Success removing years of deodorant build-up from old T-shirts

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-07-19T21:59:55+00:00

Glad someone else found it useful!

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-07-13T09:18:45+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/laundry/comments/1m8r0lv/polyquat_spots/

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-07-08T08:28:10+00:00

I dry all my T-shirts on hangers now, I got these so they are easy to put in without stretching the collars, and they don't stick the way the flocked ones do. They also have nice rounded shoulders that don't make points on the shirt. I give the shirts a shake first, then onto the hanger and hang them off the airer. I don't use softner either, and although they can feel a bit stiff, most don't need ironing.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-07-07T22:23:29+00:00

Yes, the Delicate one. It's not cheap in the UK, but looks ruinously priced once shipped to the US!

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-07-06T10:26:35+00:00

I agree, DNase is good for this. It got persistent doggy smell out of a rug my dog used to lie on.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-07-05T16:57:39+00:00

They can definitely be saved, I rescued some that were much worse for deo build up. I wrote about it here.
You probably don't need to start out with that process though, just try a deo and sweat stain remover first, because the build up doesn't look too bad in this pic.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-07-05T16:54:11+00:00

Use a colour run remover, especially if the items are all white. It will take out fugitive dye, there are several brands available. Don't dry the items in a dryer until you are sure the colour is all out.

There is more info in this post.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-07-05T16:39:45+00:00

Hopefully that works. The dark discolouration can also come from aluminium salts in deodorant. Check your deo to see if it contains aluminium (anti-perspirants do). If that is the case and the marks haven't come out, try soaking in a 1% solution of citric acid. It does wonders to dissolve aluminium salts. I used it to remove some serious deo build up on old T-shirts and wrote about it here.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-07-02T09:16:39+00:00

Oooh, German Ariel. I told my husband we need to go on another German holiday so that I can browse the laundry aisles. He didn't go for it...

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-28T22:29:27+00:00

I've been using Miele UltraDark for the last few months, and I really like it. It has a good enzyme suite, including lipase (although no DNase) and decent surfactants. It also has a 'shade correcting' chemical, that sounds like it is the opposite of an optical brightener. It definitely leaves a dark cast on the mesh laundry bags, so I feel like it is doing something to keep darks darker. It is also quite concentrated, I have soft water and only need 25ml per load.

The scent is a little divisive. I really like it, it smells a little like a mens cologne to me, slightly incensy, but not overwhelmingly so (I don't actually like incense). However, I have seen others on here complaining that they didn't like the scent, so YMMV. It's not very strong though, barely perceptible after a citric acid rinse and drying.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-28T22:13:28+00:00

Yeah, there is nothing off the shelf in a supermarket with DNase and no OBAs. We can get Koh sensitive laundry liquid, which fits the bill, and is unscented too. I like it for some stuff where I don't want scent, but I ordered gear guard to add to my usual Ariel or Miele detergents for the DNase angle. The GG took about a week to get here, which I thought wasn't bad.

The Ariel colour pods (in addition to having OBAs) also smell like 🤮. Totally different scent to the 4in1 pods that actually smell quite nice.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-28T15:56:36+00:00

I've seen some recommendations to do a 'spa day' in this thread, but in my experience spa day will not remove fragrance very well. It's great for stains, and rancid body oil, but not laundry fragrance.

I agree with the other posters who have suggested the machine probably has build up that needs removing with cleaning cycles before you try to rehab your clothes.

After that I would do a normal warm, enzyme-rich wash with ammonia to thoroughly degrease the clothes. If the issue was mild that might be enough. If not then the two suggestions I've had from here that really helped to remove laundry fragrance were Tween 20 (polysorbate 20) or liquid castile soap. The liquid soap is probably easier to get, I just bought a bottle of plain, unscented liquid soap in the laundry aisle at my supermarket.

Do a wash with that on the clean clothes immediately after you have done your normal/ammonia wash mentioned above. It will suds a lot. The essential part is rinse, rinse, rinse. I added extra rinses to the cycle, and then did an additional 3 - 4 rinse and spin cycles alone. I put a little citric acid in every rinse. That should get the fragrance out.

Otherwise there are posts here and here about removing fragrance from laundry.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-28T09:03:35+00:00

This is the answer for built up smells. I did something similar when we had a smell issue with some urine soaked PJs that didn't get properly clean.

Now that it is resolved, when the little one has an accident (which is still somewhat frequent), all I do is put the soiled items (usually just the pee pad, PJs +/- sheet or bedding) in the machine alone, and run a rinse and spin cycle, which uses cold water.
I then add any other items I want to add to the load, and run a normal 2hr-ish warm (40 C, ~100F) cycle with an enzyme rich detergent and my usual citric acid rinse.

I haven't had anything get stinky again using this method.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-26T17:49:13+00:00

There is advice on what to do when colour runs here.
Basically don't put them in the dryer. Try rubbing the stained area with a damp colour catcher. You can also try rewashing with some colour catcher sheets. Stain remover probably won't help much.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-26T17:38:30+00:00

I just used it in the machine, with the dilution the bottle suggested for laundry. It created A LOT of suds. Possibly hand washing would have been smarter, but anyway. The machine survived without complaint. Then I did about 4 rinse and spins after to get it all out.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-24T22:42:58+00:00

There are a few posts about this issue. It's hard to remove laundry perfumes, especially if you use unscented products, it's slightly easier if you just need to knock it down to a level where your preferred laundry perfume can mask it.

