farting, there are so many situations you could find yourself in where you are desperately trying to eliminate fart odor. You could be dealing with your room persistently smelling having an awful fart smell in the mornings, or your dog or pet just dishing out farts all over your house.

It could be a lingering fart smell in your car, on your chair, couch or you just fail to hold it in at work. Your farts might have also brought you into a make or break situation (you have to read this post if you are in relationship).

Whatever scenario you are facing, I am confident you will find a solution among the 12 tips I have here.

The solutions I provide are so easy to implement. Just follow the product links I have provided if you want to try out one of the tips and you will be directed straight to where you can get the product at Amazon or on the product’s actual website.

1. Avoid Carbonated Drinks And Chewing Gum

The trick here is to avoid swallowing too much air. When chewing gum, you swallow quite a lot and a lot of what you swallow is air. Once you swallow air your body needs to release it and eventually, it comes out of your body as a fart. So you can imagine what chewing gum all day can do for your gas.

In addition, the air you swallow, artificial sweeteners in gum, such as sorbitol can also give you gas. So I would minimize the amount of gum I chew to minimize my farting and the risks of releasing smelly farts. This can be hard if gum is your go to for fresh breath but you can try to use long-lasting mouthwash or mints you can suck on as an alternative.

As for carbonated drinks, they can release carbon dioxide in your stomach causing you to feel gassy and bloated. Normally carbonated drinks just cause you to belch rather than fart but in excessive amounts, they can lead to unnecessary air into your digestive tract which eventually comes out of your body in the form of a potentially smelly fart. So to minimize farting, limit your intake of carbonated drinks.

2. Place DIY Odor Adsorbents Around Your House

There are three secret ingredients in your home that are good at absorbing odors. These include vinegar, baking/washing soda, and ground coffee or coffee granules. To use these ingredients for odor absorption you simply place them in porous containers around your home.

You can also use this method for your office desk but I would avoid vinegar in the office as the smell can tick off some people. A great way to set up your homemade fart smell adsorbent is to use jars with a mason jar lid as shown in the picture below.

Here are the steps to make your own mason jar fart odor adsorbent.

Step 1: Place the ingredient of choice in your jar.

Step 2: Remove the disc-shaped lid from the metal ring and replace the disc with a paper circle that you cut out yourself

Step 3: Place the paper circle on top of the jar and screw the metal ring on top.

Step 4: Once the jar is sealed pierce salt shaker type holes on the paper circle to allow air in and out of the jar.

If you are looking for Mason Jars get one off Amazon here. I found these instructions for a homemade odor adsorbent on Mom 4 Real and she illustrates the instructions beautifully. For this solution to work effectively you will have to place several jars across your house. Perhaps about 8-12 per room.

Also, try putting different ingredient jars in one room. As far as the effectiveness of this solution is concerned, its really trial and error. Also, this is a less instant solution and you should use it for lingering fart smells in your home rather than expect to get rid of the odor there and then when you fart.

3. Get An Off The Shelf Odor Adsorbent

A better alternative to homemade odor adsorbent is an off the shelf odor adsorbent. There are so many varieties on the market of this. These commercial odor adsorbents are usually organic and Eco-friendly using absorbent material such as bamboo charcoal, volcanic minerals, and non-toxic gels that absorb various gases very well including fart causing molecules.

I have used a bamboo charcoal air purifier bag for my kitchen sink smell and it works really well. With several of these bags lying around your home, they can do a great job getting rid of stubborn fart odors in your indoor air. The Moso Natural Air Purifying Bag makes a fantastic bamboo charcoal air purifier for fart smells both in your house and in your car.

Some products that come highly recommended to get rid of fart odor include the Bad Air Sponge, and the Gonzo Odor Eliminator. The Bad Odor Air Sponge works by pulling and neutralizing odor-causing molecules from the air and porous materials like drapes, mattresses, and furniture where your fart smell could stick onto for a while.

