My advise is to wear undershirts. Even the tank top ones will make a big difference in keeping your shirts clean.
I have had some success with soaking in a solution of vinegar for min 20 minutes. And or oxy bleach, (not at the same time).
Just a heads up that laundry stripping will not remove antiperspirant stains. I’m going through this with my white undershirts and after doing a stripping treatment the shirts came out pristine except for the waxy buildup on the pits.
I wash my workout clothes on the roughest setting. Probably shortens the life of the clothes but gets the drink out.
I also, despite being in good shape, sweat a ton. I honestly hate it, but there are much worse things to live with.
Anyways, I had the same pit stain problem as you. I found that it was my antiperspirant causing the problem. I switched away from an antiperspirant (which honestly wasn’t really helping me sweat any less anyway) to a straight deodorant (Old Spice) and the problem went away.
Old spice is The Best.
Getting in shape, all things being equal, makes you sweat more, not less, since you are training your body to sweat more in response to the greater thermic effect of more intense exertion.
Adding to this, It raises your metabolism so you burn hotter just generally during the day whilst doing nothing too
Well shit, time to get out of shape then. 😉
Being fat retains heat and causes sweating too so you have to be out of shape but thin.
But it isn’t cooling (eccrine) sweat that causes pit stains. It’s apocrine sweat that’s released under stress. I don’t think that increases when you get in good shape. Probably decreases with your cortisol.
despite being in good shape, sweat a ton. I honestly hate it, but there are much worse things to live with.
I used to be this way, using a sauna daily massively reduced how much I sweat.
Really? I sweat so much quicker since going to a sauna regularly. Though it’s nowhere near daily
I’m a big fat guy who sweats a lot. I’ve never cared about the sweat though only the smell. So my whole life I’ve used nothing but deodorant, NEVER antiperspirant.
I’ve never had problems with either pit stains, nor lingering odor. I’m pretty convinced that antiperspirant leads to more smell; I’m not saying I’m fresh as a daisy at all times, but even at my worst, my odor isn’t that bad, while drier people often stink to high heaven.
Get those glands removed, Bruce Lee style.
How does your washing machine work? A standard cycle with mine takes 3 1/2 hours, and after so much soaking at 30C, even my workout t-shirts smell fine. The detergent is standard aldi powder.
They’re pretty basic. I live in a condo building so I use the little laundromat.
Sometimes when I use a faster cycle, my t shirts are still smelly; so the smaller machine could be the issue.
Citric acid is dirt cheap and does wonders for some cleaning jobs. Many recommend vinegar for these things, but citric acid doesn’t leave a smell and works for a lot of the same things. I guess anything acidic would do.
I’m going to second the undershirts. They also prevent the wet spots on your good shirt.
Also, Old Spice, the blue gel stick not the powdery stuff, has been the only thing that actually keeps the sweating down.
I enjoyed the OS scent, used the white bars and got stains. Tried their blue gel and my arms break out in nasty rashes. Real bummer.
Sometimes I get the rash too. But at least they’re dry rashes.
Quit all that working out nonsense
HA.
Probably should, but there’s something magical about being 45, posting up on bench next to the broccoli heads, and putting them to shame. It’s addicting.
*addictive. It’s an adjective not a verb. Roid head
TIL
Im so glad I grew up and can work shirtless remotely… high school was hell for me.
Sorry that doesn’t directly answer – but I found that aluminum antiperspirants didn’t help the clothing pits situation.
Also, wear black.
A couple of other people have commented on this, but no one’s fully explained the mechanism, so:
Fabric that’s petroleum-derived like polyester and most other synthetics traps odors and resists washing in ways that natural fibers don’t. Some people think this is because synthetics are less breathable than natural fibers, and while this is often the case, that’s not actually the main cause. Rather, this is because being oil-derived makes the fibers water-resistant, which keeps them from being thoroughly cleaned, and also traps body oils, resulting in food for odor-causing bacteria.
Here’s a good video explaining this in more detail, for the curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJVYTnFjiFg
Honestly, I don’t think there’s much to do about that one beyond making sure to get 100% natural fiber clothes. As a bonus, it’s often less irritating to the skin and helps reduce a major source of micro plastics.
Some antiperspirants are further much tougher to wash off and will tend to resist washing, but I don’t know the mechanism behind this one, so I can’t really advise on it, apart from saying that I’ve not encountered the issue with natural deodorants.
When I have issues with the underarms of my workout shirts coming out still discolored from sweat+deodorant, I like to take a small amount of laundry detergent = just enough to dampen the areas needing extra help. Then I put it in the washer, add my detergent for the load, with a presoak setting so the clothes all soak in the water and detergent for 15 minutes before the wash cycle actually starting.
The Hyper Fixed podcast has an episode about this called “The Pits.”
TL;DL (iirc) don’t let stains set by letting dirty laundry sit for a long time is probably the most important. Don’t use a dryer. Try different solutions to pre-treat (vinegar/baking soda+water/dish soap).
I’ll give that a try. Thank you!
This happens when you pack HE washers too much. For your stinky clothes you need to do smaller loads, and possibly add in some kind of oxygen bleach booster.
