Is there an anti-perspirant that won't destroy my clothes ?

October 1, 2014 7:01 AM

I sweat a lot. A tremendous amount. I sweat when it's 68 degrees outside. I sweat every single moment of the day. I've tried a number of stick and gel and spray antiperspirants and had varying degrees of luck with each of them. My favorite (Mitchum's gel) generally works better than most, but, after it destroyed a really nice new suit jacket within two hours of wearing - I've got to find something new. So, here's the question: Is there any antiperspirant out there that actually reduces the sweat AND won't ruin my clothes?
posted by The Giant Squid to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (20 answers total)

I don't know if this will work with Mitchum, but a lot of the heavy duty OTC antiperspirants are applied the night before. Going with that approach may help with the clothes staining.
posted by kellyblah at 7:06 AM on October 1, 2014

I had the same exact problem with Mitchum (RIP like four shirts I liked) and switched to Old Spice and haven't had an issue.
posted by griphus at 7:07 AM on October 1, 2014

Response by poster: @griphus

What specific Old Spice product?
posted by The Giant Squid at 7:08 AM on October 1, 2014

Haven't tried it personally, but the Amazon reviews for Sweat Block are VERY positive, and it's applied as a moist towelette (as opposed to smearing a goo/cream/gel on your pits). Might be worth a shot!
posted by julthumbscrew at 7:11 AM on October 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

I can't find it on the website so I'll have to check when I get home. I know it's a gel stick.
posted by griphus at 7:15 AM on October 1, 2014

What ruins your clothes is the aluminum in the deodorant, not the deodorant itself (technically the antiperspirant, since the aluminum is what stops you from sweating). If you put on one of the super strong OTCs at night, then shower in the morning, it'll shrink your sweat glands and work its magic overnight and then be washed off in the morning so it won't damage your clothes. Slap on some non-antiperspirant deodorant in the morning to prevent BO, and you're set. I'm super sweaty by nature, but I've been doing that for years and I haven't ruined a shirt (or even had visible sweat stains) since.

My super-deodorant of choice is Certain-Dri. I've been using it for almost a decade at this point, it pretty much changed my life. Good luck!
posted by Itaxpica at 7:22 AM on October 1, 2014 [11 favorites]

You can also use dress shields which are primarily marketed towards women but are perfectly acceptable for use by men.
posted by poffin boffin at 7:30 AM on October 1, 2014 [4 favorites]

Certain-Dri used at night has saved me from yet another summer of buying a stack of white teeshirts only to turn them into rags by fall.
posted by padraigin at 7:39 AM on October 1, 2014

Seconding Certain-Dri, it changed my life. Get the liquid version, apply it at night (NOT right after a shower, it'll itch like crazy). After a while you won't even need to use it every day, or ever use any other kind of deodorant/antiperspirant. (Over time it'll kind of ruin my old sleeping t-shirts, but *shrug*, small price to pay and they're old retired shirts anyway.) It's seriously magical stuff, and never ever having to worry or think about sweating through clothes ever again is a gift.
posted by you're a kitty! at 7:39 AM on October 1, 2014

Yep, Certain-Dri is what you want. As noted you put it on at night every couple days and it dramatically reduces the amount of sweat you make. I often only need to use it for a bit, then I can just use normal deoderant for months and months after that like a normal person. Or I guess I could keep using just certain dri, I just forget : )

I have desperately tried to get my husband to use it as he also sweats a lot, but he is oddly resistant. But I keep trying, because it really is that good.
posted by katers890 at 7:50 AM on October 1, 2014

I started using Secret Clinical Strength last week actually. You apply it the night before, like some of the others posted about here. It has been working really well for me. I went from changing my shirt every day when I get home to no underarm wetness at all. And I live in a very humid place.
posted by futureisunwritten at 7:50 AM on October 1, 2014

This is anecdata but I think I stopped having those problems (clothing getting mucked up) when I switched from Mitchum gel to Mitchum roll-on.
posted by needs more cowbell at 8:14 AM on October 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

I came here to also suggest Sweat Block. My husband uses it, it works incredibly well.
posted by Librarypt at 8:17 AM on October 1, 2014

Confirming that Certain-Dri works, at least for me. Before this, I applied a stick antiperspirant, and ruined clothes with the deposits. I still sweated, and was swampy at the end of busy and stressful days.

I started applying the Certain-Dri at night, every other day. Then twice a week, and finally once a week. It vastly reduced the sweating. However, I found that I got irritation with the more frequent applications. I still had some armpit odor, and found that an Arm and Hammer natural type deodorant used daily helps with that, and does not create stains.

There is hope for you, as the others above have said.
posted by Midnight Skulker at 9:47 AM on October 1, 2014 [2 favorites]

Seconding Needs More Cowbell's anecdata: I switched from Mitchum's gel to Mitchum's roll-on for exactly this reason. Oh, and so did mrs_goldfish and ma_goldfish. So there you are: quadruple anecdata.
posted by feral_goldfish at 11:39 AM on October 1, 2014

Another voice for Certain-Dri. Nothing ever, ever worked for me - I was always ruining my shirts year-round - until I tried this stuff and it was like a frigging miracle. Roll-on applied at night, once every two days (every night was, for me, overkill and made my armpits feel like they were shriveling up) all but eliminated underarm sweat for me. (A few years in, I even stopped having to use the Certain-Dri - this is more likely due to a shift in my body chemistry than the actual product, but I want to turn cartwheels anyway.) Use deodorant in the morning (C-D is only an antiperspirant, you'll still smell without deodorant to kill the bacteria) along with it, though.
posted by AthenaPolias at 2:27 PM on October 1, 2014

Depends on what you mean by "destroy." All anti-antiperspirants will eventually stain the pits because of the reaction between the proteins (or some other stuff) in sweat, and aluminum.

If that's what you mean by destroy, you might want to try deodorant only - not anti-antiperspirant.

If you only want to use anti-antiperspirant, you need to find one that has a higher % of alum. I have used Mitchum before and can verify it's one of the highest %age of alum anti-antiperspirants out there. Even more than some of the so-called prescription anti-antiperspirants, who work better strictly based on their alum %age. If you're sweating through it anyways, you might as well switch to deodorant and perhaps try dress shields as someone else suggested.
posted by atinna at 4:07 PM on October 1, 2014

Ask a Clean Person on this issue (and on how to clean the antiperspirant and sweat stains out of clothes).
posted by aka burlap at 7:50 PM on October 1, 2014

Have you checked with an MD yet? There might be an undiagnosed medical problem. There's laser treatments, medication, injections and surgery to help. http://www.sweathelp.org/en/ and http://excessive-sweating.net/
posted by dlwr300 at 9:37 AM on October 2, 2014

Nthing Certain-Dri. I’m a pastry chef/kitchen manager in a very hot bakery and it allows me to be not disgusting in a white t-shirt in 100º+ temps every day.
posted by nenequesadilla at 4:54 PM on October 10, 2014