What’s worse than a pair of sweaty armpits?
A pair of yellow sweat stains on your favorite shirt.
There’s no silver lining to sweat stains (more like gold-ish). They’re embarrassing, distracting and ruin your clothes.
If you aren’t careful, they could derail your social life and end up costing you a small fortune. (replacing your favorite outfit every 2 weeks ain’t cheap.)
Here’s the good news, there are ways to prevent sweat stains and ways to get rid of sweat stains after they occur.
We’ll help you with both…
The best way to beat pit stains is to avoid them in the first place.
5 Tips to Prevent Sweat Stains
1. Wear a cheap undershirt to avoid getting sweat stains on your dress shirts and nice clothes. For fitted and tailored shirts you’ll want to use sweat pads or sweat guards.
2. Use a clinical-strength antiperspirant. A strong antiperspirant can prevent bacteria-prone sweat from staining your shirts. Apply antiperspirant before bedtime and let it dry completely before getting dressed. If you put on too much antiperspirant or don’t let it dry completely, it can lead to yellow pit stains.
3. Trim your armpit hair. Your underarm hair can collect excess sweat, dirt, and bacteria (the perfect recipe for sweat stains). By trimming pit hair, you can prevent lingering sweat and odor causing bacteria.
4. Wash sweaty shirts ASAP! The longer you leave a sweaty shirt to dry, the stronger the stain sets in. Handwash sweaty clothes with a little bit of laundry detergent and cold water to keep the stain from setting in.
5. Take it easy with the deodorant. Like some antiperspirants, deodorant can also cause yellow stains on your shirts. To avoid this, apply a light layer to your underarms and let it air dry before dressing. The secret here is to get the deodorant in your pits without getting it on your shirt.
If you can’t stop the sweat stains, these tips will help you to remove them.
How to Get Rid of Pit Stains
Treating sweat stains can be tricky. If you don’t wash your sweat-soiled clothes quickly and properly, the stains can set in — and may not come out at all. But the good news is, it is possible to remove sweat stains from your clothes. In fact, once you know how, it’s actually pretty easy to do.
How to Clean Pit Stains That Aren’t Totally Set In
Do you typically get pit stains on your shirt while you’re working out or while you’re cutting the grass on a hot day? If so, these are the easiest type to remove.
Sweat stains are a lot harder to remove from your clothing once they’ve set in, and for pit stains to set in, they have to dry. So if you can treat your shirt immediately, you won’t have to worry about sweat stains ruining it. And the best part is, all you need to do is run the soiled part of your shirt under some cold water. Then, gently rub the stained part of the fabric together to loosen up the stain and rinse it thoroughly. Once its dry, you can wash it with the rest of your laundry without any worries.
Can Pit Stains Be Removed If They’re Set In?
If you have sweat stains on a shirt that are already set in, they can still be removed. But it will take a bit more work than putting the shirt in cold water. There are several home remedies that will get rid of pit stains, but you need to make sure the one you use works for the type of shirt you have. For example, the process to remove sweat stains from colored clothing is different than the stain removal process you should use on white clothing — which is why we’ve outlined different techniques for you below.
How to Get Rid of Pit Stains on White Shirts
Getting pit stains on white shirts sucks. They are often even more noticeable than sweat stains on colored shirts, so when it happens, it’s can be really embarrassing — especially if you’re on a date or about to go into a big meeting.
But don’t worry. You don’t have to throw out your favorite white T-shirt or nice, crisp dress shirt. Instead, follow these instructions to remove sweat stains from white clothing.
What you need:
1 cup of white vinegar
1/2 cup of baking soda
1 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide
2 cups of warm water
A bowl large enough to hold your shirt and the cleaning solution
Small bowl
Metal spoon
Towel
Once you’ve gathered all of your ingredients:
1. Pour two cups of warm water and one cup of white vinegar to your bowl.
2. Place the shirt in the water and vinegar solution so that the sweat stains are completely covered, and let it soak for between 20 and 30 minutes.
3. Combine the hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl. Then, use the spoon to mix the ingredients together until it forms a paste.
4. Cover a flat work surface with the towel.
5. Remove the shirt from the large bowl, and then, wring out any excess liquid.
6. Spread the shirt out over the towel, use the spoon to spread the paste mixture over the soiled parts of the shirt. Let the mixture sit on the shirt for about 20 minutes.
7. Once the paste is set in, wash the shirt with a load of whites as you normally would.
How to Get Pit Stains Out of Colored Shirts
You might be surprised to discover that the same process you use to get sweat stains out of white clothing can’t use on colored clothing — the hydrogen peroxide can ruin them.
To remove sweat stains from colored clothing, soak the item in a mixture of cold water and white vinegar for between 20 and 30 minutes. Then, run cold water over the soiled area, and gently rub the area with your fingers to loosen the stain. Then, wash the clothing like you normally would — in a load with like colors.
If you don’t have white vinegar on hand, crush a few aspirins up. Then, mix the crushed aspirin with water to make a paste. Apply the paste to the soiled area, and let it sit for about an hour before washing the piece of clothing in the washer and dryer.
Why Do Pit Stains Become Yellow?
It isn’t your sweat that causes pit stains to turn yellow. In fact, sweat is actually colorless. (Well, most of the time. There is a condition called chromhidrosis that causes people to have yellow, blue, or green sweat. But for most people sweat doesn’t have a color.)
