My Secret Shame

springlering62
springlering62 Posts: 8,640 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Smelly workout clothes. Help!!!!!
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Replies

  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    Lysol Laundry Sanitizer.... works wonders.

  • ElizabethKalmbach
    ElizabethKalmbach Posts: 1,415 Member
    It does help to check your local water situation and make sure it's working with your laundry solution... My water is *extremely hard* and I discovered how poorly it rinses out my laundry soap when I started cloth diapering my kiddo. I'd wash her diapers a FEW TIMES and the smell would still be there.

    I installed an RO system to remove all the dissolved minerals in my water and now my laundry actually rinses clean and the smell difference in "clean" laundry is amazing.

    You don't have to overhaul your house to get the job done - there are different types of detergent to be used in different types of water situations, but you may need to do a bit of research to see what kind of water you have and what the solution to that kind of water should be.

    In the mean time, I've found that an oxygen bleach helps kill off all the critters that make the stinky smell, and an extra rinse cycle or two on heavily soiled laundry helps reduce the amount of detergent and ick that is still in the laundry.
  • KDBisme
    KDBisme Posts: 49 Member
    Norwex Odor Eliminator. Best stuff there is!!
  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,646 Member
    White vinegar - I soak my other half’s running t-shirts and it really works!
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    I typically use a sportswear detergent but perhaps more importantly, I set the washing machine to do an extra rinse cycle.
  • jhanleybrown
    jhanleybrown Posts: 240 Member
    Bro. Not shame. Badge of honor.
  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,445 Member
    Hex, Nathan, or similar detergent made for workout clothes (I've tried several they all seem to do the job for me). Do not dry them and never use fabric softener or dryer sheets.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,367 Member
    A product that I use on SCUBA and paddling gear is called Sink the Stink. It works on wetsuit booties and on polypro thermal undergarments. Both get really stink-O. It's an enzyme. After you wash, make a DILUTE solution and soak or spray in to the garment, then let it air dry. The enzyme kills the organisms that make the stink. The solution is only good for 24 hours, so run all your stinky stuff through a rinse if you make a batch, or at least spray everything down you have access to.

    You might want to wear gloves if you have sensitive skin. It dries my finger skin out like no tomorrow. Vinegar works too, but this stuff works better and, in my experience, keeps the stink away longer.

    Nature's Miracle is intended for pet urine odors, buy it also is an enzyme and might work. If you have some around, give it a try. If it works, please let us know!
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    Try soaking in oxiclean? I've also used Lysol laundry sanitizer or vinegar in the rinse cycle.
  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member
    edited November 2019
    Baking soda in the wash water. Half a cup to a cup. Costco has 10 lb bags for cheap, worth getting one for cleaning purposes.

    Seriously. Sometimes the old-school cheapo way works best.
  • sarko15
    sarko15 Posts: 330 Member
    You might sweat more than me, but I don't do anything special with my gym clothes. I just make sure I take them out of the wash quickly before they mildew and if they're really sweaty (like I've soaked through) I hang them up after wearing so they're not bunched up in my closet. If there's a little stink left (most of my gym clothes have a little odor) I figure most people can't smell it unless they're right up there in my shirt with me. I'll smell like roses AFTER I shower and put on normal clothes. 😋
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    I had never heard of Lysol Laundry sanitizer before. Learn something new everyday. Great tips on here. I have used Tea Tree Oil before and Borax with some success. One kills it (tea tree) and the other is a mildew preventer (the Borax).
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    Gas and fire work well..... I just wash them.... never had an issue.
  • MichelleMcKeeRN
    MichelleMcKeeRN Posts: 450 Member
    I just use soap and hot water. If something is extra gross, I let it pre-soak and give it an extra rinse.
  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    I avoid plastic rubbish clothing and stick to natural fibres.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,640 Member
    Thanks for all the tips, y’all. I do at least one hot mat class a day, usually two, and often run immediately before the first class, so I change clothes a LOT. I sweat buckets. I sometimes walk home from class trailing sweat drips like breadcrumbs.

