How to get BO armpit smell out of school shirts?

[Overseasmom100]

Have washed DS school shirts snd the armpit still smell of BO anyone any advice how to over come this was thinking of putting them on a 90 wash now to see if it clears the smelll

Roughly, I follow the following

White shirts, white socks, white underwear on a 90 wash.

Socks, underwear, towels and tea towels on a 60 wash

School uniform, work uniform, jeans and cotton t shirts on a 40

Everything else I do on a no heat wash, 20 wash or a 30 wash and use the 20 minute wash option.

And I only use Non Bio

I use Asda's colour washing powder for all colours and bio for whites.

I find the colour wash washes as well as a bio, but doesn't fade. The school shirts are all white, so they get bio

I wash clothes at 40, and sheets and towels at 60

You need bio powder, it's a bit of a con the non bio stuff, it doesn't exist in any other country. It doesn't do anything to colours or shrink fabrics as well, how could it? That's not how it works. If you find fabrics fade in the wash buy "colour" powder as this is specifically formulated without bleach or UV agents, which you may prefer anyway. I do find that popular brands like Ariel, Bold, Surf seem to wash better than random supermarket brands, but I buy the massive boxes which seems to help.

If the shirts are man made fibres they will smell more. Buy 100% cotton to reduce this. Defo agree with spraying with vinegar as well (any kind of acid will do it - where I live in Germany you can buy a "sweat and deodorant" remover which is essentially citric acid, if you get it on your fingers it tastes strongly of grapefruit) and encourage to change shirt daily and change into home clothes on arrival home.

I do most washes on 40 and find this sufficient, but if I find certain items are still smelling regardless of being washed I keep them to the side and then run them all through a higher temperature wash without fabric softener with vinegar instead, that seems to do the trick and get them fresh again when there's been a build up. I tend to need to do this with stuff made from manmade fibres, they get all musty.

I never buy wool or silk because I would destroy them.

Do you have a delay timer?
I do long washes in the night and set the timer for when I get up in the morning. Might that be an option?

White vinegar sprayed on the pits + 60 degree wash. That will do it.

So after a 2 hour 90 cycle and shirts dried the pits dont smell.
One question about the vinegar - doesnt THIS smell?

How long is your 40 washing cycle for?
I have a quick wash 27 mins, which is too quick for armpit smells, but i can chose a colour wash (the machine doesn’t know they’re whites) that’s twice as long. 1 hr 4 and I add it a cap of zoflora
If that doesn’t work, I have a ‘hygiene’ wash cycle that I use for underwear/sheets/towels that’s at 60, so I’d pop in there.

the vinegar only smells when wet. smell dissapears completely when dry

The vinegar smells when you're putting it in the machine but once it's gone through a wash cycle it doesn't smell vinegary at all. I used to use it to replace fabric softener and everything would come out smelling really fresh.

I just can't bring myself to use vinegar for cleaning or laundry and no amount of threads on Mumsnet extolling the virtues of vinegar will ever persuade me, I'm afraid.

I do use lemons, salt and soda crystals and other natural cleansers. Vinegar? I just cant!

Try it? You can always wash something again. I mean if you spilled a bottle of vinegar on your clothes, you'd wash them wouldn't you - not throw them away?

Defo white vinegar, not Sarson's :o

I always use Ace. Tried vanish, but found that as well as removing stains better, Ace also made clothes smell fresher. I put it in a spray bottle (so not too much comes out). Spray straight on inside of armpit area. Regular wash cycle at 40 degrees always does the trick.

I wash 5 sets of very smelly (1 kit is under 18 boys 🤢) muddy rugby shirts every week.
I use bio powder, vanish and a cup of distilled vinegar in every wash.
And fabric softener for the delicate little loves 😁.