Monday, June 22, 2009

no sweat?

Come on now, let's all have a little TMI talk. (That would be Too Much Information, ok?) It won't hurt. Not one little bit.

So here's the thing. The word of the day, you might say. (And if you're a Pee Wee fan, you know what that means, right? Yes, you do!) Sweat. (Pause for screaming. The Pee Wee kind. Not the gross kind!) Until our favoritest company in the whole wide world gives us method all natural people AND clothing friendly deodorant (see, method, there's your tagline. Already done. People + clothing friendly. Now, get on it. Ok, we'll be waiting. Patiently, as always. Cause that's just the kind of advocates we are.) we'll have sweat. And with sweat, brings sweat stains.

I'm not talking about those sweat stains you can just wash out. I'm talking about "let's stick around and ruin your clothing" sweat stains. Nasty stuff, indeed. And it's all because of that annoying little aluminum they put in your deodorant. Which then makes it deodorant/antiperspirant. Without the antiperspirant, well, you'll be sweating even MORE! Or rather, it'll be showing even more. Deodorant = smell killer. Antiperspirant = sweat lesser.

Sure, sure, there are those deodorant rocks out there, and other such things. But what's a person who sweats like a chimpanzee in the jungle to do all day long (do chimpanzees sweat? They are 99% human, after all?), in the south, without their antiperspirant? Hmm? Oh oh, no, I'm not talking about me. No, uh-uh. I meant my friend. Yeah, my friend... Saul. That's it. Him. What's he to do? He wanted me to ask you.

So, heading 360 degrees here, until method knocks out a major homerun with some green mint deodorant (uh-huh, you read right. Green mint.) what's YOUR sweat stain solution for your clothing?

I found this one "solution" online: To remove perspiration stains from white T-shirts, dissolve two aspirins in half a cup of warm water and apply to the area of the fabric where the stain is. This should be left for a couple of hours before washing. I haven't tried this yet, but think I will. I believe I read this solution in a Martha Stewart book, too (and we all know, if Martha said it, it has to be true!)

But, I also read about how you can spray a half/half mixture of water and white vinegar on your stains, and let them sit a bit, then wash them. So I've been doing this one for a while now, but you know what, I feel like it doesn't necessarily do what it should; and then I have hands that smell like vinegar for the rest of the day (never a good thing. Unless you have some french fries nearby.)

So what's your eco/natural trick? Does it work? Let us know!

7 comments:

melanemac said...

Can't help on the sweat stains, but as for the sweat...

I did read the other day that one trick to sweating less is to put deodorant on before you go to bed. It gives your body time to absorb the chemicals (yeah, I know bad word) while you sleep, thereby making it work better. I don't remember if it said to reapply again in the morning or not. Also, do you wear an undershirt? That will capture your stains instead of your good shirts.

chessie said...

For my whites with creepy pit stains, I use oxygen bleach that I buy at Trader Joe's (I forget the brand name now, but it's a blue tub). Anyway I fill the bathtub (or washer) up with hot water and dump in like, 5-8 scoops and let the whites sit and think about what they've done at least for a couple hours. Then I wash them as I would normally - it really helps a lot! I'm pretty sure it's color-safe, but I would test it just to be sure.

James McKee said...

Umm did you say method will be bringing us deodorant in the future????!

Nathan Aaron said...

James, I'm WISHING! Calm down, calm down. (But should be start a petition? I think so!)

Sprockets said...

I use Tom's of Maine deodorant (not anti-persperant - that stuff is creepy to me. our bodies are meant to sweat!) and it works great. aluminum-free and leaves no stains. the Lemongrass and Calendula scents are pretty neutral for guys. I used to love the Woodspice scent, full of sandalwood, but they changed the formulation and now it smells like cat pee, no joke.

If the stains are actually caused by aluminum compounds vinegar should help as metal compounds dissolve in acid.

chessie said...

okay, a few days late but the oxygen bleach i use is called oxo-brite by earth friendly cleaners: http://www.ecos.com/oxo.html

works like a charm!

Anonymous said...

Pre-soak whites in warm water and oxyclean -- the longer the better.

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