Everyone has body odor, and sweat stains and smells are common in the underarm area of clothing, especially in gym clothes or workout clothes. There is no escaping it. Learn how to get armpit odor out of clothes and remove a stubborn sweat stain.
Nothing is better than getting out of those sweaty clothes after excessive sweating and slipping on a clean shirt. However, underarm odor is notorious for clinging to synthetic fabric, even after cleaning it in the washing machine, and it’s not long before you notice the stubborn odor again.
While it may seem that the simplest way to remove deodorant marks from clothing is to toss them in the washer, this doesn’t always do the job. Odor causing bacteria leaves stains and lingering smells in the armpit area of a shirt, and it’s essential to treat these stains to eliminate the sweat smell.
Ways to Remove Armpit Smell from Clothing
Armpit odor is an unpleasant smell that we all want to avoid. Discover ways to remove stubborn sweat stains and odors from stinky workout clothes and other smelly clothes by treating the fabric with odor-busting cleaners. Remove armpit smell from a shirt with simple ingredients you probably already have in the house.
How to Remove Armpit Smells from Clothing with Vinegar
The acidity of white vinegar is ideal for breaking down stubborn stains, and its antibacterial qualities remove stinky odors. If you need a way to remove sweat stains from white shirts, try a vinegar solution. Here is how to remove armpit smells from clothing with vinegar.
Fill the washing machine with water, add a third cup of white vinegar and your smelly clothes, turn off the washer, and let them soak for 20 minutes. Finish the wash cycle and run the washer once more with your favorite detergent as one way to get sweat smell out of clothes. Transfer the item to the dryer with a fabric softener sheet and dry it as usual.
Getting Armpit Odor Out of Clothes with Baking Soda
Sodium bicarbonate is excellent for getting armpit odor out of clothes and other nasty odors. Use it to remove cigarette smell from clothes, too. It neutralizes the perspiration in the fabric, leaving the material with a fresh scent. Explore how to use baking soda to get smelly armpit stains out of a shirt.
Make a paste with baking soda powder and warm water and rub it onto the armpit areas of your shirt. Let the shirt sit for 15 minutes or so or overnight for stubborn stains, and launder as usual with detergent. Dry your clothes in the dryer with a dryer sheet or hang them up to air dry.
When you are short on time and need to make a shirt smell better without washing it, dampen a cloth with vinegar and throw it in the dryer with your shirt for about 15 minutes. Follow the same process to get the smell of mothballs out of clothing. The results are amazing.
If you have the problem of clothes smell like oil after washing, re-run them through the washer with some baking soda and vinegar. It’s usually enough to eliminate the odor.
How to Get Armpit Odor Out of Clothes with Unconventional Ingredients
While vinegar and baking soda are the two most common items for eliminating stains, there are other products in your home for removing armpit odor from clothes. Here are some unconventional cleaning solutions to remove sweat smells.
Dissolve a half cup of table salt in a tub of hot water and soak the fabric, or make a paste with washing soda and cold water and rub it into the area before washing the clothes in the washer.
Gently scrub Murphy’s Oil Soap on the stain, or spritz the shirt armpit area with a spray bottle of mouthwash and let it sit for half an hour before laundering. This cleaning solution will also take deodorant stains off dark clothes. The oil soap will remove the greasy white deodorant stains.
Ways to Prevent Armpit Odor in Clothing
Once you know how to remove armpit smells from clothing, it’s helpful to understand what causes sweat stains and stop them from ruining your shirts. There are several ways to prevent armpit odors in the future.
The glands under your armpits produce a different type of sweat than other sweat glands throughout your body. These glands create sweat with a musty odor when it contacts bacteria on your skin. In addition, armpit stains occur when your sweat’s protein reacts with aluminum and other chemicals in antiperspirant.
The best way to prevent excessive sweating is to wear breathable fabrics like cotton and use a natural deodorant. Getting armpit odor out of clothes is easier if you wash your clothes regularly with a stain remover to prevent the stains from setting.
While all that’s required to remove a musty smell is a good washing with laundry detergent, tough odors like those from sweat glands need extra care to break up the stain and remove the odor. Fortunately, a little vinegar, baking soda, or washing soda does the trick, effectively removing the sweat from the fabric.
We hope that learning how to get armpit odor out of clothes keeps your shirts smelling and looking fresh, and we’d love it if you’d share our sweat odor removing methods with your friends on Facebook and Pinterest.