How to Remove Sweat Stains From Garments

Hard work can result in sweat stains on your clothing.

Even with deodorant or antiperspirant, there will be days when you'll sweat, leaving unsightly stains on your clothing. If you tackle sweat stains right away, using supplies found at home, you'll have a better chance of completely removing them. Sweat stains that have become set in can be removed, but you may have to repeat the removal process once or twice. While there are times when sweating is unavoidable, you can avoid permanent sweat stains on your clothing.

Things You'll Need

• Towel
• Lemon
• Knife
• Table salt
• Old toothbrush
• Enzyme pre-wash liquid
• Distilled white vinegar
• Oxygenated laundry detergent

Instructions

1. Lay a clean towel on your work surface to protect it from your cleaning agents. Place your sweat-stained garment on the towel with the stain facing up.

2. 

   Lemon juice is a natural cleaner found in many commercial cleaners and stain-removal products.

   Cut a lemon in half and squeeze the juice over the sweat stains on your garment. Sprinkle table salt over the stains and rub the fabric together to work the salt and lemon juice mixture into the sweat stains. Allow the mixture to sit on your garment for 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Scrub the lemon and salt mixture into your sweat-stained garment using an old toothbrush. Rinse the mixture off with cool water.

4. Apply a generous squirt of enzyme pre-wash liquid to the sweat stain and rub the fabric together to work the pre-wash into the sweat stains. Let the pre-wash liquid sit on your garment for 15 to 20 minutes.

5. Substitute 1 tbsp. of distilled white vinegar diluted with 1 cup of water for sweat stain removal if you do not have lemon and table salt. Sponge the vinegar and water mixture on the sweat stains and allow it to sit for 10 minutes prior to washing.

6. Wash your garment using the water temperature recommended on the garment's care label. Use oxygenated laundry detergent to aid in the final removal of this protein-based stain.

Tips & Warnings

• Check to be sure the sweat stain is completely removed from your garment before putting it in the dryer. The heat from the dryer will set any remaining stain, making removal more difficult.

• Avoid using bleach of any kind to remove sweat stains as this can cause the stain to darken.

References

• Stain Expert: Personal Stains
• Ohio State University: Quick and Easy Stain Removal Guide