On the Camino, you will do laundry every day.
I purchased a bar of ZOTE laundry soap on Amazon.com for about $8. It is a soft soap, and I split the bar to bring only half for the month with my mother and I. Every day when you reach the Albergue, you should wash all of your dirty clothes immediately after showering. This usually consists of scrubbing your clothes in the available sinks, but some Albergues offer a washing area or a washer/dryer. Make sure you fully rinse the soap from your clothes, because soap left on your clothes could cause an allergic reaction while walking. If you do not wash your clothes as soon as possible, they will not have time to fully dry before you leave in the morning. Some of my clothes took a full 24 hours to dry, despite being light athletic wear, and that is without the slowdown of a rainy day. If you are unable to dry your clothes fast enough, avoid putting damp clothes in your backpack. Putting wet or damp clothes in your backpack will only make all of the clean clothes in your bag damp and result in seriously smelly backpack. Instead, use carabiner hooks to hang wet or damp clothes from your backpack while you hike the next day.
Clothes dry best outside, and even better in wind and the direct sunlight. I hung clothes on my back every day of the Camino, and did not have smelly backpack problems that other pilgrims suffered from.
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