How to Remove Sweat Stains and Odors from Clothing
A fact is a fact: humans sweat. Some people often develop sweat stains in the axillary (underarm) region, but sweat stains can appear on the collar (ring around the collar), down the back, or down the sides of the shirt where sweat drips down the body. Perspiration is a protein decomposition made up of urea, water, small amounts of waste products, minerals, and other components. It's natural for humans to sweat, and some sweat more than others.
A fact is a fact: humans sweat. Some people often develop sweat stains in the axillary (underarm) region, but sweat stains can appear on the collar (ring around the collar), down the back, or down the sides of the shirt where sweat drips down the body. Perspiration is a protein decomposition made up of urea, water, small amounts of waste products, minerals, and other components. It's natural for humans to sweat, and some sweat more than others.
Have you ever tried getting out those stains and just don't know what to do? Removing perspiration stains is often a daunting task. There are several methods you can use to remove sweat stains, depending on what you prefer to try. Luckily, these methods are all fairly inexpensive, not incredibly time consuming, and easy to do.
Some general techniques are to use hydrogen peroxide solutions, baking soda solutions, lemon juice solutions, or white vinegar solutions.
For these, you would take the ingredient of your choice (that is, baking soda, peroxide, lemon juice, or vinegar) and mix with water, usually in about a 50/50 solution. You want to soak the stain for at least thirty minutes and then launder as usual in cool water. Hang the clothing to dry. Even if you don't have stains, you may still want to soak the clothing in these solutions in the underarm area to prevent stains from appearing. There may be protein residue and other trace items remaining in the shirt that the naked eye cannot see, so you want to remove these residues before buildup occurs.
Another technique some swear on is to create a 50/50 ammonia and water solution and dab it onto the stained area. Proceed to launder in cool water as you normally would after letting the ammonia soak into the stain for several minutes.
Others claim making an aspirin solution of two to three tablets of aspirin dissolved in some water will help remove sweat stains. This should be used to soak the stain for several hours, then apply a small amount of detergent to the area and work it into the stain before laundering in cool water.
There are other methods people have used and claim they work wonders, such as using meat tenderizer, salt water, and simply rubbing some of the normal laundry detergent you use onto the stain and letting it sit in for several hours before washing.
Many recommend using baking soda in your laundry each time you wash your clothes. Baking soda is a known stain fighter and people have been using it for many decades for a host of reasons. It's a very versatile product, and usually very inexpensive. Just put about half a cup to a full cup in your laundry when the water is agitating in the beginning of the laundry cycle to maintain cleaner looking and fresher clothing.
For all of these tips, please remember to be sensible and use caution when necessary. Baking soda is pretty harmless, but ammonia can be quite dangerous, so use protective clothing such as gloves and goggles when handling anything that is potentially dangerous. Also, be sure the item of clothing is washable. You would never want to try any of the aforementioned methods on something that may become ruined. A safe thing to do is test an inconspicuous area of the clothing, with a very small amount of whatever solution you'd like to try. You don't want to use something that will make the garment look even worse!
Another thing to keep in mind is that some people are more sensitive to certain ingredients or may have allergies to some of these ingredients featured, so be sure to always wash and rinse the clothing well after applying stain remover treatments.
There are many alternatives to fighting sweat stains and other stains in clothing. Aside from the many products available to remove stains, there are also many more natural and cost effective methods you can try before spending several dollars on something you may not need. If you have stains on your laundry, why not test some of these methods and see if you can save yourself some money and get your clothing to look better without those pricey commercial products?
Sources:
personal experience and family advice
http://www.mrscleannw.com/tips/sweat-perspiration-deodorant.html
http://www.housecleaning-tips.com/how-to-remove-sweat-stains.html
Originally published at Associated Content.