To try and figure out how to salvage them, I called my favorite A Cleaner World runner Mike Feudale (you know the guy with lots of enthusiasm). Mike had me do some research as apparently it's important to know what's in sweat in order to know how to treat it. Here's what I learned: sweat contains sodium chloride, phosphate, urea, ammonia, lactic acid, and oils. As the water evaporates, all that stuff is left behind. Over time it builds up and causes your whites to yellow or your colors to fade.
After I reported back to Mike, he provided the following advice:
- Each person is slightly different so there may not be a single solution for discolored under arm problems.
- For dress clothes, you can consider shields sold at better clothing stores, but these are not practical for sport use.
- Soaking garments in cold water and dish soap immediately after use will help as dish soap contains de-greasers. After soaking, rinse and line dry. Then wash in the washing machine.
- An ounce of white ammonia per wash load could help remove potential staining material.
- Occasional soaking in mild color-safe bleach can also help. Strong applications of chlorine bleach will only result in breakdown of the optical brighteners in white clothes and will actually speed overall yellowing.