Yellow stains in armpits of white tops (yuk)

[fatsatsuma]

Am I the only person who has this problem ?

I am not excessively sweaty or (I hope) smelly, but my white tops are invariably stained within a few wears. I hope they are deodorant stains rather than actual sweat - but whatever they are, they look horrible.

Has anyone got a tip for getting them out? Am tempted to slosh bleach around, but am not sure how concentrated it should be etc.

[BecauseImWorthIt]

I have soaked things in bleach (diluted, obviously!) and that has worked. Should be instructions on the side of the bottle for the amount to use.

[FluffyBunnyGoneBad]

Have you tried two souble asprin in the wash? This often works. It's a bit better then bleach as it won't harm the fabric. You can also buy Stain devil.

[fatsatsuma]

Thanks, I will try the bleach. Haven't heard of using soluble aspirin - sounds interesting. I think I tried stain devils in the past and found they weren't much good. Is there a specific sweat one?

[Starbear]

I think this is deodorant. I used to scrub with a nail/clothes scrubbing brush the area with bio-tec soap dissolved in warm water. Or change deodorant. I use Sanex deodorant now.

[shootfromthehip]

I used to get this too- you should try Mitchem deo, as it's great. I think vinegar is supposed to be good but that might be to combat the reactivation of BO smells? Can't remember but worth a go?

[nomorecake]

scrub with fairy liquid, then still in the wash.
(do that for grubby cuffs on shirts too)

[fatsatsuma]

Thanks everyone. I have tried different deodorants including the mitchem one, but it didn't stop the nasty stains.

[FluffyBunnyGoneBad]

IIRC (don't puke), it's the bacteria in your sweat reacting with the deoderant. There is a specific stain devil for sweat as it's basically protein, it's the bacteria that make the colour. I don't know how soluble asprin works, I got the tip from a Kim and Aggie book, it does work but not for bad patches. Pop 2 in the draw with the washing powder. It does make the clothes smell weird though so you may have to wash them again without the asprin.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

soaking in white vinegar has helped here.

[zazizoma]

I discovered that it is the alchohol in deoderant interacting with the perspiration that causes this. If you switch to an alcohol-free deoderant (like Sanex, don't know about Mitchum, check the ingredients) you shouldn't be troubled by this anymore.