If there’s one thing I’m horrible at, that’s getting rid of yellow stains, especially on white shirts. I do not have plenty of clothes, to begin with. Seeing yellow stains on my clothes, especially my favorite ones, will surely urge me to find effective approach for yellow stain removal. That’s more convenient than to spend my spare money for a new shirt to compensate with my stained one. Fortunately, there are a lot of existing safe remedies today that I found online. Read on if you’re interested to figure it out!
Armpit stain is commonly due to aluminum-based deodorant and antiperspirant, excess body oil, unhealthy lifestyle, and poor personal hygiene. There are various ways on how we can get rid of armpit stain, either conventional or home remedies. If we can prevent it from occurring, then much better.
WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE CAUSES OF ARMPIT STAINS ON CLOTHING?
It’s essential to learn about what causes the armpit stain first before treating the yellow stain itself. Prevention is always better than the cure, they say.
Here are the possible causes that might’ve caused you armpit stains:
1. Aluminum-based deodorant or antiperspirant
If you have armpit odor and excessive perspiration problem, deodorant and antiperspirant are the products that you should use. However, if you also noticed stains undershirt, then it’s best to either avoid using aluminum-based deodorant and antiperspirant or resort into using aluminum-free products instead.
To elaborate, in order to block the sweat gland from producing excess sweat, antiperspirant relies fully on aluminum-based compound. If antiperspirant starts to wear off, and you begin to sweat again, the antiperspirant left on your undershirt might react against it and will eventually cause you armpit stains.
2. Body Oil
Similar to sweating, our body normally produces oil. If you’ve noticed yellow stain on your clothes, consider your skin type first. Do you have an oily skin type? If yes, then that’s probably the closest cause to why you earn a stain under your shirt!
Body oil is comparable to sweating, only greasier. If you think your armpit stains are due to the excess oil your underarm releases, it’s best to keep your armpits trimmed, if not shaved, then. Wearing loose and breathable shirt are advisable, as well, to let your pits dry naturally without staining the shirt.
Oily skin is common to people living in a tropical country.
3. Diet
Remember, perspiration is both odorless and colorless. It is a combination of water, sodium, fats, and protein. To specify, your sweat is not the real culprit behind the stains, but the antiperspirant you were using or the food you commonly eat. And if it’s the latter, that’s when sweating itself stains clothing.
It’s important to consider your diet in order to prevent body odor, excessive perspiration, and armpit stains from occuring. Keeping yourself hydrated will make your perspiration less greasier, lowering its chance to produce sweat stain.
4. Poor hygiene
This is a generalized factor to why shirts develop yellow stains. It’s important to practice personal hygiene, if we can. Taking a bath everyday, changing into washed clothes and undergarments, and washing thoroughly our pits will lower the probability of staining our clothes. This also includes washing our unwashed clothes first before wearing them.
5. Washed poorly
It’s essential to wash our used clothes first before wearing them again, but that doesn’t fully guarantee yellow stain-free clothes, especially if we failed to wash them properly.
If our clothes are washed poorly, there’s a higher chance for yellow stains to appear, and that’s what we should avoid.
Here’s a simplified reminder when washing clothes:
1. Air drying is always the best option.
2. Do not store clothes yet, if it’s not fully dried.
3. Sort your clothes.
4. Use heavy and effective detergents to get rid of dirt and bacteria on clothes.
5. If you’re using antiperspirant, it’s best to pre-treat your clothes first before tossing it into your laundry basket.
HOW CAN WE AVOID ARMPIT STAINS FROM OCCURING?
Here are the things that you can do to avoid or prevent armpit stains from occuring:
1. Do not use aluminum-based antiperspirant
Although, aluminum is an effective ingredient against excessive sweating, it’s advisable to stop using aluminum-based antiperspirant and deodorant to avoid the possible occurence of armpit stains again. Resorting to aluminum-free antiperspirant is the best alternative, although the effects might be quite different compare to the aluminum-based ones.
