To ask you about the underarms of tshirts?

[PassingStranger]

Why do the underarms of my t shirts go brown and sometimes stiff.

I use Sure deodrant, the black and white one the roll on.
Am I doing something wrong or is it normal for this to happen over time?😯

Passing contamination from your pit to the fabric that isn't cleared by your laundry methods.

2 ways I'd be thinking, are they too tight fitting? If not then get some pre treatment on them for laundry. You might not be able to fix the brown ones but you probably can prevent going forward. I'd also look to change deodorant in case that's particularly bad.

we have this but yellow (Mitchum). Ive tried all sorts of pre-wash and it doesn't seem to work. If anyone has ideas about how to avoid it or get rid of stains let me know. I have tried other deodorants but lots of them seem to have the same or slightly different impact on underarms

I use Sure roll-on and I get the same. Can't be bothered with pretreating clothes so I just rock the stiff underarm look 😆

I find a good spray of white vinegar before washing (leave to soak in for a little while) and drying in the sunshine usually sorts it out. I appreciate the crappy British weather usually precludes part 2 of this method being possible.

Unless you are really diligent about prewash, soaking etc, I think it's inevitable that some styles of more fitted T shirts get stained over time.

I've never had a problem since I changed to using nuud deodorant.

I'm not convinced it's the deodorant specifically, as I've seen other people complain of the issue with nuud, but maybe it's the a reaction between specific chemicals in your sweat and your deodorant, and a different deodorant would have a different result?

It’s putting your clothes on before your deodorant has dried. Or, putting your deodorant on when you’re already wearing your clothes.

I've read this as an explanation before, and I've been careful to leave some time between applying antiperspirant and putting tops on.

I'd give the white vinegar a go as a prewash treatment too, I might try on DS's school shirts which have an application of Lynx Cookies & Leather to contend with...

It's this. I use the Sure black and white roll on and it does take a while to dry. Blast it with a cool hairdryer then pat a layer of talc over it.

It is just build up of deodorant and sweat. Try adding soda crystals to your washing to boost the detergent power. I also like Shout laundry spray for pre treatment as it's quick to use. Drying in the sun helps to bleach any stains.

My son had this issue, white vinegar helped plus oxy stain remover

Oxy stain remover, pink bottle has been the only thing that I’ve found thats helped a bit. Hanging in the sunshine also improves it. Will be glad when 6th form done with and the white shirts can go in the bin!

I read somewhere that these stains happen when the deodorant/sweat come into contact with hot water - the heat helps it set. Doing a quick cold wash on them first will remove the build up.

Do you use non-bio laundry stuff?

It just doesn't clean off certain build ups like Bio does.

Vanish soap works in my experience. Just lather it on stains prewash then wash as normal.

I think it builds up over time, I put a t-shirt aside when I notice it's happened and when I have a small collection of them I treat them all with vinegar or a sweat/deodorant stain spray and then wash them all on 60 and it makes them good as new again. I can't find any patterns in materials that it seems to happen for.

Obviously the hot wash does wear the clothes out faster which is why I only do it after it has built up over a while.

IME letting it dry first doesn't make a difference and all powder where I live is bio, there is no such thing as non bio.

I always find one side gets a problem not the other so much. Not the brown issue but a kind of waxy texture. I assume one side I'm inadvertently putting on more deo than the other.

Which spray do you use @BertieBotts ?

I think it's partly each individuals sweat make up.

I've never had this problem but my sister always has.

You need a longer hotter wash with powder. my dd was ready to throw her boyfriends t shirts out until in desperation she followed my advice! (Wow lol)

I mostly use a shorter 40 wash but every say 6 washes I'll put a longer 60 wash and it keeps everything fresher

Sorry I live in Germany so it's probably not available in the UK - it was just something like "Sweat and deodorant stain spray".