How to deal with sweaty clothes?

October 25, 2023 1:20 PM

It’s autumn/winter. I bike for transport, but really short distances (10min on the flat, max). I sweat when walking, too. How do I stop being damp and miserable about it?

I used to take an ADHD med long term (Strattera) that actually did nothing for me and left me with a couple of the side effects even after stopping, including more sweating than I know how to really manage. All over! In summer it was fairly unbothersome because I could just wear as little as possible and let it evaporate. My sweat also seems fairly clean and not prone to odours, unless everyone around me is just very polite about it.

Can I do this with different fibres? Do you need breathability in order to encourage sweat to evaporate? Today I’m wearing a base layer of merino/lyocell but on top I have cotton dungarees and a polycotton hoodie, so I’m very damp and soggy. I can’t really bear the idea of having to change clothes in the daytime and cart sweaty ones around with me, but I might have to try it?

Cotton vs viscose seem to perform similarly. I have some silk layers which don’t do well when wet (stay wet). Basically everything seems to stay wet. Should I actually be exploring synthetics — would they help?

Is my best option actually to get used to being chilly while I’m sweating (walking, biking and for a while afterwards) and just toughen up? It’s looking like quite a fair option, although there’s still the annoying factor of having to bring layers with me — including a bulky jacket or coat on some days — to wear when I’m back to a more normal temperature and dampness level.

I am currently skint so won’t be buying any new things unless they can be found second-hand incredibly cheap.

I also don’t sweat enough that it counts as hyperhidrosis for medical intervention purposes, I don’t think. It’s simply annoying and poses a problem I keep thinking about, trying to solve.

Thank you for your thoughts!
Yours clammily,
lokta

posted by lokta to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (15 answers total)

Basically avoid anything with cotton - it gets wet, and then it stays wet forever. Merino base layers are great - wool in general is ok - other technical / synthetic fibres are good at getting the perspiration away from your skin. You don’t need big bulky layers - just a base layer, a warm-ish mid layer, and a wind / rain-proof outer layer. And no cotton.
posted by rd45 at 2:02 PM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

I think your base layer is probably fine but you may want to wear lighter layers as needed for the weather on top of that instead of just one hoodie. They'll do a better job of dealing with the sweat that your base layer is wicking away from your body.

I do tend to follow the whole "be bold start cold" philosophy because I know by the end of my ride I'll be plenty warm but if you're just doing short jaunts it probably makes more sense to be at a comfortable temperature the whole time and figure out a way to deal with the sweat.

My bike to work is a bit less than an hour and I'm guaranteed to sweat. I change at work but before I do I stay in my biking clothes (in the summer shorts and a dryfit top but now it'll be cycling trousers and either a thin or thick synthetic base layer underneath the dryfit top depending on how cold it is) until my temperature has come down to normal and my body heat has dried my tops. This is important because I'll be biking back at night in the same clothes and I don't want them to be wet.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:05 PM on October 25, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I'm similar to you and have found the only thing that really works to stop from being cold is to change my base layer (mostly my bra) so I don't have to wear that against my skin all day. It doesn't matter what fabric it is, I find that the sweat doesn't dry very quickly and it makes me cold.

If I am just doing errands around and moving a lot I don't notice it, but in the office I definitely do notice it as I am freezing all day long and then I will sometimes bring a change of base layer.
posted by urbanlenny at 2:08 PM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

My experience with lyocell has been that it is very similar to cotton in terms of sweat/wicking performance - in other words, very bad. (I love lyocell otherwise, but not when I'm sweating.) I have had mixed results from merino: it's touted as a wonderful material that doesn't feel wet, but I don't think I have ever had amazing performance from it. I usually prefer merino blended blended with synthetics, if not straight synthetics. The main downside to synthetics, in my opinion, is that they can stink if not treated with an anti-stink solution during manufacturing. But otherwise, I'd definitely recommend doing some research on synthetics and trying those out. Or simply resigning yourself to changing, which might be the easiest option.
posted by ClaireBear at 2:15 PM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

I change clothes, which sucks but it's a manageable suck. I occasionally changed into gym clothes at work before starting biking.