When your sweat mixes with the bacteria on your skin, your deodorant, your antiperspirant, and even your clothing, it can cause yellow stains to appear on your clothes. But it’s the mixture of the sweat, bacteria, and chemicals that cause the yellow hue — not the sweat alone.
How to Get Rid of Yellow Pit Stains
Yellow underarm stains are probably the most embarrassing, and getting rid of them isn’t easy either. But it can be done.
What you need:
Liquid dish soap
Baking soda
Cold water
Toothbrush
Hydrogen peroxide
Small mixing bowl
When you have your ingredients ready, lay your shirt on a flat surface — inside out. Then…
1. In a small bowl combine equal parts of liquid dish soap, baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide — about a tablespoon of each should do the trick. (If you’re working with a colored shirt, replace the hydrogen peroxide with cold water.)
2. Spread the mixture on the stained area of the shirt.
3. Use the toothbrush to work the mixture into the stain. It will loosen the stain up a bit so the ingredients can work their magic.
4. Let the mixture sit on your shirt for about an hour. Then, use your washer and dryer to clean the shirt as you normally would.
If you have yellow pit stains that are really hard to get out, use an old toothbrush to scrub regular table salt into the stain to loosen it up even more.
Can You Bleach Pit Stains?
While it might seem like bleach would be the best option for removing pit stains from white clothing, it isn’t. In fact, it can actually make the stain worse. So you should avoid using bleach to remove sweat stains from your clothing.
If you prefer not to use a homemade solution, Oxiclean and Puracy Natural Stain Remover are both good alternatives and can work wonders on yellow underarm stains.
Can Dry Cleaners Remove Pit Stains?
So you might be wondering what you should do if you happen to get pit stains on a shirt that’s specifically marked “Dry Clean Only.” In that case, it’s probably not a good idea to try to remove the pit stains on your own.
Professional dry cleaners are able to remove sweat stains from your shirts, but the stains aren’t removed using the normal dry cleaning process. Because of this, it’s important to point the stains out to the cleaner when you drop off your garments. This way, the technician knows that your shirts need to be pre-treated to remove the stains before they are dry cleaned.
Also, because sweat stains are harder to remove the longer they are left to set in, it’s a good idea to take your shirts to the cleaners frequently. It’s actually a good idea to take the shirt to the cleaners the same day if possible.
If you can’t get to the dry cleaner right away, apply a small amount of lemon juice and cold water to the sweat stains on your shirt. This should help prevent the sweat stains from really setting in. Make sure you only use a tiny amount though. It’s okay for the underarm area of the shirt to be slightly damp, but you don’t want to saturate it.
How to Remove Pit Stains From Shirts Before They Set In
Excessive sweating is a lot more common than you probably think. Unfortunately, it’s something that a lot of people have to deal with on a regular basis — and no one wants to walk into a client meeting or complete a presentation with pit stains on their shirt. It’s embarrassing.
If you know you have an important event or you frequently sweat through your work shirts, keep a spare in your office. As soon as you notice sweat stains appearing, change your shirt. Then, take the soiled shirt into the bathroom and run the stained area under cold water. This keeps the stain from setting in completely. You can then hang your shirt in your office to dry. Because the sweat stains didn’t have time to set in, you don’t have to worry about using special cleaning techniques on the shirt later.
If you don’t have a private office, you can still use this technique. Simply keep your spare shirt in your desk drawer or in your car so you have it when needed.
Do Pit Stains Come Out of Silk Shirts?
Pit stains do come out of silk shirts, but we don’t recommend you try to remove the stain yourself. Most silk shirts should only be dry cleaned because the fabric is so delicate. Because of this, you should leave the sweat stain removal to the pros.
Instead of trying to remove sweat stains from a silk shirt yourself, take the shirt to the dry cleaner as soon as possible. As we mentioned above, be sure to point out the stains when you drop off the shirt so it gets the little extra care it needs.
How Do Pit Stains Happen?
According to Mike Thomas of Proctor & Gamble, antiperspirants are actually one of the biggest causes of armpit stains. See, antiperspirant gets absorbed into your clothing, and when it mixes with your sweat, you get nasty yellow pit stains.
But antiperspirants are also the one thing that can help reduce the amount of sweat you produce. Yep, that’s right, we’re back to the Catch-22. If you avoid using antiperspirant, you’re going to sweat a lot more, but using it leaves you with pit stains. So what do you do?
Well, you’re not going to stop using antiperspirant — or deodorant for that matter. Instead, you’re going to change the way you use it.
How to Hide Pit Stains
If all else fails, dressing strategically to hide your pit stains is a great option.
Try following some of these tips to hide embarrassing sweat stains.
Choose your shirt color wisely. Gray, bright, and light-colored shirts aren’t very forgiving, but black and navy shirts hide sweat stains well.
Layer bright colors over neutrals. If you’re worried about sweat stains, bright colored shirts are the worst option. So instead of choosing a bright colored shirt, opt for a neutral brown, navy, or black shirt and wear a bright jacket over it.
Wear cotton or linen shirts instead of shirts made of polyester or rayon. Synthetic fabrics don’t let your skin breathe at all. If possible, consider choosing a shirt made with moisture-wicking fabric.
Choose loose-fitting clothing. Shirts that are cut with long, flowing sleeves let air flow freely, which keeps your shirt away from your skin as much as possible.
In the end, a good strategy for preventing sweat stains is the best way to get rid of them: Stay clean, stay hydrated, eat healthy, dress strategically, manage stress, and use a strong antiperspirant.
