Fellow oily people, do you deal with persistent smells from bed sheets?

I’ve tried everything.

New apartment, new washing machine, new detergent, baking soda, vinegar, air drying in the sun, buying brand new sheets. You name it, I’ve tried it.

The story usually goes like this. We get relatively cheap bed sheets. We use them for a while, store them, and when we’re about to use them again, there’s this musty «heavy» smell to it. It’s hard to describe. They’re not sour or anything like that. But also not quite «old people smell» either.

Some parts of the pillow case may have more of this smell, and some parts have less. It’s like there’s you’ve spilled a bad perfume on it, but only some parts of it. It’s more persistent on the fabric that has been folded in on itself.

We’ve tried storing it different ways, and sometimes not at all, just leaving it on the drying rack for when we’re about to use it. We’re lucky to be able to have a dedicated space for this. For science, I suppose?

We wash at 90 C every time. But some, not all, perhaps 20-40% of our bedding will develop this smell. It gets worse the longer they’re stored, leading us to have to wash it again before use.

So the only thing I can’t really replace is me. So I’m assuming I’m the problem here. My skin is very oily, but we change our bedding weekly. But it’s currently my biggest suspect. That the oil doesn’t get removed properly, and that the fabric is somehow still oily and yummy for bacteria, even after a wash.

So as a fellow oily person, or if this sounds familiar to you, help? Any tips? Any ideas? Soaking before washing? Boiling sheets?

Sorry if any typos or weird sentences, not a native speaker.