I am just gonna be real with you guys, my sports bras be stanky. My Lululemon, my Reebok, my Under Armour, they just stink. If you workout in any capacity in a hot, dry climate, AKA Las Cruces, New Mexico you will sweat. Okay to be honest you don't even have to workout, you just have to walk outside. My own personal workouts center around powerlifting so my intensity isn't always high, before I moved to Las Cruces I didn't always sweat during a gym session. Las Cruces is a whole different story, I sweat buckets! This has also lead to that not so fresh smell in my laundry so, I am on a mission to find a new detergent for gym gear that keeps us smelling fresh.
Have you put on some gym clothes and they smell fine but as soon as you start to get warm that changes, you start to smell more like a stanky gym bag? Even top quality gym apparel and dri-fit shirts can become a little odoriferous. Why does this happen? Your favorite sports bra or pair of leggings will accumulate a build up of body soils, sweat and dead skin cells (insert dry heave here). The biggest culprit of the stank is sebum, a slightly waxy, oily substance your body creates to keep your skin hydrated. When you wash your clothes in hot water, it melts away, but y'all better not be washing your Lulu in hot water! The sebum, bacteria and skin cells get trapped in the material, add a little body heat and you get stank. Okay enough with the grossness and on to the fix!
We are currently taking HEX Performance Anti-Stink sports detergent on a trial run. So far, I am really happy with it. I feel like it does better when you double up on the pods or do smaller loads. You get 24 loads for about $14. We wear a lot of workout clothes in our house, okay its just me but, I am interested in trying another product with a few more loads per bag. Our next product will be Rocking Green Active Wear. It has great reviews on Amazon and you get about 3x as many loads for just a few more dollars. I will keep you updated on the stank, hopefully the lack thereof! Until then here are few things you can do help keep you favorite leggings smelling fresh.
Wash your gym clothes inside out. This creates a better chance for the build up to be washed away.
Use the proper amount of detergent. If you use an excess of detergent it isn't going to make your clothes smell better. The opposite will actually happen, the residue from the detergent will not be rinsed away and more stank will stick to it!
Avoid fabric softeners. According to Lulu you should not use fabric softeners on their materials and the same goes for the rest of your athletic wear. Fabric softener will leave a coating on the fabric which will trap the odors in the fabric making it harder to wash them away.
I have also read that adding a half to full cup of vinegar helps. To be honest, I'm scared to add vinegar to my Lulu laundry, so I haven't tried it. If you do, let me know!
Air dry or low to no heat. It prolongs the life of your leggings, treat them as an investment.
Do not let you gym clothes sit in the hamper of a gym bag for long. Mildew and mold will start to grow after only 6 hours, gross.
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