Most of us are guilty of wearing that same piece of clothing and even a particular bra over and over again, labeling it as your favorite go-to clothing item that we want to wear every day. And when it comes to activities such as working out, there are certain items that you will want and need to wear to allow yourself to be comfortable when moving around. For women, an item that is a gym-necessity is our sports bras that securely hold us up during rigorous activities.
Most of our clothes will get very sweaty and wet after a workout, and a sports bra will be the same. If you have experienced this, then you know that when you say sweaty – you actually mean soaked as the fabric of the sports bra will absorb a vast amount of sweat from your body, leaving it gross and smelling like straight B.O. The smell could be so bad that it has you running to do laundry and wash the foul item almost every day so you can easily wear it again the next day without fear of odors. However, when it comes to sweat especially harbored in sport bras, the odor can be hard to completely remove from the fabric.
What can you do to expel the strong sweat smell from your sports bras and how can you effectively wash these items in your washing machine?
What Causes Your Sports Bras to Smell?
Have you recently noticed that your sports bras have accumulated an extra
funky smell over your other workout clothes that you wear to the gym? Sports bras are often times an item that we wear continually, and sometimes without washing as frequently as they need to be washed. This combined with the excessive sweating that takes place and becomes absorbed on your sports bra will leave you with a highly undesirable funky smell on the fabric that will leave you gasping for relief of the aroma.
The odors that have developed on sports bras can be a combination of sweat, over-use of detergent, and even bacteria growth that has occurred on the fabric overtime. This smell will only worsen the more and more that you wash these items with heavy use of detergent. Conversely, the odor will also worsen when you leave these clothing items untreated after a workout – which many people find that they do as they throw the sweaty item into the laundry basket for bacteria and mold to grow onto during its wait for the washing machine.
Why Does My Sweat Smell
Body odor is caused by bacteria breaking down sweat and is largely caused by or linked to the apocrine gland inside the human body. These glands are located in several areas of the body including the genital area, eyelids, armpits, ears, and breasts – which could explain the reason why you experience significant sweating on your sports bra.
Sweating of the body occurs as an act to cool and regulate the body temperature back to normal levels after a rise in temperature from physical activity or other activities that increases body heat. The production of sweat will help to cool the body back down and restore it to normal levels, and when the sweat mixes with the different bacteria on the skin it can create that unfortunate odor that we associate with ‘sweat’.
How Often Should You Wash Sport Bras
A very common question that many people ask when it comes to sports bras is how often should these items be washed in the washing machine? The rule of thumb when it comes to washing sport bras is that you should launder and clean these items after every hard work out where a sweat was broken out on the body. Although that may seem like a lot, it will be worth it to continuously wash these bras after a workout to help preserve the material. It is important to use the right detergent and proper washing procedures on each item to double the lifespan of your sports bra.
Tips on How to Wash Your Sports Bras
When it comes to your favorite sports bras you may wish that they could last a lot longer than they really do. The life of your sport bra will depend on the amount of use of the material, which could mean only a year or even a couple months use out of your bra. It is essential to properly wash these bras to help increase the life of them and the longevity of the material of the sports bra. Below we are going to go over the top five tips on how to properly
wash your sports bras to help increase the life and the quality of the material.
1.) Switch Between Sports Bras
Okay, we know that there are only a few select bras that will really fit the bill of being the perfect sport bra for working out. This often will mean that the other sport bras will sit neglected, as you will rarely wear them during your workouts. However, it is important to alternate between the different sport bras you own to try to eliminate over-use of your go-to sport bras. Also, this will help to reduce the load of laundry that you will have to do so you are constantly washing laundry every day to have
clean workout clothes for the next day.
2.) Do NOT use Fabric Softener
Most workout apparel including yoga pants, dry-fit shirts, and even sports bras all use a synthetic fabric material that repels moisture from the material of the clothing to fight off sweat. Although this material is very beneficial for working out and excessive sweating, it can be challenging to thoroughly wash in the washing machine after a hard workout. When you use fabric softener on these workout clothes that use synthetic materials like sports bras it can actually damage the material and reduce the life of the fabric. Therefore, it is best to
avoid any use of fabric softener when washing your sweaty sports bras.
3.) Hand Wash Bras
The common method for most women to wash their bras is using the washing machine on a gentle wash cycle, as it is simple and convenient to wash. However, sometimes it may be better to hand wash sports bras rather than washing them, to help preserve the life of the article of clothing. Hand washing is a tedious process but an effective one for both protecting and washing the materials.
4.) Air Dry
Beware that drying your workout clothes in the drying machine can actually result in damage to the material of your sports bras and contribute to the odors that are already present on the fabric. Heat from the dryer will pull the sweat odors from the sweaty sports bra and make it more noticeable to you and others. The best method for drying a sports bra is to hang dry the item and allow it to air dry. The actual drying process of the sports bra will be quick and will allow you to wear it the next day with no problem!
5.) Wash Bras Often
After you get done working out most people will quickly discard their sweaty clothes and sports bras onto the ground or into their laundry basket out of sight and out of smelling range. When you have sweaty clothes, it is best to immediately take action and clean the sweaty clothes including your sweaty sports bra. When you are washing these items, it is important to follow the treatment procedures and avoid using laundry products that can damage the material. It may even be beneficial to utilize an effective sport laundry deodorizer to help combat the strong sweat odors in the material. The
OdorKlenz Sport Laundry Additive is a laundry additive that is used specifically to combat and attack the strong sweat odors from clothing including synthetic workout materials with the use of a patented earth mineral technology that will break down the chemistry of the sweat odors from the fabric. This is accomplished without the use of fragrances or chemicals to remove the odors.