Sweat, deodorant and antiperspirant stains are really tough to remove. So to remove them effectively, you need something powerful. Our most effective solution for removing sweat and deodorant from clothes is to use Ariel All-in-1 PODS + Active Odour Defence. Ariel Active PODS has surfactants that remove anything greasy from fabrics, doing a wonderful job removing the stains and residues left behind by sweat and deodorant. So follow the instructions below and get rid of those greasy sweat and deodorant stains at the 1st go.
What you’ll find in this article
What is sweat?
Everyone sweats. And everyone wears clothes, too. So it’s perfectly natural that your garments pick up sweat stains. For a long time, lemon was seen as the saviour of sweaty clothes, but there is a better form of sweat stain removal that doesn’t involve experimenting - and Ariel is happy to share it with you. Read our step by step guide on how to get sweat stains out of clothes.
Why do we sweat?
Sweat can be caused by a myriad of things, from a difficult exam through sports to hormones, spicy food, and medical conditions such as hyperhidrosis. Here, we have to make a distinction between the two varieties of sweat. When your body starts to heat up, your brain releases sweat from 2.5 million plus eccrine glands spread out across nearly your whole body, expelling the salty liquid through pores to cool down your body. This is called the cooling sweat. The other variety is produced by the apocrine glands, found in the armpit and groin areas, which come alive during emotional, exciting, or stressful situations. When this sweat and the bacteria of your armpits and groin meet, you get body odour.
Types of sweat stains
Where do sweat stains come from? The two culprits are perspiration and build-up from antiperspirant/deodorant products.
- Regular sweat patches can be white or clear (and undetectable), and—over time—they can turn fabric dingy grey.
- On the other hand, stains from antiperspirant/deodorant products tend to look yellow, green, or brown, and they can feel hard or crusty.
Sweat stains often come with other annoying marks. One of the most common – and annoying – is deodorant. Luckily, Ariel deals with deodorant stains just as easily as it manages armpit stain removal.
How to remove sweat stains
- Put the POD in the drum
Getting rid of sweat stains from your clothes has never been easier. All you need to do is simply place one Ariel All-in-1 PODS + Active Odour Defence washing tablet at the bottom of the drum before adding your clothes to the washing machine. Use one POD for medium soiled clothes or loads of 4-5 Kg, and two PODS for heavily soiled clothes, loads over 5KG, or hard water areas. Always make sure to check dosage instructions on your pack.
- Close the box and keep out of reach of children
It is important to always close the Ariel PODS packs with a “Click-Clack” and keep washing capsules out of reach and away from children.
- Don’t overload your washing machine
Place the clothes in the washing machine and on top of the washing capsule. In case your clothes are heavily soiled, make sure you don’t overload your machine by leaving at least two palms-worth of space.
- Wash
Select the appropriate wash cycle, based on the garments’ fabric care labels. Ariel PODS have been designed to deliver an outstanding clean, even on cold and quick cycles. However, if your clothes are heavily stained, a higher temperature and a longer cycle can also help.
- Unload
Take the clean clothes out of the drum immediately after the wash has finished for the best results.
If the stain persists after washing, repeat the previous steps before drying, as if the stain is not completely removed drying will set the stain
How to prevent sweat stains
To help stave off future stains, it’s best to wash garments soon after each wear. Letting them linger in the dirty clothes hamper for days gives stains a chance to settle in. If the stain is caused by an antiperspirant/deodorant, be sure to apply a very thin layer of the product to your skin, and always wait a few minutes for a liquid or creamy product to dry before getting dressed. Both these steps will reduce the chance of it migrating to your clothes. Take that, sweat!
How to remove deodorant stains
Don’t worry if you accidentally got some deodorant stain on your garment, you can get rid of it quite easily! Here are three options:
- Rub nylon stockings on the stain, then place the item into your washing machine, pop in a pod, and run your usual cycle.
- Apply lemon juice on the stain with some white vinegar and a sprinkle of salt, then rinse it, and wash it as normal with a pod.
- For dried-in, yellowish deodorant stains, try rubbing the stain with a mixture of three parts baking soda and one part water, let it sit for a few hours, then wash it on the hottest water temperature setting as allowed by your garment's fabric care label with Ariel All-in-1 PODs.
How to remove sweat smells
The best course of action you can take to get rid of those stubborn sweat smells from your clothes is to start using Lenor Unstoppables Active In-Wash scent boosters together with Ariel Active PODS. Combined with Lenor scent boosters, Ariel PODS give you tough stain removal on your workout clothes, and leaves them smelling fresh and ready to go again. Read our step-by-step odour removal guide to become an expert in smell removal!