I know it’s gross, but some of my dark colored clothes often get deodorant build up that stays on even after repeated washes. I have found a way to deal with sweat stains on my light colored shirts, but I was scared to use this method on my darker shirts. After weeks of trying different things, I finally found a simple trick to remove the deodorant build up from my darks.

If you are dealing with the deodorant build up on your clothes you know what a pain it is. Some shirts look wet in the armpit area even before you put your shirts on. Sometimes they are stiff in the armpits and have a sparkle to them. Since I hated putting on clean shirts that were stained I experimented around and finally found out how to remove deodorant build up from dark clothes.

You will want to start by turning your shirts inside out. Then mix up a small bowl of the cleaning solution.

Add 2 tablespoons dawn dish soap (I use this kind) and 2 tablespoons of water to a bowl. Mix well and sprinkle a little bit of baking soda (about 1/2 teaspoon) into the mixture.

Then you can dip your shirts in the bowl making sure all of the armpit stains soak up some of the mixture. If you don’t go far enough on the stain you will notice it after washing. You can see on the shirt below where the stain is still in the lower part of the arm area.

Once you get all of your shirts dipped in the mixture you will want to let them sit for about 2 hours. I just set them in the sink so they didn’t drip the mixture everywhere.

At the end of the two hours, you can wash them. Put them in the machine on the hottest cycle the clothes will allow. Add whatever laundry detergent you normally use to the machine. If you have an extra rinse cycle I recommend using it to make sure that all the soap is removed.

Once they are finished in the machine remove them and let them air dry. Make sure all the stains are gone and repeat if necessary. You can see my before and after below.

I am amazed at how simple this trick is. It works much better than any stain remover I have used. The dawn gets the greasy armpit stains out and the baking soda gets rid of any odors. Your clothes will look like new again!

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