I have noticed that my t-shirts have become more and more discolored under the armpit area. The yellow discoloration on some of these is just disgusting, and I find that the length of time I can actually wear a t-shirt is very short. So my question is this… I wear deodorant/anti-perspirant, and I have never really noticed a major wetness under there… but I assume that the combination of the Right Guard and my sweat is turning into some sort of a disgusting brew and clinging to my shirts… what is it that I can’t even wash it out? Bleaching doesn’t seem to make much of a difference either…
The usual culprit in armpit-yellowing is bacteria. You can’t really prevent it. The best way to prevent it is pre-treating the area before washing–an ounce of prevention, and all that. I’ve had a little luck with concentrated bleach gels after the fact, as well.
I have, and pretty much stopped wearing white T-shirts because of it.
Now that I think about, I do still wear some light colored shirts, and haven’t seen this effect in a while. I don’t know if it’s related to the type of deodorant one uses, I usually just get the cheapest anti-perspirant.
How old are you? I’m 32, and it’s been maybe 5 to 10 years since I noticed this. Maybe one grows out of it somehow?
Change your deodorant to one of the clear gels (Gillette et al) and the problem will reduce very substantially or go away. At least it did for me and I had the same situation you describe.
Have you studied this, or is it just a casual observation? Please clarify… the armpits of your shirt are white, and then you hang out with smokers and suddenly they are yellowish (or are you talking about the entire shirt, which I could see if you spent a few days in a smoke-filled room)? I ask because that seems to imply that you are inhaling something that is coming out your armpits… which would be scary!:eek: Also, it seems unlikely to me that it would be from smoke because all of my underwear stays pretty white (well, with some localized exceptions:D )…
FTR: I am a smoker (planning on quitting soon! When, you ask? Uh… actually I’m not sure. But soon[sup]seriously![/sup]…), and I have this problem a little. White shirts that I wear will get a bit yellowish around the armpits after a year or so, and I eventually have to throw them out… however, a good friend of mine is NOT a smoker, and definitely does NOT inhale very much second-hand smoke (he will leave the room if someone lights a smoke, which I FULLY 100% understand!), and he has this problem BAD! Major gross yellow stains in the armpits of every white t-shirt the guy owns! Eeewww!
I tend to side with Podkayne and astro on this… I think it’s either bacteria or the deodorant/anti-perspirant…
Remember, armpit (and crotch) sweat glands don’t just put out nice pure water with electrolytes. They also put out a lot of fatty oils, which bacteria love to feast on! They can make tons of interesting compounds out of those fatty acid chains, many of which cling to clothes and resist standard detergents. My solution? Don’t wear tops with sleeves. Similar suggestion is offered for those problem crotch stains.
According to the amazingly accurate Maxim scientists, the yellowing is caused by something like pheremones (I forget). The ‘pores’ that these pheremones come out of are much larger than sweat pores, so that anti-persperants cannot block or stop them from flowing.
Thanks everyone for your replies. SOTD, do these “scientists” indicate that it gets worse as you get older? I’m in my 30’s now, and it seems to grow worse with age. What about diet?
Qadgop - if I don’t wear t-shirts, my dress shirts get ruined… so the tank top t-shirt is not an option.
Sounds like you might be in the market for some dress shields, there, pardner.
Seriously, the pretreating idea sounds like it’s got a lot of potential, since bleaching isn’t working for you. Ultimatley, you could just be looking at using your undershirts as a sacrificial barrier between your discoloration-producing dermis and your dress shirts. That’s the position I’ve finally resigned myself to.
I think the discolouration might be due to a chemical change in the fabric (particularly natural fabrics like cotton), rather than a simple pigment-type stain (which would be easy to bleach out).
How long do your discarded clothes have to wait in the laundry basket before washday? - it might help a bit if you were able to get them into some sort of a pre-wash soak soon after taking them off.
It also might help if you switched to a soap that is specifically ‘anti-bacterial’ (I usually wouldn’t recommend this, because I don’t like the trend towards antibacterial everything)
Hey, this is something I can answer! Not to be too indelicate in this situation, but sweat is concentrated urine; as said earlier, it is a combination of salts, fatty acids and bacteria. Some bacteria gets smelly, some bacteria makes the yellow stains. What I do is to save up my white cotton clothing and soak them in a baking soda and water solution ( make the water as hot as permissible). The easiest way to do this is throw about 1-2 cups of baking soda in the washing machine and let it dissolve in the warm to hot water. Throw in the clothes and let the machine agitate for a minute to thoroughly wet the clothing,then turn the machine off and let soak. Let the machine go through the whole cycle. Wash the clothes in a brand new cycle, with warm to hot water and enough detergent for a large load. I have had a lot of success with this method. Good Luck!!!
My t-shirts don’t last very long anymore, either, and in my case, I think it has something to do with switching my deodorant.
For years, I used Sure original unscented (I’m allergic to most fragrances), and never had any underarm staining. However, I didn’t like the white powder that flaked off, so I switched to their new “Clear Dry” formula. Soon, I began to notice that all of my white tees were slightly stained. I asked my mom about it, and she said my stepdad had started to have the same problem, and we figured it must be the fact that we both switched to the new deodorant formulation around the time it came out.
I am a non-smoker who avoids smoke (for example, I rarely visit bars). I wear white cotton blend shirts to work, and have them laundered after each use, rotating through about 18 shirts at any given time.
Three years ago, I worked for a year in an office where there was smoking. My white shirts started turning yellow in the pits to the point that I had to discard them. The replacement shirts also yellowed in the pits, and eventually had to be discarded.
When I left that firm after a year and went to one where there was no smoking, my remaining stained shirts maintained their stains but did not grow worse, and my new shirts purchased after the move did not develop any stains.
In addition to the obvious deadly health problems associated with second-hand smoke, the crap in the air was sticking to my hair and clothing, leaving me and my clothing reeking of smoke and requiring a bath and a change of clothes upon arrival at home each evening.
Perhaps due to the moisture of my pits, the crap floating in the air became more deeply imbedded in my shirt pits than elsewhere, and consequently would not wash out as easily, leaving me with white shirts with yellow pits.
I have no idea if anything which I inhaled was secreted out through my pits.
I am not in any way suggesting that smoke is the only reason one’s shirt pits might become stained, but in my case, it was the reason.
"If you already have [underarm] stains, try dampening the fabric with warm water and working in laundry detergent and Biz Activated Non-Chlorine Bleach. Allow this mixture to soak into your garment about 30 minutes prior to laundering. You can also try heated white vinegar on existing stains. Spray it on the fabric, then work in Twenty Mule Team Borax. This is very effective on any odor or stain that might be present. If the color has changed in the fabric, try spraying with sudsy ammonia, let it sit about 15 minutes, then launder as usual.
Finally, she recommends BRILLIANT BLEACH from Soapworks:
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Brilliant Bleach (made with peroxide, spectacular for both whites and colors)
