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.
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.
Wear an undershirt. It will protect your nice clothes from stains. Get cotton ones as it will absorb and breath better.
If you’re a guy it will also make you look more solid. Kinda like a push up bra for dudes.
If you’re using antiperspirant that boasts that it lasts all day, it works by encasing the aluminium salts that make it antiperspirant in microscopic wax beads that are supposed to break open over the day as you move around. This leaves waxy stains behind that are a pain to wash out as the aluminium salts and wax protect each other from detergent and water.
What works is something acidic that will react with the aluminium salts and ideally the wax, too. I’ve had great success soaking t-shirts in water with some sulfamic acid (also available as coffee machine descaler) for a day or two. Vinegar might work, but it’ll be less effective and so take longer and need more, so will be smelly and more expensive.
They make non aluminum antiperspirants (least according to the package, I’m using Dove ones currently) that boast all day protection. Since I switched my shirts don’t get stained in the arm pits anymore.
Also found trimming armpit hair helped too.
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.
wear black :p
but also, do “spa day” with oxiclean and very hot water. I think some people also use ammonia? Oxiclean by itself has worked fine for me tho.
:: cries in white cat owner::
Seriously though, darker colors and modeled is better than flat black.
After the clothes are clean but still wet, add some distilled white vinegar and run the rinse cycle again, or catch the washer before the rinse cycle and add before the rinse starts.
Something I learned recently that I anecdotally believe based on my own experience is that synthetics get smellier faster, trap body odor and enable some types of odor producing bacteria to grow better than most natural fibers which I found interesting as all the exercise materials that are marketed as breathing better are synthetic or blends. I am not certain if there is a specific way to clean these materials to to avoid that but I have always found that if anything starts to smell ensuring that I hang it outside and let the UV go to work always helps but I am in Australia so our UV punches above many other parts of the world from what I have been told.
Mix oxyclean with washing soda and soak your shirts in it for a few hours before putting them in the washing machine with Gain detergent.
Better detergent. If you are not sure which, just try a few out until you find one that works. For me it was ariel powder that really made a difference (also easy to store and lasts a while)
Looked into this recently bc I felt like I couldn’t get my ex’s odor off my clothes. Based on my fav laundry guy (jeeves_ny) on IG, I found Persil and Ariel to be the answer. Feel like I smell like myself again after years.
Use spray on or gel deodorant. It helps a lot.
Vinegar and sodium bicarbonate, scrub a little and throw it in the washing machine. Let it rest for about 15 minutes before start washing.
OMG no, no NO!
Baking soda and vinegar mixed together do fucking NOTHING to clean anything! It never has and it never will! You make carbon dioxide gas and sodium acetate. Neither of which do dick for cleaning.
Stop fucking telling people to do this, it is 100% worthless!
If you want to do anything, buy some sodium percarbonate powder and add that to your laundry. It’s the active ingredient of so-called “oxygen bleach”. Sodium percarbonate is good at removing stains and yellowing from white clothes and helping to take the stink out of smelly laundry. For really nasty stuff, mix up a few tablespoons in a bucket with hot water and let your stuff soak for an hour and then throw it through the machine.
Either that or just spend a little more money on quality laundry detergent. Plain old Tide works quite well for most people. If you have a top load washer, set it so that it fills the tub to the max. Front loaders and super eco-friendly washers are fine for most people, but for those that work outside or do dirty things for a living, you need more water and soap to get your stuff clean.
Borax or 20 Mule Team are good if you have hard water since it softens and will prevent minerals in the water from binding to the detergent such that the detergent remains available for cleaning your laundry vs just getting wasted by hard water. It doesn’t necessarily clean stuff on it’s own, but it just makes the detergent you have more efficient, thusly why it is often called a “laundry booster”. It does have some properties that do help clean, but it is most effective as a pH buffer.
If you have hard water and nasty laundry, you can indeed mix sodium percarbonate and borax with your regular detergent. Soften and condition the water with the borax, permit the detergent to be more effective and the sodium percarbonate (which turns into hydrogen peroxide in water) will oxidize the filth in your clothes to keep things from being dingy and smelly without chlorine bleach.
But the foam makes it seem like something is happening!
Saw a solution on the web somewhere that worked for me for colors (not whites, you will see why).
If you have stains already, I use a 50/50 of water and Tide Free and Clear in a spray bottle and I spray drench the stained area. Throw that in the washer and let it wait for wash day. Hours or days to let the Borax in it do its thing. Works great for oil stains too.
For straight up stank, like the mildew in the shoulder seams that will come out when you sweat, I use oxi in the tub with detergent, then cleaning strength vinegar (30%) in the fabric softener compartment (but not with whites and chlorine bleach, DON’T GENERATE CHLORINE GAS). Just like 2 or 3 tablespoons. You will smell it when you move the load to the dryer, but it mostly fades while it tumbles. The stank fades away every wash and is usually gone after 3. And it helps sanitize your washer between bleaches.
