Smelly clothes

Your body odour can vary depending on lots of factors, including the bacteria you naturally have on your skin and what you eat. Alliums and strong spices can change your smell, and I suspect that increased protein might have a similar effect. Maybe you’ve got some new friendly bacteria!

I would say that hormones (at least for women) make a big difference and that I smell and sweat differently at different times of the month. Generally I don't usually think I smell after a work out, but since lockdown I've been doing a lot of walking and if I've gone for a (fast paced) 5km walk in a plain t shirt I find that is much more likely to smell than ever doing a workout in my gym clothes. And also when I take it off, the smell basically disappears! (Obviously still want a shower anyway, but it's definitely the top and not me) So..it could easily be your hormones like you say, or what you are wearing
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ExistingFish wrote: »

Your clothes aren't getting clean. Particularly if you have synthetic "athletic" fabric clothes, bacteria is staying in your clothes and when you get it wet by sweating again it amplifies the smell.

I think this. I prefer cotton or the UA Charged Cotton for my workouts - unfortunately, they're not paying me to say this . The less natural fibers seems to hold smell more to me.

Talan79 wrote: »

I use this stuff. Gets the smell out of gym attire.
I use it for everything.

Does it remove the smell or put another smell over it? I've looked into those, they just claim to boost scent, not eliminate odors. I don't like smelly laundry, but I am interested in something that is an "every wash" kind of thing. So far the vinegar thing works (and wash after, for the vinegar smell!), but it takes doing essentially a double load every couple of weeks.

ExistingFish wrote: »

Talan79 wrote: »

I use this stuff. Gets the smell out of gym attire.
I use it for everything.

Does it remove the smell or put another smell over it? I've looked into those, they just claim to boost scent, not eliminate odors. I don't like smelly laundry, but I am interested in something that is an "every wash" kind of thing. So far the vinegar thing works (and wash after, for the vinegar smell!), but it takes doing essentially a double load every couple of weeks.

My issue wasn’t a sweat smell. I’d hang my gym clothes on hangers to dry before washing. But I noticed that when I start to sweat, there would be a mold smell, even though I was not tossing wet clothes in the hamper.
My sister introduced me to this & I haven’t stopped using it. It took that moldy smell out.
It’s not an overly strong scent. They just smell nice out of the dryer.

I have some Nikwax stuff called Basewash, it's designed to deodorise sportswear and help avoid this.
It seems to help.

I have some sports wear that seems to hold the 'stink'. I have tried many things - a hotter wash, bleach, white vinegar. The best thing I have found is a laundry cleanser - antibacterial.

What I do believe to be true though is NOT to use fabric softener when washing clothes which are designed to be sweat wicking.

Once the smell is in there it can be difficult to get it out - I have had to throw out a couple of my running vests recently.

I throw a cap of Zoflora Linen (scented disinfectant) in with our gym gear, it works a treat. Also wash it at higher temp.

No more foisty smelling gym gear!

This looks like the perfect time for me to recommend my Lockdown Instagram obsession: laundry stripping. It’s gross but amazing. Sounds similar to the vinegar soak. Basically it’s stripping your laundry (anything you want, I’ve done gym clothes and bedding) of the embedded oils, grease, bacteria etc that gets set in. I learned about it from an account called GoCleanCo. Their directions are:
1. Fill your tub or upright washer with HOT Water, 2. add 1 scoop powdered Tide (it has to be powdered) 1/4c Borax, 1/4c washing soda (its a type of baking soda used for cleaning, found in the cleaning aisle).
3. Add whatever you want to strip let it soak for 4-6 hours and stir every hour
4. When you’re done soaking, drain and throw it in the wash, no need to add detergent since your items will be saturated with the other detergents. This wash is to get that stuff out.

I can show you pics of the water if you want. It’s gross but also so satisfying.

ExistingFish wrote: »

I do a pre-soak with a cup or two of white vinegar before I wash. Fixes it right up.

[Original Response Redacted]

Read the first post about vinegar and chimed in but then read the rest of the posts... y'all got it covered. Anyway, I'm another vote for using white vinegar as a soak/rinse/extra wash for odor removal/stripping laundry. It works really well.

durhammfp wrote: »

fstrickl wrote: »

.. washing soda (its a type of baking soda used for cleaning, found in the cleaning aisle).

Washing soda is sodium carbonate and baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Close but very different. Washing soda is much more alkaline than baking soda.

If you run out of washing soda, you can make your own by taking baking soda and actually baking it in the oven. I believe the temp and time are related to the amount but you can find that information pretty easily online.

I’m merely a lowly liberal arts degree. Chemistry is over my head. That’s a cool trick about the baking soda in the oven though! Thanks for the tip. The Borax was actually hard to find, I had to go to 4 grocery stores before I found a box!

durhammfp wrote: »

fstrickl wrote: »

durhammfp wrote: »

fstrickl wrote: »

.. washing soda (its a type of baking soda used for cleaning, found in the cleaning aisle).

Washing soda is sodium carbonate and baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Close but very different. Washing soda is much more alkaline than baking soda.

If you run out of washing soda, you can make your own by taking baking soda and actually baking it in the oven. I believe the temp and time are related to the amount but you can find that information pretty easily online.

I’m merely a lowly liberal arts degree. Chemistry is over my head. That’s a cool trick about the baking soda in the oven though! Thanks for the tip. The Borax was actually hard to find, I had to go to 4 grocery stores before I found a box!

How do you know I don't have a lowly liberal arts degree? WORSE. I majored in... psychology. lol. But I started making my own soap a few years back. Man that is a rabbit hole...from soap to shampoo to laundry detergent. I picked up some rudimentary information on chemistry when I was trying to decide whether to make laundry detergent or not. And then I decided that I just cannot beat Costco.

I mean I should have guessed, liberal arts degrees are capable of anything! 😉