Hi Cheesecurlgurl, can't tell you why it's only with the lights, but you could try baking soda and the hottest wash the fabric can stand. HTH,
mary

Must be something to do with the dyes that are used in the clothing. Perhaps you should change polo shirt brands.

Take some plain old white vinegar in a spray bottle and spray into those areas and saturate the fabric. Then, put them into a plastic bag overnight and let sit. In the morning launder as usual and the perspiration odors and/or stains should be removed from those shirts.

Liquid chlorine bleach also removes perspiration odors amazingly well... when used properly, it's generally safe to use on white and pastel-colored cotton shirts as long as they don't contain nylon or spandex.

Follow the directions on the Clorox bottle and for your particular washing machine.

*Never* combine bleach with vinegar or ammonia.

FWIW, I have found that those crystal deodorants eliminate B.O. smell (but not wetness) much, much, much better than standard antiperspirants like Mitchum.

I would recommend prewash w/extra detergent for every smelier or dirtier load. It works well for us.

My Hubby is a garbage man. For really stinky uniforms, I soak them with a 1/2 to full dose of laundry detergent in a bucket with warm water. Let them soak for a couple of hours to over night, drain, rinse, and launder as usual.

Wash at 120F or higher and use 1/4 cup of baking soda in the first rinse.

I recommend something easier. Wash in HOT water and Arm & Hammer POWDER detergent ("Clean Burst," if possible. It has baking soda in it. It is wonderful, in my humble opinion.

I'm not messing, I used to soak some of my work clothes in CocaCola before washing. Not only killed odours, but also completely gets rid of grease, oil and anything tough. After seeing what it can do to heavily soiled clothes, I cant bring myself to put inside me any more...

Aidan, how much coke did u use, and for what kind of washer?

If your clothes are smelling, you are not using enough laundry detergent. I tried cutting back one time and my husband's shirts were smelling. I went back to using what the box said, no more problem.

I don't understand using things to get rid of smells. Just use more soap. My Dad's clothes always smelled when I ironed them, but there was an excuse for that. Mom had a wringer washer, she washed all of the laundry in one tub of water. When she got a reg. washer no more smells.

@vala55, the answer for some body odor is not more detergent. Glad that worked for you but it will not work for everyone. Especially those trying to rid special work out wear of odor. Those fabrics hold on to smells and regular detergent can actually make the problem worse.

I have neighbors who run iron man and they had a huge problem with odor. When they switched to a special detergent for work out wear the problem went away.

I notice with my work out clothes, especially when I do a grueling work out & I am drenched, odors can be tough to totally remove. For me, I've found it is the anti-perspirant and deodorant that glues itself to the fabric.

About 2 weeks ago, we swtiched to the first "natural" deodorant that has ever worked. I mean, we are in the middle of a whole week of 100-105F weather, and NO smells and almost totally dry. Deodorant has no alcohol, aluminium. Herbal Clear. I got mine at Whole Foods, I think about $5/6.

Since the Deo is not sticky, it washes out of my workout clothes, just using the Warm wash setting in my Miele. I generally have been using Tide Total Care he, Tide with a Touch of Downy or Method Fresh Air. Hope this helps.

I've had pretty good luck with Tide Sport. The scent isn't overpowering on the dried clothes and it seems to be keeping the stink at bay.

@ larsi

What is the brand of deodorant?

SStava...

Herbal Clear Sport is the brand and name. It is formulated with Swiss Lichen and Tea Tree Oil (but has NO Tea Tree smell). My, my partner and my BFF are all using it...and we are amazed.

We did a Killer 1.15 hour high impact class at the gym today...dripping wet, and NO smell. This stuff is amazing, and so much better for you that all those chemicals smeared under your arms, leaching into our bodies. Too bad, I have used regualar deodorant for like 20 years now!

larsi, is it strictly a deodorant or is it an anitperspirant as well? While no odor is important, I don't like the feel of wetness in my armpits and sweat circles under arms are not pretty!

@izeve, it would be a deodorant.

I doubt there are any natural antiperspirants since aluminum is required to "clog" your pores and temporarily stop sweat.

I stared using a natural deodorant about a year ago. I really like it. If it's really hot, I'll still use antiperspirant but I find for a lot of normal days the natural deo is all I need. No smell and it doesn't ruin my bras and shirts - I hate what regular antiperspirants do to my things.

The trick is finding a natural product that works for you to control odor. It must be able to control the bacteria that causes the odor.

Here is a link that might be useful: Herbal Clear Sport

@ izeve & livebetter...

Herbal Clear makes MANY deodorants, but the SPORT version does help with wetness. There is NO aluminium, yet I am feeling dry all day, even during heavy work outs. Yesterday was about 103F, and at 10:30pm last night, it was still 82F...and I was still dry!!

I do not know if it is the Swiss Lichen or Tea Tree, but this is the BEST deodorant and natural anti-perspirant I have ever used. It works better than any other product I have EVER used, including clinical strength products!!

My guess is that the tea tree oil is helping fight the odor, which is caused by bacteria. TTO is an anti-fungal and I remember reading somewhere that during WWII, it was used in some countries on wounds, due to a lack of other antibiotics available.

Generally, antiperspirants cause several laundry problems, so a trial of deodorant could help with the sleuthing. The whole dark vs light thing is very curious. If it were the opposite direction, I would think that you were washing the darks in cold and the lights in hot. (Is there any reason you're doing the opposite??)

Borax is really good for odors and is a laundry booster.

Here's a trick used by my friend who works in the theatre business. He has to deal with the inevitable sweat and accompanying odour from costumes worn by many people for many shows:

1) Put some vodka in a spray bottle.
2) Spray vodka on affected areas after wearing/pre-laundering.
3) Spray vodka in mouth for extra fun. : )

Hope that helps!

Living in South Florida my yardwork shirts get really smelly. The thing that works for me is Dawn dishsoap.
I just do a quick hand washing of the shirts in the sink, rinse them well and throw them into the machine with the rest of the laundry.

I put Borax along with detergent in the washer with my husband's dirty and smelly work clothes. They come out clean and no odors.

I tried many of the suggestions above for perspiration odor and stain without good results. I finally found Bac-Out enzymes by Bi-o-kleen. It has a mild lime smell when wet but the smell is gone when clothes are dry. I don't use fragranced laundry products but this does not leave a smell and gets bo out. I use Bac-out for other things also. It is great stuff. NFI.

Haven't read all the responses, so this may have been mentioned:

I have washed some really rank (phew!) workout clothes that were left in a locker room for weeks. I tried various things, and this is what worked best, taking the stench completely out:

I poured detergent (either Wisk or Tide Sport Febreze HE) directly onto the areas that smelled worst - usually, the underarms. I washed the clothes inside out.

I used the hottest water the fabric could stand. (Sometimes it's worth a shot to use hot water even when you're not 'supposed' to, if you'll have to throw the clothes out otherwise.)

I poured in 1/4 c. baking soda.

After the wash cycle was underway, I paused the washer to let the laundry soak. Sometimes an hour or two is enough. At times I've soaked it all night and finished the cycle the next morning.