    It seems to be Champion brand bras and tanks that are the culprit. No problem with their leggings or other brand tanks.

    I guess I need to change up my brand but the bras are so comfortable, and I like the way the tanks fit. Other brands’ necklines either flop over my face and gag me during folds or expose it all during inversions.

    And I’m cheap. It makes me mental considering replacing stuff that looks like new but smells like a barnyard.

    Even my Gaiam mats I can wash in the washing machine with a bit of vinegar and they’re fine. But these tanks and bras..... yuck!!!!!

    Btw, speaking of plastic, I treated myself to some expensive leggings made out of recycled plastic bottles. They even feel like plastic. Wash up right well and no stank-stank. Don’t try an arm balance or eagle in them, though. Verrrrrrry slippery.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,367 Member
    Thanks for the information on which fabrics are the worst. I've been increasing my collection now that I'm a little smaller. I have had really good luck at the second hand store, and I ABSOLUTELY give a sniff before buying (or trying on). Some stink is really hard to get rid of. I'll be mindful of that brand -- I did pick up one or two items of theirs, and I'll have to note if they are more offensive than others.

    Years ago, we used polypropylene as thermal wear under drytops or even wetsuits for paddling in winter or for cold water in summer. They would really start to stink BAD. There was something about that fabric beyond just harboring organisms that made the stink. In fact, I heard that if you got a brand new garment that was made from a roll of fabric that was old, it would pretty much stink within a couple weeks of ownership. It was some of these fabrics that convinced me how much GoreTex actually does breathe. Odor comes out with the water vapor. Whew. Then, at the end of the day, when you pulled off your drytop or drysuit and had to get your head in there with that garment. Whew! Washing in vinegar would help for a while. It would come back. When off on multi-day trips -- just wow.

    Anecdote: One year when we were doing day trips on the North Umpqua River, we got back to camp one afternoon mid-week. I took off my paddling clothes and hung them on a clothes line. Just getting them dry also helps. Anyway, at some point I looked up and noticed a kettle of turkey vultures circling high above camp. I knew what they were thinking: "I don't know what that is, but it HAS to be dead." Oh yeah. I think I still have some of those old fabrics. I should wear one just for the memory....
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,367 Member
    ... and when you finally realize that yes, your clothes are quite ripe and rank, give them a good wash, make a small spray bottle of Sink the Stink, wet 'em down and let 'em dry.

    Leaving them in the sun for a day can help. The UV kills things, too. It also will shorten the life of your fabrics.

    The concern about cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins is real. If you can, look for phosphate-free soaps and detergents. @dewd2 mentioned specialty detergents. They are formulated to clean high-tech synthetics and rinse clean without affecting the properties of the fabrics. Try them if you can find them, and for sure, avoid liquid laundry soap; it almost always has fabric softeners which are really hard on synthetic fabrics. As long as we're on the topic of environmental impacts of washing clothes, even where there are ample supplies of water and no threat of shortage, it takes energy to pump all that water around, and heated water uses even more energy.

    But you already know that. Don't let it keep you from trying to get the stink out of modern high-tech fabrics.
  • Analog_Kid
    Analog_Kid Posts: 976 Member
    neugebauer52 wrote: »
    I avoid plastic rubbish clothing and stick to natural fibres.

    I generally agree, but the problem is 100% cotton is getting very hard to find.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    Tread lightly with the baking soda. It's fine to throw your clothes into a tub with baking soda and vinegar and toss the water out but not down the drain. These brand new front loader washing machines can become easily clogged with dried baking soda....the drain pump filters. Ditto with old washers and bathtub drains. Then it's another process to rid the drain of clumped baking soda. Apple cider vinegar with washing detergent is fine and rinse twice if the vinegar residue is still there.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,367 Member
    Don't use baking soda AND vinegar. Big mess, and they will neutralize each other.

