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As many of us have discovered, it doesn't matter how much you bathe, or how quickly you wash your gi after training, unsightly yellow sweat stains can accumulate under the armpits of your gi. Although sweat is a visible sign that your body's wonderful regulatory system is working, the stains can be embarrassing, especially if you are a sensei up in front of the class. Sweat is a natural and important method for your body to regulate its temperature. The water comes out of your body, and as it evaporates, the process reduces your body heat. The sweat is produced by special glands. There are two types of glands called eccrine and apocrine. The eccrine glands are found almost all over your body, and produce a mixture of water and salts. However, the ones in your groin and armpits are of the apocrine variety, and they produce a different type of sweat to eccrine glands. Furthermore, the ones in your armpits pump sweat out directly onto the roots of hair follicles. Beneath your skin, next to the follicles are another type of glands called sebaceous glands which exude oil to keep the hairs in good condition. However, the sweat acts as a transport mechanism, delivering this oil to the ends of the hairs where it can more easily get onto, and discolour your clothes. Knowing this, you can use remedies that attack the oil and break it down before you put the gi into the washing machine. I've been researching this on the internet, and I can't vouch for any of these remedies, however, one remedy that has come up dozens of times is to pre-soak your gi in a mild solution of white vinegar before washing. The suggested method is to fill a bucket with warm water, then add one cup of white vinegar. White vinegar is mildly acidic, so if you soak your gi in the solution for three or four hours before washing, it can eliminate the stains. It's uncertain whether this remedy works on sweat stains that have already accumulated over weeks or months of wear. Sticking with the acidic theme, another person suggested lemon juice, which is probably more expensive than white vinegar, but smells nicer. Incidentally, if your gi smells of vinegar afterwards, a good airing out on the washing line should get rid of the smell. If it smells of lemon, try to resist the urge to eat pancakes... One person did point out that hot water acts as a fixative, locking the stains in, so you should wash your gis at a lower temperature, and only pre-soak in warm water, never hot. Other people suggested direct application of shampoo for greasy hair using a toothbrush. As you can imagine, the shampoo contains special agents designed to gently break down the grease found in hair – as this is exactly the kind of oil causing the discolouration, this remedy seems extremely plausible.
Alternately, whilst the toothbrush is out, you can even use toothpaste to get your gi minty fresh! However, I suspect it's a combination of the mildly corrosive paste, and the whitening agent that works together to help. Needless to say, stripy Crest toothpaste, or any of the other coloured varieties are probably not advisable! Given that another recommended solution is baking soda, perhaps the Arm and Hammer Soda toothpaste offers your best chance if you follow that path. One person did point out that dry cleaners are experts in removing sweat stains and they have powerful chemicals to do so. It might be worth your while to pay a fiver for dry cleaning rather than binning a £20-£50 gi. As a last resort, some people suggest using white chalk powder and rubbing it directly onto the outside of the gi where the stains are showing. This is an old solution that people have been using for hundreds of years, so it probably works to a degree, but your dojo mates may start to give you a wide berth if your armpits regularly start crumbling during class! Following the logic that prevention is better than cure, you could of course have a pit-ectomy to remove your armpits. A less radical solution is to use strong anti-perspirant deodorants (CFC-free please!). These work by clogging the pores of your armpits and preventing the sweat from escaping. You'll notice that most strong anti-perspirants leave a white residue of their own (which can also cause short term staining). This is usually an ultra-absorbant chemical such as alum, which sucks the sweat up before it reaches your clothes. A simpler solution is talcum powder. However, as I said at the start, the sweat serves an important role in cooling you down, so I'd be careful about choosing options that prevent the sweat from doing its job! Some people suggested that it's what you eat that causes the strong discolouring sweat. The colour of your bodily fluids can be affected by your diet, so again, this is entirely plausible. I have five or six gis, but only two show bad sweat staining, and the stains appeared after just a couple of wears, so perhaps I ate too much junk food before training? The only trouble is, I have no idea what, but I suspect it would be fatty foods like chips or fried stuff. If you know more about this, let me know. In closing, I would just say that if you choose to attempt any of the cleaning solutions put forward in this article, you'd be advised to test on a small area of fabric first. The vinegar one seems pretty tried and trusted, but I will not accept any responsibility for clothes damaged whilst you try to clean them. |