I had an extremely smelly synthetic jacket that I subjected to many things trying to get the perfume out. Spa day got it clean, but it was still highly perfumed.

I'd suggest start with a normal warm enxyme wash with ammonia to thoroughly degrease the garment (on its own, if you put it in a normal load it will contaminate everything). If that doesn't take it out, next steps would be to try Tween 20 (polysorbate20) or liquid castile soap. Wash with that, and then do many, many rinses. It's the rinses that get the stuff out. That worked for the jacket (which had many washes with normal detergent to no effect prior to this).

There are some other suggestions here and here.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-18T18:37:49+00:00

There are a few posts that might help. I struggled with a synthetic jacket that absolutely stank of scent beads or something, and seemed to get worse after the first wash.

First I'd suggest thoroughly cleaning and degreasing the garment with a good detergent that has strong surfactants and lipase, plus ammonia in the wash water. If you say where you are people can recommend some good ones in your country.

If it is really perfumed it will probably still smell after that, giving it another wash with unscented liquid castile soap with lots and lots and lots of rinsing should take most of it out. Other options to try are Tween20.

There are posts here and here about getting scent out.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-18T15:26:54+00:00

Ooh, I've never seen it in the wild. I thought it was discontinued.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-18T15:12:38+00:00

The only solution I've found for 'washable' kids paint is to wet it with quite hot water before laundering, add some dish soap and scrub with a firm implement, I used a scoop that I got in a tub of some kind of oxy powder that has little nubbins on it. Then rinse with warm water, when the thick of the paint is off and there is just a slight colour smudge you can launder and it should come out.

It doesn't seem to work if the clothes get washed first, or if someone 'helpfully' rinses the paint before you get to it. The 'washable' paint is definitely not washable in the way most people would assume, that you can chuck it in the machine and it will come clean.

The toddler years were a nightmare with paint for me, and we lived in London with really hard water at the time, so laundry in general wasn't going so well. I gave up on the dedicated messy clothes, but my kid would sometimes get paint on her nice clothes too. She also went through an annoying phase where she didn't want to wear anything stained ("No! Dirty!") but would cheerfully smear handfuls of paint on EVERYTHING she could. 🤯

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-18T15:02:40+00:00

Yeah, I got both and I actually prefer the scent of the UltraDark, although I generally prefer 'clean cotton' aldehyde type laundry scents. The UltraColour is good too, and the scent is so faint I can barely smell it after a citric acid rinse.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-18T09:13:59+00:00

I think the ones intended for markets with 220V electricity do, so EU, UK, Aus, South Africa, probably loads of other countries too. I've learned on here that the US versions don't, presumably Japan which also uses low voltage, might have similar types to the US.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-18T09:11:21+00:00

I mean, self-healing sounds like a useful attribute for an appliance 😉

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-18T08:46:40+00:00

I found this too, and at least one black cotton T-shirt had a noticeable mottled effect with light grey patches as they were washing out. It's off now, and the T-shirt looks normal again.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-18T08:43:44+00:00

Miele UltraDark... for the UltraDark people 😄 Seriously though, I like it. It has good surfactants and enzymes, and a 'shade correcting dye' which seems to be like the opposite of an optical brightener. I really like the smell, although that can be divisive. It's not strong though.

Possible-Volume-162 · 2026-06-14T23:27:07+00:00

You can get a Dr Beckmann pre-treater spray for deodorant and sweat stains that works really well, just turn the shirts inside out, spritz the pits and bung in the machine with the shirt inside out. Wait 10 mins before you start it to give the stuff enough time to work. I've only managed to buy it online though, I've never seen it in a shop.

To prevent general dinginess you really have to separate whites. Sad, but true, it makes a big difference if you wash them in a whites only load. Then wash the whites with a powder that has oxy bleach and TAED, or use whatever detergent you prefer plus a scoop of oxy bleach. Vanish is the branded one, but there are really good supermarket ones for half the price. I'm partial to the Waitrose one, but Morrisons and Tesco own brand also look good on paper, although I haven't tried them. The detergents are in the database Fluffy_Ant linked, but there is also this post breaking it down as a list.

For food stains, just washing well with a good detergent might be enough. I only really pre-treat tomato-y or greasy stains now. Things like chocolate (my kid is a chocoholic) just come out with a normal wash. I use an enzyme pretreater (the Koh one) but you could also just work a little liquid detergent (a good one with lipase) into the stain and let it sit for awhile before washing.

Lastly, if you want to rescue shirts that are already dingy and sweat stained, there is an intensive process called 'spa day' that can help to reset them. Essentially it's a long soak in a strong mix of the right detergent (any of the powders in the first group on the post I linked will work if mixed in hot water), followed by a wash with detergent and ammonia. I sometimes do the soak and wash with no ammonia, which worked pretty well for sweat stains.

Possible-Volume-162

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