One jar can cater for a room as big as 400 sq ft and last anywhere between 30-120 days depending on how polluted your air is.

The Gonzo Odor eliminator makes use of volcanic minerals to absorb odors. Apparently, volcanic rock is 1500 times more power in absorbing odors than bamboo charcoal. This adsorbent also lasts for up to 2 years and all you have to do to maintain its absorptive strength is to leave it outside in the sun for 6 hours about every 6-12 months. Once you take the rocks out of the packaging, just place them in the rooms that are smelling the most and allow them anywhere from 4-8 hours to start clearing your air effectively.

4. Use An Odor Eliminating Spray

Using an odor eliminating spray is really a short-term measure. A spray weed smokers swear by is Ozium. If you have smelt the pungent smell of weed before you will know Ozium will definitely work for fart smells.

Now Ozium is not an air freshener and it actually contains an air cleaning chemical called Glycolized Triethylene. This chemical is actually known as an air sanitizer. This chemical acts on and decomposes airborne microorganisms and odor-causing molecules in your open indoor air space creating fresher air.

Unlike air fresheners, Ozium spray does not just mask your fart smell, it actually destroys it. Now you can’t go spraying this in public spaces whenever you fart. That will just be plain strange. You can think of other ways to use it, but I think the best way is just before someone comes to visit you and you have been farting in a room and your room’s air smells foul. So this is an instant but short-term fix.

5. Clean Up With Odor Eliminating Detergents

Now when you are faced with those tough smelling farts that stick to furniture, to quickly get the smell off you can use an odor eliminating detergent to wipe leather seats, and furniture made of water-resistant materials.

For furniture that is not water resistant use foam from a good odor eliminating detergent and wet vacuum cleaner to suck up all the water and dirt. A great detergent that works for fart smells is OdorKlenz Source Odor Treatment, Odor Neutralizer.

OdorKlenz gives you a 30-day money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with their products’ performance. Whether the fart odor is from your pets or humans, once you use OdorKlenz, it should eliminate the odor for you.  Clean up your upholstery and wipe walls in your bedroom and the worst smelling rooms with odor eliminating chemicals at least every 1 to 3 months and your home should smell generally fart free and fresh.

Another thing you can do when it comes to cleaning for odors is to simply hire a professional cleaning company. Such contractors come equipped with all the necessary tools to deal with odors and you only need to get them to come and clean every other quarter of the year.

6. Use An Odor Extractor

Odor extractors are good for clearing lingering fart smells in your bedroom or in your living room. An odor extractor is an advanced version of your typical odor absorber which I described above. Odor extractors are electric devices which have a fan or multiple fans in their core combined with an activated carbon filter.

You plug the device into your power supply and the fan sucks all the lingering fart smell in your bedroom or living area into the device and the fart smell is finally absorbed by the activated carbon. For a better understanding of how this device works, have a look at the Hamilton True Air Odor Eliminator on Amazon.

7. Use A Steam Cleaner

To remove odors without using any detergents and solvents you can try steam cleaning. You can steam everything from your bed to your sofa’s, curtains and computer chair to get rid of deeply entrenched fart smells. Any good brand steam cleaner will work for fart odor. One I have seen that is worth trying is the McCulloch MC1275 Heavy-Duty Steam Cleaner.

There is really not much to steam cleaning, just add water to your device, plug it into your power supply and steam away. The steam permeates deeply to lift every bit of odor and your devices extractor tool removes the source of the odor and the actual odor instantly.  However, just be careful with leather and synthetic materials as steam can deform these.

8. Use A Powder Deodorizer

Another solution for furniture is to use a deodorizer powder. Deodorizer power works by absorbing odor-causing molecules. You will need a vacuum cleaner for this. Sprinkle the powder on the chair or upholstery where the fart smell is coming from and leave it there for about half a day.