I sweat a lot but if I stink everyone is also very polite about. Sweat is gone after about 30 minutes or so, and most people don't know I bike unless I am actually carrying my helmet or they see me when I am leaving.
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:22 PM on October 25, 2023

I also bike and there's a hill I have to summit just before getting to the office. I bike in gym clothes and pack my work outfit in a waterproof pannier. It's kinda nice if I bike in and get unexpectedly rained on. I'll have dry clothes when I get to work no matter what.
posted by sewellcm at 2:27 PM on October 25, 2023

I bike a lot and I tend to get sweaty. Here's my suggestion:

Do you have a bike pannier? Or any other way of carrying stuff on your bike, aside from a backpack (which will simply make you sweatier)? If you are skint, a DIY bike bucket works instead of a pannier; you may also find a secondhand bike rack for cheap at your local bike shop used-parts section.

I have a pannier and I use it everyday. If I'm starting to feel warm/sweaty on a bike, I just take clothes off and stuff them in my pannier. My base layer is cool and ok to wear on its own (often short-sleeve shirt and light pants), so I get warmth from the outer layers, which I can don or doff whenever I feel like.

If your 10-minute ride doesn't feel worth it to make a stop halfway, I would just start out underdressed (feeling cold at the beginning) so that I feel the correct temperature at the end. Then put on the layers you've been carrying when you're feeling cool again.

The only problem with this plan is rain during moderate temperatures, where you're trying to stay dry and cool at the same time. In this circumstance, a cool Gore-Tex shell jacket with large pit zips is the best one can do.

No matter what you do, some occasional sweatiness is unavoidable, and that's OK. Perspiration is a natural part of our biology, despite our pretense that it doesn't exist.
posted by splitpeasoup at 2:47 PM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

I used to sweat a lot and the only solution I found was to wear a bicycle jersey (an actual WICKING bicycle jersey) and then change clothes upon arrival. You have to wait until you've mostly cooled down before changing. If you don't want to put the wet clothes back on, just bring a 2nd jersey for the ride home.

Some of the $50-ish jerseys here would be fine. The $20-ish jerseys here might be OK. But chances are very high that literally nothing in your closet is a wicking fabric of the type you need to wear.

The other thing well worth a try is the anti-perspirants as recommended in a few MeFi threads such as this one and this one (read this carefully for specific suggestions). Note we are talking about actual anti-perspirants NOT deodorants or other similar products. You can apply these to any parts of the body that perspire over-actively, including back, stomach, etc - not only your armpits. Here is a good overview of the topic with suggestions for treatment starting with simple OTC products.

Typically instructions are #1. follow the instructions on the product exactly and carefully, #2. Typically the instructions are to apply the product the night before, rather than in the morning or just before the activity, #3. Start with easily available over-the-counter anti-perspirants (note: anti-perspirant NOT deodorant - they are wildly different in formulation) and if those don't work ramp up to higher-dosage formulas like Certain Dri and Drysol.
posted by flug at 2:51 PM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

I get sweaty if I just THINK about taking a walk; I'm so jealous of people who can add movement to their days without being constantly damp.

For me, bra and underwear are the most uncomfortable things to be damp, and I don't find wicking/ quick dry fabrics to be helpful for them. So if I can't change my clothes, I use a cloth winged pantyliner on my underwear and a bamboo bra liner under my bra band. I can remove them after getting sweaty without having to take off all my clothes, and it's a lot more comfortable.
posted by metasarah at 6:11 PM on October 25, 2023 [5 favorites]

Best answer: I bike about 25 minutes to work and also can't handle the idea of carting a change of clothes around. My strategy is to be cold while biking (especially in the morning) so that I sweat less, or ideally never start sweating at all. I basically dress like it is 15-20 degrees warmer outside than it actually is while I bike to work. My theory is that I'd rather be cold for my short bike ride than clammy and uncomfortable all day.
posted by mjcon at 6:49 PM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I have an atypical experience when it comes to this topic, but that can perhaps be useful! My oddity is that one way my congenital dysautonomia manifests is that I am really bad at regulating my body temperature, so if I get hot from being active in the summer sun, it jumps right on up to 104 F, and when it is cold in outside--and it gets cold here in Wisconsin--it plunges. Because of this issue, I have had to do a lot of experimenting with how I can regulate my constantly bobbing temperature. And here is the key in my experience to dealing with that issue of going from being cold to being drenched in sweat yet overwarm when active on chilly or frigid days: you have to (or at least I have to) focus on regulating your core--that is, the trunk of your body. And when you arrive at your destination, you need to have to have a means of coping with how hot and sweaty you will get, ironically, when you are basically sitting still, but in a warm room that most people--including yourself!--would generally find comfortable.

