The stink

[jessmarimba]

You may want to consider "washing" your washer every so often too. If there's residue in the washing machine, my athletic clothes are the ones that still smell after washing. Just run a cycle of hot water with a couple cups of vinegar (some people suggest adding baking soda as well).

[Anyabeth]

Borax seems to help. And if they are really bad I have used Dawn (yes dishwashing liquid) to strip some residue out of the fabric.

I haven't done it with cycling gear but my husband's work out gear gets really bad and that seems to work.

[sookiesue]

Lots of great ideas to try - thanks, everyone!

Crankin - they are mostly Primal jerseys. There's not a major stink on them all the time, but I think enough has built up that after a ride I can get whiffs here and there that aren't so pleasant.

trickycoolj - I love your username! My son loves old LL Cool J songs, so your name really caught my eye.

For using vinegar in the wash - I have a front loader machine. Would I just pour some in with the clothes, or do I need to put it in the bleach/fabric softener dispenser area? I think those only allow 1/3 cup or so, though. Maybe they Downy ball is my best bet?

[Pedal Wench]

I had a problem with Oxyclean turning some of my white gear yellow. It washed out eventually, but it was scary for a while. It seemed to turned sweatier areas the most.

[ehirsch83]

Lots of great ideas to try - thanks, everyone!

Crankin - they are mostly Primal jerseys. There's not a major stink on them all the time, but I think enough has built up that after a ride I can get whiffs here and there that aren't so pleasant.

You just said that it is after the ride that you smell it, not before.

Do they smell ok before you put them on? If so, it has nothing to do with washing and it is just the smell of your hard earned sweat!

I always smell gross after I ride, but that is what happens when you work up a sweat outdoors for a few hours, especially in the summer heat.

[pll]

Could it be the type of fabric or the treatment it gets for printing designs? As far as I remember, most Primal wear jerseys have images and designs on them. The jerseys I use the most are whole color (different color details are in the zipper or different fabrics in the sleeves and neck) -- the brands I use are Giordana and Castelli.

[Bike Writer]

You may want to consider "washing" your washer every so often too. If there's residue in the washing machine, my athletic clothes are the ones that still smell after washing. Just run a cycle of hot water with a couple cups of vinegar (some people suggest adding baking soda as well).

I do that now and again to my washer. As a side note, it would probably be best to use one or the other. Vinegar is an acid and baking soda a base so one would cancel the other out? If I accidently leave towels in the washer overnight I rewash them with just vinegar to get that musty smell out. Works.

[Irulan]

My front loader manual states to use bleach, not vinegar, for a monthly cleaning. Bleach will actually sanitize by killing nasties, not sure about vinegar.

[TrekJeni]

Anti dandruff shampoo like Head and Shoulders and others that contain zinc.

I'm a Researcher for a large consumer goods company and work on laundry detergent. Dandruff shampoo contains zinc. Zinc is an antibacterial, antimicrobial and antifungal.

Dose it into your washer (if you're using a toploader) like a normal liquid detergent dose. Use less for a frontloader as it is high sudsing. There isn't any suds suppressor in is.

You can also use it to clean the inside of your washing machine, soak your dish sponges in it to get rid of germs and stink.

That bit of knowledge isn't worth the trouble and expense of making legal claims on it but I'll give you that info for free. :-)

Jeni

[BodhiTree]

Anti dandruff shampoo like Head and Shoulders and others that contain zinc.

I'm a Researcher for a large consumer goods company and work on laundry detergent. Dandruff shampoo contains zinc. Zinc is an antibacterial, antimicrobial and antifungal.

Dose it into your washer (if you're using a toploader) like a normal liquid detergent dose. Use less for a frontloader as it is high sudsing. There isn't any suds suppressor in is.

You can also use it to clean the inside of your washing machine, soak your dish sponges in it to get rid of germs and stink.

That bit of knowledge isn't worth the trouble and expense of making legal claims on it but I'll give you that info for free. :-)

Jeni

I would bet you are the one who posted this information a couple years ago and got me started using the dandruff shampoo. It works great!

[TrekJeni]

I would bet you are the one who posted this information a couple years ago and got me started using the dandruff shampoo. It works great!

yep!

[Bike Writer]

Anti dandruff shampoo like Head and Shoulders and others that contain zinc.

I'm a Researcher for a large consumer goods company and work on laundry detergent. Dandruff shampoo contains zinc. Zinc is an antibacterial, antimicrobial and antifungal.

Dose it into your washer (if you're using a toploader) like a normal liquid detergent dose. Use less for a frontloader as it is high sudsing. There isn't any suds suppressor in is.

You can also use it to clean the inside of your washing machine, soak your dish sponges in it to get rid of germs and stink.

That bit of knowledge isn't worth the trouble and expense of making legal claims on it but I'll give you that info for free. :-)

Jeni

Good stuff to know. Thank you.

[jessmarimba]

I do that now and again to my washer. As a side note, it would probably be best to use one or the other. Vinegar is an acid and baking soda a base so one would cancel the other out? If I accidently leave towels in the washer overnight I rewash them with just vinegar to get that musty smell out. Works.

I think it's supposed to be vinegar in the start, baking soda in the rinse cycle.

I'd guess bleach would work just fine, but I don't actually own any so I can't personally vouch. I bought a gallon of vinegar to clean up cat accidents because my blind one would keep re-using the same spots if I washed with anything else, and I've used it ever since.

[sookiesue]

I tried the vinegar and it worked pretty well! I poured it into both the bleach dispenser and the fabric softener dispenser and that must have been enough for a load of clothes because my jersey didn't seem to stink anymore.

I'm fine with good old hard-earned sweat smell. These jerseys would stink after a ride, I'd take them off and sniff myself and my own body didn't stink like that, it was just the fabric. Glad to have found some ways to remedy it!

TrekJeni - would using the powder from zinc supplement capsules be effective? If that is the ingredient in the shampoo that does the trick, I was wondering if you could just pour a couple of capsules' worth of zinc into the wash with your clothes to the same effect. Any thoughts on that? Might solve the problem of oversudsing.