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Comment by IgorPartola | Hacker News Reader

I mostly dress pretty casually: jeans and a T shirt is pretty typical. My shirts “fail” not because of stitching or things like that. Most of the time they get armpit stains from deodorant after probably 20 time I wear them or so. At that point I toss them. I don’t see how higher laity fabric would result in anything different, so I stick to cheaper basic shirts for everyday wear. I like clothes, but I like variety. I’d rather have 4 different belts I can mix and match, and replace them for $10-20 when they wear our rather than the one indestructible $100 belt. Quality clothing is good, cheap clothing has its uses too.

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The most effective thing for me for deodorant stains has been getting my armpit hair (mostly) lasered off. Less hair traps far less deodorant, and it immediately stopped building up anywhere near as fast.

Plus I can now say I've absorbed the power of lasers, and am therefore technically super-powered.

I used to throw away shirts for collar sweat stains, until I learned I could soak them in oxiclean for a few hours and wash them normally and it would be so much better. I also had to hand scrub the worst stains with a little detergent, but now that I'm regularly pre-soaking it hasn't been a problem.

I used to think the stains are just the deodorant or antitranspirant, but it seems it is something of that that reacts to the detergent. One tip I was given was to rinse the garments in water before washing them (haven't tried that myself), and to soak the shirts in citric acid for 24h (same stuff you use for cleaning your coffee maker etc). I actually tried that last month and that worked. Not totally gone, but very much reduced.

If deodorant stains are the sole reason for discarding clothing, have you tried looking for deodorant that doesn't stain? Switching brands might help.

Yeah I have. I should re-evaluate. But other failure modes are sort of similarly random: bump into paint, get grease on it that stains it, lose it, rip it, or just honestly get bored of it. There definitely are items I own that are more timeless, but T shirts are something that I am hard on and get bored of easily. I am not a guy who wants to own five expensive polos, I want a bunch of different choices.

I used to have this problem—constant sweating from my armpits drove me crazy, and deodorant ruined so many shirts, despite trying multiple brands/types. Started using Dove+ antiperspirant stick this winter and the problem is gone—one application lasts for up to two days, which is incredible considering the amount I used to sweat!

In cooler weather you can wear a modal undershirt underneath and it'll protect your main shirt. Kinda comfy too.

Try the "prescription strength" antiperspirant. You will sweat much less.

It's more expensive, but you use less of it, so each container lasts longer. So it's not much more expensive in the long run by my experience. Especially if it saves you money on shirts.

I know some people sweat excessively, but, in general, isn't preventing sweating like putting a blanket on your computer to stop it blowing out hot air?

Not typically. Depends on what you're wearing.

Sweat cools the body via evaporative cooling. In order to do its job, it needs to evaporate.

That is not going to happen effectively if your armpits are buried under much typical "everyday" clothing, especially typical male office attire. You are simply going to accumulate armpit moisture at a much faster rate than it can evaporate. It will eventually get a little smelly thanks to the byproducts of normal healthy bacteria, which (depending on culture) many would rather avoid.

If you are shirtless, or wearing some sort of sleeveless shirt? Or some kind of moisture-wicking shirt? And/or sitting in front of a fan that's blowing air through your sleeved shirt? Then yes.... armpit sweat can help you stay cool, and for maximum cooling you should avoid antiperspirant. That's why i.e. athletes and such wouldn't wear it.

However, for many of life's other clothing situations your armpit sweat won't help you stay cool in any useful way. For these kinds of situations, that "clinical strength" stuff is a godsend to me.

For me what finally worked was counterintuitive. I stopped wearing antiperspirant altogether. The heavy duty stuff did cause me to sweat less in my armpits but I found I sweat everywhere else more. And I still had pit stains. Switched to deodorant and found that I was sweating less, and pit stains are a complete thing of the past.

I second this. I had debilitating underarm sweat and continually ruined shirts with pit stains. I switched from antiperspirant to a simple deodorant. I sweat SO much less in the arm pit area and I never sweat through my shirts anymore (unless I'm working out, of course).

Undershirts have been a good win as well - keeps the chemicals off my real shirt, and if you get high-end ones, they're light and breathable and don't make me any warmer.

I can't believe antiperspirant continues to exist as a product. Must be working for somebody.

At least from my attempts / for me: antiperspirant is dramatically more effective, for far longer, at preventing body odor. Like 4 hours (or less) vs 24+ hours better.

This is like a secret that unbelievably hasn’t hit the mainstream. If you sweat heavily pretty much no antiperspirant will work as advertised. Some of the prescription brands have you applying the night before and I had some success but they tended to tear up my armpits and ultimately fail. Personally I see a direct correlation between alcohol consumption and sweating. I discovered that as an unintended consequence during a 30 day detox. If I limit my alcohol intake and use just a deodorant I find myself much better off. Worth experimenting with if you’ve tried everything else.

try aluminum-free deodorant to avoid the staining. you're right that fabric quality won't make a difference here, but the deodorant quality will :)

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