How do I get rid of armpit stains?

August 8, 2006 9:21 AM

Why do I get weird stains on my t-shirts, under the armpits?

Most of my t-shirts have stains on the armpits. Some are yellowish, some are darker. I've tried to wash my white t-shirts in warm water with half a cup of bleach at least twice, to no avail.
The deodorant I use is old spide original. The tube is red and the deodorant material itself is blueish. I thought of blaming coffee cause it makes me sweat, but my room mate says it might be marijuana since I smoke it regularily.

What are these stains and how do I get rid of them?

posted by PowerCat to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (21 answers total)

By knocking it off with the deoderant.
posted by Rash at 9:22 AM on August 8, 2006

Response by poster: Everyone uses deodorant yet my friends don't have stains like my t-shirts do. Am I using too much of it? The wrong kind?
posted by PowerCat at 9:29 AM on August 8, 2006

intiperspirant tends to cause white stains under the arms, sweat causes yellow stains under the arms.
posted by GleepGlop at 9:29 AM on August 8, 2006

Are you sure it's only deodorant, and not anti-perspirant? (There is a difference.)

I used to get stiff, yellowish stains under the arms of my white T-shirts, and nothing would take them out. I finally switched to plain old deodorant and no longer have the problem.

I think the ingredients in anti-perspirant -- like the aluminum hydro-whatchamacallit -- leaches into the fabric and stays there. Deodorant doesn't have that ingredient.
posted by Work to Live at 9:30 AM on August 8, 2006 [1 favorite]

It might be your body chemistry interacting with the deodorant. Try a different brand.
posted by Sprout the Vulgarian at 9:31 AM on August 8, 2006

plain deoderant is usually ok, its the anti-perspirant that is your problem. the aluminum that is the "active ingredient" in anti-perspirant causes the yellowish discoloring.

you might try switching to an herbal anti-perspirant.

check the label on your old spice, if it doesn't have aluminum and you are getting stains you might try using less or switching.

Also, see this previous question.
posted by blueplasticfish at 9:31 AM on August 8, 2006

I use the same type of deodorant, and don't have this problem. I vote for the either the body chemistry incompatibility or the weed.
posted by cosmicbandito at 9:38 AM on August 8, 2006

I think it's also the aluminum in the anti-perspirant. Adidas makes a product that is a deodorant but absorbs wetness. It's called Absorbent-Deo and does all the antiperspirant stuff without the aluminum that is probably contributing to your stains.
posted by ml98tu at 9:44 AM on August 8, 2006

I've never heard of weed affecting the chemical content of your sweat... I have, um, rather extensive first-hand knowledge. Unless you're smoking with an ounce or two under your arms, it's likely something body chemistry related and / or the deodorant.
posted by Dark Messiah at 9:44 AM on August 8, 2006

It's not the deodorant, it's the sweat. I've gotten the same yellow stains in the pits and the collar of some of my shirts, and I sure as heck don't put deodorant on my neck.
posted by GeekAnimator at 9:49 AM on August 8, 2006

Aluminum Chloride DOES NOT contribute to staining. It is salt in sweat that causes sweat stains. If you are sweating too much, use a high aluminum chloride anti-perspirant (I use B+Drier, which is the strongest w/o a prescription, and really does work). If you are dealing with stains, use an oxygen-based washing detergent, which is more likely to remove stains and dried-in salts.
posted by parmanparman at 9:52 AM on August 8, 2006

use less anti-perspirant(or none at all). I've used oxyclean to remove some of the stains, but not all...and if you honestly think it's the weed it's probably time to cut back on that (for your own good, not your clothes)
posted by killyb at 9:54 AM on August 8, 2006

My sweat doesn't stain, and I use neither deoderant nor anti-perspirant ('cept before a date). If you wash daily, you probably don't need it, either.
posted by Rash at 10:05 AM on August 8, 2006

Response by poster: I used to use anti perspirant but I dumped that cause my armpits were getting itchy and uncomfortable. I switched to deodorant. Maybe I should just get new t-shirts?
posted by PowerCat at 10:12 AM on August 8, 2006

I use a salt brick for deodorant, and I never get 'pit stains', and I sweat a fair amount most every day.

I believe there are a few factors here. I have gotten darkening around my collar on a few white tshirts, and that would be from sweat.

On the other hand, the more 'vibrant' armpit stains are supposedly from aluminum. I wish I had a source.
posted by adamwolf at 10:13 AM on August 8, 2006

I used to have this problem. Way too many ruined shirts. I don't know if it was the anti-perspirants/deodorants I tried, but nothing helped, until...

Certain Dri Roll-On

This is the answer. You actually put it on at night before bed and shower like normal in morning. It stays active for 1-3 days.

No sweat = no stain.
No heavy roll on/stick = no stain.
No antiperspirant/deodorant on your skin when you dress (you put it on at night and shower in the morning) = no stain.

It is VERY nice to have dry armpits and clean shirts.
posted by Leenie at 10:38 AM on August 8, 2006

PowerCat, not much advice about avoiding the stains, but you may want to consider wearing cheap, replaceable undershirts under your, um, shirts. I nearly always do--the undershirts get stained, but my nice over-shirts stay clean.
posted by MrMoonPie at 10:59 AM on August 8, 2006

Some of the stains you get this way are beyond repair, a result of some of the components of the anti-persperant hydrolyzing into small amounts of hydrochloric acid. For the others you might find a soak in some vinegar helpful.
posted by phearlez at 11:08 AM on August 8, 2006

I had a nice blouse that got ruined the same way (yellow sweat stains, blegh). If you really want to put the effort in, try soaking it for a day in water with OxyClean and then washing with more OxyClean and spraying a pretreater (Spray and Wash, etc) on the stains. Repeat until stains are gone. For a really bad stain, it took about 10 repetitions of this routine to get my shirt back to pristine white.
posted by blueskiesinside at 12:00 PM on August 8, 2006

A great stain remover is Zout. I should be on commercials for this stuff, because I recommend it whenever possible. Oxy-bleaches are a good bet also, as blueskiesinside suggested.
posted by wryly at 12:03 PM on August 8, 2006

As for the why: my understanding is that perspiration contains some of the same bacteria found in feces. Which isn't to say that our sweat is like shit, only that some of the same organisms present in our gut are also present in sweat.

Some people have more or less of this bacteria. You might wash your clothes every day and still get a shade of yellow in the pits or the collar. Such is life.

But if you can cut down on the sweat you'll cut down on the staining. I notice it on my shirts only if I leave them lying around for a while. On dress shirts, it's obviously a problem. For the tshirt I wear at the gym, I don't particularly care about the stains.

Between anti-perspirants and a zen approach to pit stains, you should be OK.
posted by aladfar at 1:02 PM on August 8, 2006