School uniform and sweating

[Goingprivate2020]

Aibu to choose a school based on it having a white shirt/top as part of the uniform? The Academically best school Here has a blue shirt: utterly unforgiving for sweat stains. My husband and i are both sweaty, not often at a standing start but both of us in heat (over 24/25) and Exercise. More than most. I also sweat with nerves if I’m scared.. Kids are already quite sweaty too (at ten, one already has smelly pits without deodorant in the heat and had a sweaty back after riding with tight back protector on after a hot riding lesson this week).

I have always had to dress according to sweat. I know it’s tricky and when it’s hot I don’t wear certain colours. Certainly not grey or blue where sweat would show. I didn’t start sweating excessively until I was well into adulthood but had white school shirts so wouldn’t have been very conscious anyway. I am starting to think that an academically less impressive school with a whits top would be better holistically than an educational lifetime worrying about sweat at a formative stage of development. It could affect their confidence, distract them academically, be Acutely embarrassing. Aibu? Wwyd?

A thin vest under the shirt might help.
We use pit rock here which is amazing and more gentle.

A spare shirt if things get really bad??

Never say never regarding the uniform changing! Ours had been the same for decades and changed this year - blue shirts to white, amongst other things!

[quote Goingprivate2020]@Jakey056 I suppose I’ve always been aware of sweating and others don’t seem to sweat as much even when exercising! Would any ten year old with a back protector on get sweat patches in a hot ride? I don’t know. It was a hard lesson as her horse was lazy and hot and perhaps as others suggest I am over anxious and overthinking.

But the mortification is extreme and I want to protect my kids from it.[/quote]
Yes any child or at least a lot of children would get a sweaty back at this age. My dd does with her body protector and started to smell vaguely from about 7/8.

You are seriously overthinking this. Your dcs may not even suffer at all from hyperhydrosis.

It’s more about the fabrics than the colours.

Cotton/linen causes less sweating.

Polyester, viscose causes lots of sweating. Knitted fabrics are warmer and therefore sweatier than woven fabrics

I'm sure the kids will all be in the same position, if it happens, I'd send in an extra shirt or 2 to change into at breaks, deodorant to top up with. And then try a medicated deodorant if none of that is good enough. My son gets really sweaty, really easily so he tends to wear black tops on weekends etc. In September, on his PE days, he needs to stay in his PE kit all day and no changing rooms allowed so I'm sending him in with a spare pe top to change into in the toilets and deodorant, I'm hoping PE is done last thing otherwise that's going to be alot of sweaty kids!!

Blue shirt is a cotton and polyester mix. Horrible for sweating.

Buy enough shirts to launder them every day.

This. I went to a school with pale blue shirts and I sweat a lot. I wore a clean shirt every day. It just meant owning about 7 of them - 5 to see me through a week and a couple of spare in case they didn't fully dry after being washed over the weekend.

Fortunately this was in the 90's when you could decide for yourself if you wanted your jumper or cardigan on and blazers weren't a thing in state schools.

Buy a cotton shirt in the same colour. It doesn’t need to be polycotton mix.

I can't get my head around the fact that you wouldn't just address the sweating first, or at least try to.

Ten year olds smell, they're reaching puberty, they need to wash more and use deodorant.

I still recall a girl in my class pointing at something and a massive wet yellow sweat stain on her white shirt so I don't think white shirts are the solution anyway.
By the way I became friends with that girl for years anyway, some people sweat more and she was one, doesn't mean it defined her.

You can buy good sports detergents for sweat stains.

Doesn't sweat show on white shirt fabric? I strongly recall people with visible sweat patches on white shirts?

If the schools are all much of a muchness, I can see why this would sway you. I'm just genuinely puzzled because I can always see sweat on white cotton. Not so clearly on polo shirt or t shirt fabrics, but actual shirts it's very visible either way.

@Enormouscroc

Ps I totally totally understand why you are worried about light pale shirts. For those saying pack an extra one, you would literally need to pack 20. In 5 mins it can look like your shirt has been put in the shower. It's a terrible condition which is worsened by anxiety

If that’s the case - and I’m not disputing that at all - then surely you would go to the doctor and explore treatment options? School issues notwithstanding.

I personally wouldn't sacrifice a better school for the sake of a uniform colour.

Worst comes to the worst, send DC with a fresh shirt in their bag so that they can have a quick change in the toilets at lunch time. Also wearing a vest top or thin under-shirt would minimise sweat getting through to the blue shirt.

For you lucky non sweaters, try pouring water on a blue/grey/vomited shirt: and then a white one. The coloured shirt is massively more obvious than white.

One of the schools has a white polo shirt which is even better. This is the state option but I’m not sure the less academic private would be any better than the state option anyway.

Vomited?

*Coloured not vomited!

What about old fashioned sweat pads sewn into the underarms of the shirt? You’ll get them in a haberdashers.

Never heard of this dog...is it a thing?! Will
Google.

Am I unusual in not finding sweat particularly embarrassing? I am a sweaty person FWIW but I can’t say I’ve ever found it mortifying.

Yeah my granny had them. You can also (google tells me) get disposable ones.

Yep I understand you. Hadn't occurred to me that it might be something my children will be plagued with too.

I have always shopped and dressed around potential sweat patches since I was 11 - Only black or white sleeves unless the material is sheer or baggy. I don't even think about it now but those are the only clothes i will buy!

I had a white shirt at school but unfortunately you could still see the sweat patches. That was a few years ago so maybe you could buy better material shirts now. I tried wearing a t shirt underneath which did help but would be against school uniform regulation so would be told off. Basically ended up wearing a school jumper over the top come rain or shine for 5 years. Was awful for self esteem. I was put off jobs e.g waitressing or anything with a t shirt uniform when I was a teen because of the terror of sweat patches.

I tried driclor etc, worked on my hands but drove me insane with pain after 5 mins of application on my armpits and had to wash it straight off.

I think if you haven't been in that position, it's not something that can be fully understood.

I sweat loads too, mostly from my face, which is even more embarrassing!!

Luckily my school didn't have uniform but I have had other times when I've had to wear official things and sweated so much it's obvious

I used those sweat pads in the underarms, both the disposable (stick on) ones and the ones you sew in. Also a t-shirt underneath, which I know sounds like it would make you hotter, but absorbed the sweat more - you can get some very light ones - so I would be less bothered by it. And my sweating wasn't just from heat anyway so two layers didn't matter that much.

Different deodorants - I didn't find the prescription ones helped much but there are others, various 'clinical strength' solid ones that don't sting at all, think they're American but you can get them on amazon. Also various creams that you can out on to block sweat glands for a time.

And bringing a change of clothes, even if it's twice a day, carry and extra shirt or two in a PE bag, would be the end of the world. But with the sweat protectors, you might not need them that often.

Also I teach teenagers, and some of them arrive very sweaty, and don't seem to mind - seen as more of a sporty thing! - so maybe they're more tolerant nowadays. They seem to look after their friends more than used to be the case, and defend them for things they can't help.

Much of the year she can keep jumper or blazer on anyway.

So no, I wouldn't choose the school based on that. If there's teasing, it could be over everything. I'd try to go in assuming it won't be a problem, and only consider changing schools if it really was.