How to Get Rid of Deodorant Stains
You wear signature clothing like Jockey or Gap. Since you work hard to pay for what you wear, you want your shirts to always be as immaculately white as possible. So when you find your white shirt stained with your deodorant, of course you’re not thrilled.
Before you even try to find solutions on how to get rid of deodorant stains, why not prevent it before it even happens? It’s very easy.
Preventing Deodorant Stains
One of the reasons why your deodorant keeps staining your shirt is because you apply too much of it on your armpits. Just because you apply thicker amounts does not mean the deodorant will work more effectively. Thin applications will be fine. When you apply thinly, you will also prevent aluminum salts and acids from getting in contact with your clothes.Before you wear your clothes for the day, make sure that the antiperspirant or deodorant has already dried on your skin. If the substance gets on your shirt, then expect it to stain.
Try washing your shirt when you reach home after a day’s work. Use plain cold water to wash the armpits of your top. Cold water is what you need, because the temperature will neutralize the acids that create a stain on your shirt. Before you even put your shirt in the wash, make sure that you have rinsed the armpit part well. Make sure it’s free of sweat.
Removing The Stubborn Stains
You can simply throw your shirt away if you cannot tolerate the stubborn deodorant stain. Then again, it’s not practical to just dispose an overpriced Banana Republic top, so you will have to look into the following tips and get your money’s worth.Clorox – Spot treatment is a trick that you may first try because it’s the easiest among all tips. You can spot treat your white shirt using Clorox. To make spot treatment more efficient, treat your shirt immediately after you have finished working out at a gym. You can also do this once you reach home from work.
Start the spot treatment by dabbing a small amount of Clorox on both pits. You should do this even if you do not see a stain yet, because stains coming from deodorants don’t show instantly. Let the chemicals stay on your shirt’s armpits for a few minutes. Together with your other white shirts, take the shirt you are spot treating and wash them all for some bleach. Just be prepared to have your shirt easily worn out. The chemicals in a bleach are slightly corrosive, but if you really have to try the easy tactic, then using bleach is the key.
Boric Acid — Boric acid is used by many cleaning aficionados when dealing with deodorant stains. An example of a boric acid brand is 20 Mule Team Borax, packed in a small convenient box. Like hydrogen peroxide, boric acid is also eco-friendly, and is a good alternative to bleach. It’s proven effective, since humans during the ancient times already use it to clean garments.
To use boric acid, mix some of the powder with water to create a paste. A little water with a tablespoon of boric acid will be enough to spread over. The paste will work into the fabric that surrounds your shirt’s armpits. Let the paste sit on the fabric for about 30 minutes. The crusties can be brushed off after. It is best to use scotch pad for brushing the pits, and then put the shirt in the wash.
Hydrogen Peroxide — Sure, you can always use chlorine bleach for your deodorant stains, but you know that chlorine bleach is not environment-friendly. Chlorine bleach can even kill fish. If you don’t want this to happen, then resort to using hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is known as a non-chlorine bleach, and has countless uses.
The good thing about hydrogen peroxide is that it even gives small fish oxygen. Fish culturalists use hydrogen peroxide to also help fish and fish eggs fight fungi. Hydrogen peroxide is sold at drugstores, and you can buy it in two to three percent solutions. To use it, put a few teaspoons on the stained area and then slightly rub it in. Let the chemicals sit for a few minutes before washing the whole shirt. If you are fixing a white shirt, wash it only with the other whites. Never mix your white shirts with the colored tops because hydrogen peroxide is not color-safe.
Alcohol-Based Cleaners – You may want to use cleaners based on alcohol on colored clothing. An example of an alcohol-based cleaner is Baby Wipes. If you do not have an alcohol-based cleaner, you can always use alcohol itself because this is a powerful solvent. If it can dissolve aluminum salts, it surely can also dissolve deodorant stains. Using alcohol to get rid of deodorant stains is a good idea because alcohol evaporates quickly. There will no smell or residue left on your shirt, although yes, it will smell bad the moment you put some alcohol on your shirt. Don’t think twice about using Baby Wipes because this product is disposable, concealable and portable. It’s perfect in case of emergency.
Enzymatic Cleaner – If you haven’t heard of this before, it’s a technique which you can use on your colored clothes. Using an enzymatic cleaner is wise because you will be using a product that makes use of living organisms that produce protein. The enzymatic cleaner digests anything organic that it comes in contact with. Your sweat, for example, is organic, and the enzymatic cleaner consumes it. This way, your sweat is already digested by the enzymatic cleaner before it even becomes a stain.
An enzymatic cleaner digests the sweat using biochemical reactions. There is a reaction between your sweat and the proteins found in the enzymatic cleaner. You can also use an enzymatic cleaner on vomit, blood and urine stains. It works well on tough stains. Make sure that your shirt is thoroughly clean, by washing it after rubbing some amount of enzymatic cleaner on the affected spot.
Getting rid of stains is fairly easy as long as you know what substances you need to remove them. Simple washing won’t do you any good. You also need to know how to prevent the deodorant from staining your clothes so you wouldn’t need to go through all the hassle of deodorant stain removal. If you enjoyed learning from this article, you’ll surely enjoy reading how to get stains out.
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