Eliminating Deodorant Stains

Sweating - body’s own temperature control mechanism - can often lead people into embarrassing situations. It is inevitable, only some people sweat more, some less; to some it brings serious problems of odor in places, like underarms and the soles of the feet. In fact, some people complain of odor even when, there is no visible wetness. It is then, that they turn towards anti-perspirants and deodorants. Reputed cosmetic companies try to catch the consumer’s attention with catchy words like ‘twenty-four hours protection’ and even ‘skincare for your underarms’. In fact, we all have our personal favorites, when it comes to deodorant fragrances; while some of us actually go by all those cheesy advertisements that feature all women of a certain place following a scrawny man wearing a certain fragrance, others only go for imported brands. All of them are the same, however, when it comes to what they do to our clothes. We are all victims of anti-perspirant stains in the underarms, which cause the colours of clothes to fade, when we try to remove them. If only, all these anti-perspirants came with a washing manual, that educated, lesser mortals like us on how to prevent, or, at least, how to remove the stains, causing the clothes to lose their colour. Here is a simple method, using basic ingredients found in every kitchen that you can follow and remove the stains, caused by anti-perspirants.

 

Removing Deodorant Stains 

It’s Wet!
The first step in the process is to dampen the affected area of the cloth, with water at room temperature. 

Ammonia And Detergent
Make a solution of half a tablespoon each of ammonia and a mild dishwashing detergent in two cups of water. 

Using a clean, soft absorbent cloth, preferably made of cotton, dab the ammonia-detergent solution on the affected area. Then, for about an hour, rub the area with the cotton cloth soaked in the ammonia-detergent solution, repeating the process, every ten minutes.

 

After an hour, rinse the area with enough water. The stain would be still visible, though less prominent. Now, soak a clean cotton cloth in vinegar and rub gently on the area for fifteen minutes, before rinsing again.

 

Squeeze lemon from a whole lemon on to the area, till sopping wet. On this wet area, sprinkle a generous dose of table salt and rub lightly with your fingers. Set the cloth aside to dry for several hours and rinse with water.

 

Make a paste out of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. Apply this paste on the affected area with a soft cotton cloth, rubbing with the cloth gently. Let the cloth dry and remove the residue of the paste, by gentle strokes of the brush. Rinse the area with water but do not rub at this stage, as this might cause the cloth to lose colour.