    Baking soda treatment is very temporary. It seems to be able to neutralize the chemical that stinks. It does not necessarily eliminate the cause of the odor. Vinegar is an acid and can kill the organisms that make the stink. If you use them both, don't use them together. Vinegar reacts with baking soda and forms a lot of CO2. You actually can make a reasonably good drain cleaner by stuffing baking soda in a slow drain and pouring BOILING water over it. It creates a mild base that can react with soap build-up in the drain and get it flowing again.

    I've never heard of baking soda causing blockages since it dissolves in water. I suppose it could happen, but it should be self limiting. Adding vinegar will surely get rid of that. So would an empty load with really hot water.

    My experience is that even the vinegar only lasts for a while.

    I have a thermal layer I don't wear to paddle anymore. I wear it every now and then for warmth, and it starts to stink pretty quickly. I sometimes use it for pool sessions (roll practice). I find that the pool chlorine also kills the stinky stuff and keeps it away as long as Sink the Stink. I also know chlorine is tough on fabrics, so I only use this one, old, too-big top for the pool. It is definitely getting more threadbare from the chlorine.

    Cooking vinegar is only about 5% acetic acid. If you can find stronger vinegar, it should be more effective since you're already diluting it in the washing machine. I suspect the kill is more effective if you use it in a final rinse and don't fully rinse it out. Let that acetic acid work! But that's just a guess.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    https://observer.com/2017/08/how-to-wash-sweaty-workout-clothes/


    "Let the brew soak for an hour before dumping all gym gear into the washing machine with one cup of white vinegar and two tablespoons of baking soda.

    Whatever you do, think dry. Odor-causing bacteria thrive in the damp, so don’t let your sweaty clothes ferment in the hamper."
  • ElizabethKalmbach
    ElizabethKalmbach Posts: 1,415 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    This makes no sense to me. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate (NaCO3). Vinegar is acetic acid (CH3-COOH). When you combine them, they disassociate into sodium acetate, carbon dioxide, and water. I don't think sodium acetate will kill microbes, but acetic acid will.

    But if it works -- go for it!

    Generally, when I use baking soda and vinegar in my laundry, the baking soda goes in with the detergent and the vinegar goes into the *second rinse cycle* and it's primarily added to counter hard water residue, rather than bacteria.
  • nicsflyingcircus
    nicsflyingcircus Posts: 2,894 Member
    edited November 2019
    My 16 year old daughter plays high level girls hockey. Tournament weekends have 4-5 games, practice weekends 3 eighty minute ice sessions. During the week she is on the ice three times at roughly an hour a session. Her gear resides in a mostly vinyl hockey bag, though it gets aired out (tournament and practice weekends) or hung in a special purpose dryer after at home practices. It smells revolting.

    The best thing we've found is basic distilled white vinegar. Every couple weeks we chunk everything that can be washed in the washer with 1-2 cups of white vinegar, use the heavy duty cycle and extra rinse. Kills the funk so she can start funking it up again, lol.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,367 Member
    ElizabethKalmbach wrote: »
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    This makes no sense to me. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate (NaCO3). Vinegar is acetic acid (CH3-COOH). When you combine them, they disassociate into sodium acetate, carbon dioxide, and water. I don't think sodium acetate will kill microbes, but acetic acid will.

    But if it works -- go for it!

    Generally, when I use baking soda and vinegar in my laundry, the baking soda goes in with the detergent and the vinegar goes into the *second rinse cycle* and it's primarily added to counter hard water residue, rather than bacteria.

    Now THAT makes sense! Putting them in together didn't sound right. I forget the machines can dose up the water at different stages. Maybe I'll put some vinegar in my final rinse receptacle.

    If it truly was the final rinse water, I could put the enzyme in that compartment, but I think my machine keeps squirting a little more water through the laundry as it spins just to make sure it gets a good rinse because it's pretty water efficient. The last squirts would wash out the enzyme, or at least some of it. I'll stick to my spray bottle. Full dose assured.

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