How do I get the smell of sweat out of clothes!

Sammy-Jo_2

Another vote for vinegar here, smelly lycra tops from teenagers after playing football on sunday morning!! Just put cap ful into washing machine.

custardy

PixieDust wrote: »

After you've washed and dried it, put it in a carrier bag and place in the freezer overnight; this will kill the bacteria just as well as a hot wash (I think it woudl be better to do it before you wash it, actually - just not sure how you'd feel about skanky clothes in the freezer )

how does freezing kill bacteria?

PixieDust

Our food would go off if it didn't Bacteria only have a certain temperature range in which they can live....usually around our body temperature....high heat and deep freezing will (in most cases) kill them or (in some cases) suspend them.

custardy

PixieDust wrote: »

Our food would go off if it didn't Bacteria only have a certain temperature range in which they can live....usually around our body temperature....high heat and deep freezing will (in most cases) kill them or (in some cases) suspend them.

food doesnt go off in the deep freeze because it stops the bacteria breeding

PixieDust

*shrugs* It's something I was told, and tried, and it worked for me - removed odours from stinky trainers.

How freezers work is part of the world's magic, like internet and cordless telephones........ :A

Outdoorlass

Thank you everyone, will try some of these, see how it goes x

NotVeryTechie

I am having major problems with this. I went on the weekend and bought a whole bunch of vinegar and bicarb. I mixed these up to try to get the yellowing out of a white item and it did seem to work a little, but not totally.

I also put vinegar on the armpits of a whole bunch of tops and then washed them as normal after letting them stand for a few hours. The smell is still there, except now it is combined with a smell of vinegar. Seems this particular fabric just soaks up the smells. Obviously I am just not getting something right here. The tops I am trying to rid of the sweaty smell are polo-necks with 95% cotton and 5% Elastane. They are dark, so bleach is not an option.

I also used vinegar as a final rinse instead of the usual fabric conditioner and my towels are like sandpaper.

I hope someone can help me. I love these tops and would very much like to get some more wear out of them rather than having to replace my whole winter wardrobe.

Thanks!

Justamum

What wash cycle do you use? I used to have persistent sweaty smells in my DD's school shirts when I used a cold (30c) wash and short cycle. When I went back up to a 40c wash the problem went away.

londonlydia

Luckily I never sweat nowadays (over dry skin, opposite problem!), but as a teen with hormones I occasionally has this problem with certain fabric tops (I recall a fashion for shiny fabric shirts which were the main offender).
Anyway, if there's a particularly problematic item that you love, honestly consider sticking a panty liner onto the armpit bit inside. School girl trick! You can get really thin ones, and noone will ever know. If the item is loose, make sure the stickiness is adequate, or it could fall out. first aid tape will stick it firmer if needed. You can then replace with a new one each time you wear it. The problem is you see is that when sweat gets into fibres, bacteria has ideal conditions: warm, moist, and high surface area. Its not the sweat itself smelling. So capture it in the liner, and theyre designed to suck up moisture and smells....

Uniscots97

try soaking the item in some stardrops before washing. Yes its a pain but there's nothing worse that picking up something 'clean' that still smells under the armpits. I started using the 48H anti-perspirants as the 24H ones don't work on me.