By Alexandra Schöb
The majority of our sweat is completely odorless: it consists of 99 percent water, half a percent is salt.The last half percent is critical, because this is a mixture of urea, amino acids, lactic acid, fat and sugar.The bacteria living on our skin feed on this half percent. Und wenn sie Harnstoff, Aminosäuren & Co.Decomposition, in turn arise waste materials that create the typical smell when sweating.
Said bacteria can be washed off the skin fairly easily after sweating - however, they are stuck in our laundry.Normal detergent and typical washing temperatures of 30 or 40 degrees hardly make anything.This in turn is the reason why some textiles can smell unpleasant even after washing.Since higher temperatures at 60 or 90 degrees would destroy the majority of the bacteria, but also pretty much every piece of clothing, it is about saying the little beast and thus the annoying smell differently the fight.In the meantime there are many antibacterial washing additives or special detergents to buy, but most contain a lot of chemistry that ultimately end up not only in our clothes, but also on our skin and in sewage.
While some fabrics hardly smell even with strong sweating, others already smell if you don't yet transize properly - art fibers such as polyester or polyacrylic, for example.This is because synthetic fibers are smooth and moisture transport well on the surface, where they meet bacteria faster.Natural fibers such as wool, cotton or viscose, on the other hand, take up moisture well and transport them into the fiber.Only over time do these substances begin to smell.
Vinegar is a tried and tested cleaning and home remedy, has odor-binding properties and has an antibacterial effect.Vinegar helps to remove smells from clothing - but not with white textiles (can discolour), but with dark, colorful or printed laundry.
Fill a large bowl up to half with warm water and add a large glass of light vinegar or vinegar essence.Now place the smelling laundry in the water-vinegar mixture and approx..soak an hour.Then wash the laundry as usual.With particularly strong smell, a shot of vinegar in the washing machine also helps.
Vinegar is not suitable for light and white clothing that smells like sweat.Citric acid is used here, which, like vinegar, has an antibacterial effect.Positive side effect: citric acid not only removes the smell of welding from clothing, but also welding stains that arise when sweating especially in white T-shirts.For this reason, you should be careful with colorful or dark clothes, as citric acid can bleach the color.
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Mix a mixture of one liter of hot water and four teaspoons of citric acid (preferably as a powder) in a large bowl.Place the underlying laundry in the solution and approx..soak an hour.Then wash in the washing machine as usual.
The third home remedy mixture, which helps well against smells in textiles, consists of washing soda (available in super and drugstores) and water.
To do this, stir a solution from 5 liters of water and a tablespoon of soda and let this approx..stand for half an hour.The resulting lye not only removes fat residues, but also looks wonderful against smell.The clothing in question is then placed in the solution and soaked overnight.Finally, the parts are washed in the washing machine as usual.By the way: If you don't have a washing soda at hand, you instead take baking powder or baking soda, both of which have a similar effect as soda.
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Not every clothing can be treated as described above and then washed in the washing machine - many blazers or coats, for example.So how to remove the sweat smell from the clothes without washing?One night in the freezer can help.Extreme cold don't like welding bacteria at all and die off.
Place the clothes in a plastic bag and carefully seal.Then put at least 12 hours in the freezer, preferably longer.
You can find even more tips on the care and cleaning of fashion and accessories here:
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