2. Use less antiperspirant
If you’re used to applying heavy layers of antiperspirant in hopes of stopping the sweat glands from producing excess sweat for a longer duration of time, then you’re doing it wrong. When the antiperspirant wears off, and your underarms start to perspire again, the amount of antiperspirant left on your undershirt will eventually cause you yellow stain. That being said, applying less antiperspirant underarms might be of help to stop stains from recurring.
3. Let it dry
Wait the deodorant or antiperspirant to dry completely first before dressing up. It’s also advisable to apply antiperspirant at night to ensure its effectiveness.
4. Pre-treat
After taking off your shirt, do not toss it into your laundry basket yet. Mix water and white vinegar together. Spray this solution to the underarms of your shirt. Air dry it next before tossing it in the laundry basket.
5. Use a stain prevention antiperspirant, instead of an aluminum-based one.
Due to all the existing rumors about aluminum-based antiperspirant, including the fact that it’s a proven stain-causing product, people relying on natural remedies are icreasing expectantly each day. That’s one of the reason why there are stain preventation antiperspirant available today that might soon lead the market.
6. Keep your pits trimmed, if not shaved.
Armpit hair slow down the drying process of your applied deodorant and/or antiperspirant, as well as the drying process of your sweat, resulting to either armpit stain or unwanted odor. Either way, keeping your pits trimmed or shaved will be of huge help toward armpit stain prevention.
HOME REMEDIES
Here are the various ways on how to get rid of armpit stain on clothes:
1. Bicarbonate soda
Mix four (4) tablespoon of bicarb soda and a cup of warm water into a small bowl. Apply this on the stain, rub it using your finger, and let it air dry for at least two hours.
2. Hydrogen Peroxide and Bicarbonate soda
Mix hydrogen peroxide, bicarbonate soda, and warm water into a small container. This is one of the most effective armpit stain removal. Let it soak for an hour or two. Wash properly right after.
3. Aspirin
If you’re dealing with a stubborn yellow stain, aspirin might be the solution. It contains sallicylic acid, like vinegar, that is popular among yellow stains. Crush the aspirin tablets into powder. Mix the powdered aspirin and water together to create a paste. Apply the paste directly on the stain using a brush, preferably a toothbrush. Do this repeatedly. Wash properly after.
4. Lemon
If you have a fresh lemon fruit in your kitchen, you can also use this to get rid of armpit stain. You can either squeeze the fruit or rub it directly on the stain instead. Make sure to wash the shirt properly right after.
5. Oxygen bleach stain remover
Oxygen bleach stain remover is not an ordinary bleach, so don’t confuse the two.
6. Salt
Dissolve four (4) tablespoon of salt in liter of water. You can either use a sponge or brush with the solution to get rid of armpit stains.
7. Vodka
Vodka is not your ordinary alcoholic drink. Mix vodka and warm water altogether, and use this to pre-treat your unwashed clothes before tossing them in the laundry basket. Make sure to dry it first.
OVER-THE-COUNTER
Oxiclean
This is one of the most popular and effective stain removal. Do not use this if the stained cloth are silk, wool, leather, or clothes labeled with “dry clean only.”
DO IT YOURSELF
If you like to switch from aluminum-based to aluminum-free antiperspirant, then do-it-yourself antiperspirant/deodorant might be the solution.
Here’s one of the easiest D.I.Y deodorant that you can try:
Reminder: If you’re going to create a D.I.Y aluminum-free deodorant/antiperspirant, make sure to avoid artificial ingredient. Resort to natural ingredients only.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup of baking soda
1/3 cup of coconut oil
1/4 cup of arrowroot starch optional: 6 to 10 drops of essential oil for fragrance.
Procedure:
1. Mix 1/4 cup of baking soda and 1/5 cup of arrowroot into a bowl.
2. Mix coconut oil next. Add essential oil if you like.
3. If you’re already satisfied with the mixture, put it in an empty jar. Final thoughts: There are various armpit stain removal that you can try, but knowing what causes the stain and aiming to avoid the possible occurence of it again, is better. Prevention is always better than cure.