Then after the powder has sat long enough, use your vacuum cleaner to remove it from the affected upholstery. Once all the powder is vacuumed out, your upholstery should no longer smell like fart. An ideal odor eliminating powder is the Van Den Heuvel’s R86 Industrial Odor Eliminator. This stuff gets rid of skunk smells and fart smells are no hustle for it.

9. Insert Deodorizing Fart Pads In Your Pants Or Underwear

The magic of activated carbon in absorbing odors really starts to shine when you put it close to the source of your smelly farts. This is as instant as getting rid of fart smell can get. 

Packed with odor absorbing activated carbon the fart pad is a self-adhesive pad you can stick on your underwear behind you bum and when you release a bad one it immediately absorbs all the smell. No one will ever know you farted except you.

A great fart pad to try if you are considering this option and you can easily get at Amazon is the Subtle Butt: disposable gas neutralizers.

10. Wear Activated Carbon Pants Or Underwear

Using the same principle as the fart pad, you can now get underwear, jeans, and pajamas that come ready-made with activated carbon within them. I like to call these fart pants and undies.

I think wearable activated carbon is the best solution compared to all the other 12 as you stop the smell pollution at source without any discomfort. All this happens as you go about your normal life.

You don’t have to dispose of your clothes like you do the fart pads and you just use them every day like normal clothes. The only thing though is you have to wash them and dry them with extra care to ensure your activated carbon remains active.

I have seen a couple of brands now making fart pants and briefs but I highly recommend the Shreddies line if you want to try this solution. They made their products with people with digestive disorders in mind and I think they are just an awesome company.

11. Use Activated Carbon Seat Cushions

Another twist with activated carbon is the activated carbon seat cushion. Just place the cushion wherever you plan to sit, indoors, outdoors or in your car and every time you fart on it, your smelly farts get sucked right up by the activated carbon contained within the cushion. Activated carbon seat cushions make a perfect addition to fart pads or fart underwear. If you would like one of these, try out the DGQ Natural Bamboo Charcoal Seat Cushion.

12. Get An Air Purifier

My final tip for fart odor is to use an air purifier in your home. Air purifiers provide both an instant and long term solution to fart smells, depending on the type of air purifier you are using. This will ensure that the smell does not linger. Air purifiers are especially ideal for your room if you wake up to a foul fart smell every morning. Another place air purifiers will do well is in your car. 

With air purifiers, you should avoid ionic air purifiers and go for either a PCO air purifier or a true-HEPA air purifier that comes combined with an activated carbon filter which absorbs odors including fart smells. Another air purifier you can use is an ozone air purifier but this is only for cleaning purposes rather than all day use.

The reason you only want to use an ozone generator air purifier for cleaning purposes is that though ozone is very effective at cleaning out odors in a room or car, it is a harmful chemical that causes respiratory irritations and allergic reactions in both humans and animals. So only use an ozone generator when there is no one around and turn it off an hour before people reoccupy your home or car.  I talk extensively about how the different types of air purifiers work  here.

Another solution that would have come in handy that I stumbled onto is the Better Marriage Blanket but unfortunately, the product never became commercially available. The idea was to place a bed size activated carbon pad under your bed covers and every time you fart while you sleep the carbon absorbs all the smell.

This would have been such a handy tool for many people. It would have been a really great solution for people whose rooms smell terrible in the mornings after a night of farting. You wouldn’t need a noisy device humming in the background while you sleep or need to rush to open windows to freshen up your air. In any case, at least we have activated carbon pajamas and undies.

So this is pretty much it on air purifiers and getting rid of fart smells. If you want other ideas on how to clean to freshen up the air in your home  be sure to read my post on how to keep the air in your home clean. You might also find my resource pages on cleaning supplies for fresh air and other recommended gear to help you keep your air fresh useful.

About the Author

Jean-Baptiste

Jean is a research economist by profession and he runs Fresh Air Genie. He is enthusiastic about maintaining good air quality at home and on the go and he shares his knowledge about this here at Fresh Air Genie.