When active outside on a cold day, if you overheat and strip off your outer layers, your arms and legs will very soon feel cold. They're just silly pipestems; they can't take it, no shame in that. So the solution is to make sure all of your layers beyond the minimal base open, and cool your core. Open each layer sequentially, until you get down to a very light tank top. Peel them back, exposing as much as possible of your trunk to the chilly air. Then, presuming you continue to be active and generate heat, start taking the outer layers off sequentially and stuffing them in a backpack. Personally, when active in cold weather I have found that sometimes I cannot titrate properly because I'm too hot with my sweater or hoodie on but it's too cold to go down just to the light shirt overlying my brief base layer. So I take one arm out of the sweater/hoodie layer. Then in a few minutes, I switch which arm is covered and which is out. You will look rather silly with one arm in and one arm out, it's true, but this tactic has helped me significantly.

Now, if you arrive at your destination, and it is work, comes that dilemma of coming out of the chill into a space that is kept at a temperature considered comfortable by most, and needing to look plausibly professional. It is likely that after at most a minute of delight at feeling your chilled nose warm up, you will feel overheated and start to sweat a lot. Perhaps you are one of the very lucky people who (1) has a private office with (2) a thermostat you are allowed to control and (3) an ambient air temperature that actually responds quickly to your turning it down. True for few of us, I'm afraid. What I have done is purchased a large desk fan. Really, it's awkwardly large, so I store it by the wall and only put it on my desk when I'm in the transition period between activity (which, for me, can mean "I was walking") and sedentary office life. Turn it on high and stick it in front of your face and chest, puzzling your coworkers who are wearing sweaters, while stripping off any layers remaining beyond base and work-plausible shirt. Really, this is the danger zone, for me anyway, when I can wind up looking like I took a bath in my clothing, so cool down fast, before the sweat starts pouring. Blasting myself with a fan usually means, in my case, that just five or six minutes later, I can turn the fan down to gentle setting and move it to the side of my desk, and in fifteen or twenty minutes I can turn it off, hide it back by the wall, button up the top buttons of my shirt, and feel dry and presentable. Usually.

Hope something from that helps! No fancy clothing fabrics required. You just need a number of them, and a good fan.
posted by DrMew at 10:46 PM on October 25, 2023 [3 favorites]

I find wearing a cycling vest ( vs jacket) to be helpful at regulating temperatures when it’s cool but not really cold. I have one that I got at a century ride that is too small for me that I would be happy to give you. It’s a women’s XL but cycling clothes tend to run small (apparently overweight women aren’t supposed to ride bikes ) . Memail me if your interested/think it might fit. It’s very lightweight so shouldn’t cost much to mail.
posted by morchella at 6:28 AM on October 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

I've read that the approach taken by folks in the Netherlands to avoid getting sweaty is to bike more slowly. This doesn't help though if you're sweaty just by existing. Thus consider "prescription strength" over the counter antiperspirant (ex).
posted by oceano at 12:47 AM on October 27, 2023

Response by poster: Thank you!

Changing just the wet base layer(s) is both obvious and yet genius/game-changing. That’s something I can either dry where I go or not mind having damp in a bag.

I’ve also embraced ‘be bold start cold’ and that too is very much a winner. I can see why cyclists wear things like arm warmers now. Will see how this goes as the weather gets colder but I envision merely covering the most wind-whipped bits.

Honourable mentions to notes about lyocell (being wet) and about wicking jerseys.

Antiperspirant is not the one — I can’t cover my back in it! — but might help someone else.

I’ve been much more comfortable and am delighted to count this resolved :)
posted by lokta at 2:37 AM on November 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

I've done my commute in temps around -10C with a windbreaker over a baselayer and thin fleece and was fine so it can get pretty cold and you'll still be fine wearing a lot less than you might think you need to. The good thing is that you can experiment with your clothes as the days get colder so you'll be able to figure out what works for you.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:56 AM on November 7, 2023