Let’s be honest, we all have a lovely white top or dress somewhere in our closet with a not-so-lovely yellow discoloration under the arms. And let’s be honest, I have way more yellow-armed shirts in my closet than I care to admit. While it may be easy to toss out that old ratty T with the yellow armpits, there are other items that make me cringe to think about tossing out. I fully admit I have put on a top with discolored underarms and thought, “If I just don’t raise my arms the whole night it will be fine, right?”
After pretreating, washing, pretreating, washing, and so on, I began to think I was going to either have to live with yellow pits, or grit my teeth and toss out all of those discolored whites. But after some research, trial and error, and tweaking others’ recipes, I found a concoction that finally took the yellow out. And the best part, is all the ingredients were already in my house, and probably in yours too. I’m proudly raising my arms, and I just can’t keep what I learned to myself. So if you have shirts that look like this:
(And this isn’t even close to my worst one! This was just the only one I took a picture of for demonstration)
then read on for how you can save your whites.
The stains on my shirts are what you would call “set in” stains. Washed and dried several times. I used my technique on cotton (like the shirt above), linen, and silk. My underarm yellow remover worked best on the 100% cotton shirt. It came out right away. The linen sweater was a little more difficult, and the silk was the most difficult because of its delicate nature. But all three shirts came out white in the end. I also successfully used my technique on a dark colored shirt that had salt rings under the arms.
I’m not going to get too in depth on the chemistry behind a yellow pit stain, but there are a few things you should know about why these stains are just so darn stubborn. First off, they are more like discolorations than stains. Unlike dirt, wine spills, and grass stains, for example, that turn your clothes the color of the stain, yellow underarms aren’t from your sweat secreting yellow color (thank God because that would be pretty gross). Your shirts’ underarms turn yellow due to a chemical reaction. This reaction is more difficult to reverse than a typical stain, and thus pretreating and washing is not enough. This is also the reason bleaching your underarms turns them an even worse mustard color yellow. The bleach reacts with your underarm chemicals and minerals to make the stain even worse, even though it fixes other stains on your whites.
Sweat stains are slightly different than the mixture of sweat and deodorant. If you wear deodorant, the yellow under your arms is likely the chemical reaction of the deodorant AND sweat. Ring around the collar, or yellow discoloration elsewhere is most likely due to the chemical reaction of your sweat with the fabric. Sweat stains are slightly easier to remove than the deodorant/sweat combo, but both are just as unsightly and can be removed with this technique.
You will need:
- Baking Soda
- Hydrogen Peroxide
- Liquid Laundry Detergent (preferably a clear one)
- Warm Water
- Cup and spoon
- Your fingers
Spread out the underarm area of your shirt so you can see the full stain. If you have more than one shirt to do like I did, mix 4 Tablespoons of baking soda with 1/4 cup of warm water. If you only have one shirt, you can use less. The mixture is simply equal parts baking soda to warm water.
Stir well. It’s going to seem a bit soupy at first but trust me, it thickens fast. Spoon the mixture onto the underarm and rub it into the fabric well with your fingers. It will start to thicken as you rub. Add more and rub until you have a nice coating covering the discolored area.
Repeat on the other underarm and let sit for about 15-30 minutes. Don’t throw out your mixture.
Come back with your hydrogen peroxide and liquid laundry detergent. I suggest using a clear one because you don’t really need to be adding more color to your underarms. And because we are going to put the detergent directly on the stain, it is gong to be pretty concentrated (way more so than when you put it in a load of wash).
Mix equal parts peroxide and detergent (you can use the same cup as before, even if it has leftover baking soda in it). I used one Tablespoon of each. You are going to rejuvenate the mixture on the underarms by spooning the new concoction over the old and mixing it in with your fingers. The cakey baking soda mixture should become a thick liquid again. Let this new concoction sit for about 15-30 minutes.
When you come back after patiently waiting, don’t be tempted to try to see if it worked yet. You need that nice coating to stay on there. Put the clothes in the wash, but not with another load. They need to be all by themselves. I know it isn’t the most environmentally savvy procedure, but if you do a few shirts at a time it isn’t so bad. Add detergent and wash with warm water if the fabric allows for it. My machine has a “quick wash” setting that is significantly shorter than a typical wash, so I used that.
When the wash cycle is finished take out your shirts and examine the underarms. If they are to your liking, proceed as usual with a dry cycle or hang dry. If they are still a little yellow (like most of mine), repeat the process but on the INSIDE of the underarm.
At first glance it may seem like a lengthy and tedious process. But it’s inexpensive and gets your underarms looking like this:
That’s all the motivation I need to use this method over and over again.
Happy de-yellowing! Go ahead and raise your arms up all summer long. I know I will be.
Shown here is a linen summer weight sweater that I treated with my concoction. |sweater: J.Crew (old)| |jeans: Banana Republic (accidentally deconstructed)| |shoes: Steve Madden via Poshmark| |necklace: Ann Taylor Loft| |sunglasses: Marc by Marc Jacobs via Poshmark|
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