# Armpit Stench (Cleaning Suits without Drycleaning)



## WeTommyD (Oct 5, 2005)

The armpits of my suits smell awful. I do not want to dry clean. Any other alternatives to get rid of the stench. I thought maybe I could wipe the lining with a mild soap & water but unsure if that would damage the lining. Anybody have any tricks to rid the stench without damage?


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## floutist (Jan 9, 2006)

WeTommyD, what you need to do, is to KEEP your suits from acquiring, this odor. Once it's there, forget it. Nothing I know of, will remove it. I feel for you . . . luckily, I'm able to keep my underarm odor at bay, just by being clean and using a deodorant. Is something in your diet, causing this odor? Do you have a lot of hairgrowth, under your arms?? Might want to shave it off . . . hair holds odor in the worst, way . . . I think that's why some men's armpits take on a foul smell. You COULD try dress shields . . . they're washable, but they're hard to find . . . try shops that sell yard goods . . . or, the Vermont Country Store. In the meantime, maybe you could air your jackets out, overnight?? That might help, some . . .


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## Cantabrigian (Aug 29, 2005)

What do you have against drycleaning?


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## WeTommyD (Oct 5, 2005)

Cantabrigian - dry cleaning is hard on clothing. My tailor told me never to get them dry cleaned unless I get a spot on them. In addition, I am not fond of the harmful chemicals used in the dry cleaning process. There must be a natural way to get rid of the fowl smell.


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## Teacher (Mar 14, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by WeTommyD_
> 
> Cantabrigian - dry cleaning is hard on clothing. My tailor told me never to get them dry cleaned unless I get a spot on them. In addition, I am not fond of the harmful chemicals used in the dry cleaning process. There must be a natural way to get rid of the fowl smell.


Good luck. However, suits are dry cleaned so infrequently that the fabric takes many, many years to break down. You're FAR more likely to simply wear your coats out than to actually damage them from dry cleaning.


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## Dandy Wannabe (Jun 20, 2004)

> quote:_Originally posted by WeTommyD_
> 
> Cantabrigian - dry cleaning is hard on clothing. My tailor told me never to get them dry cleaned unless I get a spot on them. In addition, I am not fond of the harmful chemicals used in the dry cleaning process. There must be a natural way to get rid of the fowl smell.


i bet that he would tell you that its ok to clean them in this case. i guess this is like a stain dont you think? the words "stench" and "smell awful" seem to indicate that its time, wetommyd, its time.
when people get up for you in the train and move away, and you are relatively young its not because they are being polite.
go get it cleaned. your friends and neighbors will thank you.

i'm dancing as fast as i can


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## WeTommyD (Oct 5, 2005)

floutist,
I agree that prevention is the best way to solve the problem from occurring again. You make some good points. I am just a heavy sweater. I do keep my hair trimmed and while I do eat a healthy diet I do eat an awful lot of garlic which may account for my nasty odor. I'll check out the dress shields. Never heard of them before and maybe they will help.


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## Dandy Wannabe (Jun 20, 2004)

> quote:_Originally posted by WeTommyD_
> 
> floutist,
> I agree that prevention is the best way to solve the problem from occurring again. You make some good points. I am just a heavy sweater. I do keep my hair trimmed and while I do eat a healthy diet I do eat an awful lot of garlic which may account for my nasty odor. I'll check out the dress shields. Never heard of them before and maybe they will help.


reminds me of the scene in blue streak with martin lawrence telling the body shop guy to cut down cause its coming from his pores. you sure its just the "pits" fella?

i'm dancing as fast as i can


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## maxnharry (Dec 3, 2004)

This is probably a good time to also mention undershirts (t-shirts) in this case and clean dress shirts every day. Trimming your armpit hair may help, as may a lightly deodorized soap for morning showers.

I agree that in your case you need to clean your suits. After that you should hang each suit to air out for the entire day after you wear it. You also might look into a steamer. Steaming the lining of your suits regularly might help since the odor comes from a live bacteria.


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## floutist (Jan 9, 2006)

Hi WeTommyD . . . spices and garlic can cause perspiration to smell quite strong, in some cases. I know a young man of Middle Eastern origin, who complained of foul smelling armpits, as well . . . I think perhaps his diet, had something to do with the problem. You may want to take some baking soda baths . . . be careful about wearing those suit jackets, that smell underneath the arms!! You do NOT want to acquire a reputation as someone, with body odor . . . very bad for your image. Check out the dress shields . . . they are washable, which is of course, a huge help. But WeTommyD . . . if your suits smell really bad . . . you may have to start fresh, with new clothes, little by little.


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## WeTommyD (Oct 5, 2005)

I do not always wear undershirts. I shall most definitely start wearing them with my suits. 

I always rotate the suits I wear and hang them on the hanger after each wearing. Right now I have them inside out so air can get to them. It is only two of the five suits I own that smell dreadful. The others are fine.


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## Notik (Jul 3, 2005)

Turn suit inside out to expose arm pit area. Spray with febreze. Allow 1+ day(s) to dry out. This helps a lot.


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## Earthmover (Jan 3, 2005)

Disclaimer: I have a bias in favor of drycleaners, because my parents own one. 


That being said, do you hear yourself here? You're essentially saying that I'd rather smell awful than dryclean a suit. Unless money is a real concern, or the suit is an 80 year old vintage garment, I don't think that argument holds water (and for the public's sake, I don't want it to). Drycleaning doesn't magically destroy every textile laid in its path. All clothing can withstand drycleaning on a semiregular basis, as is required to keep clothing clean. I think personally, if you're that concerned about destroying clothing, buy the cheapest fused suits you can find and treat them as disposables; I would think it would be far better than wearing a canvassed suit that makes you smell bad. 


And if you dislike drycleaning for other reasons (I've encountered examples before), then I would call around to see if any drycleaner in your area has an ozone chamber. They are getting to be rarer each day, but ozone chambers will get rid of all stench. It works by enclosing clothing in a metal closet that generates ozone (O3) by running electric fields through oxygen. Ozone, for some reason, will get rid of all smell that it comes in contact with, and because of that, just simply hanging clothing inside an ozone chamber will get rid of whatever smell existed before. However, note that if the source of the smell is due to bacteria consuming albumin resulting from sweat (the main reason for armpit stench), it will come back in due time because that's what bacteria do. Anyway, drycleaning is the most hassle-free way to do it. No drycleaner is out to destroy your clothes. Remember that.


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## Concordia (Sep 30, 2004)

Agree that sometimes you just have to swallow one's principles and get a drycleaning job done.

You mention garlic-- are you sure that you aren't speaking of garlic _powder_, of the kind used by cheap Mexican and Italian joints? I remember going out to lunch at one of them and astonishing myself a few hours later at how I smelled. And if the production room guy makes the elevator smell like a combination of bad pizza and sweat, it might be garlic powder making its presence known. Just a thought.


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## WeTommyD (Oct 5, 2005)

I guess my question or point is that there is bacteria on the inside of the lining which is making the coat smell. That is the only place that needs cleaning. Not the whole coat. So it seems to me that there must be an alternative way to clean the coat with some product (soap or other) that will remove the bacteria without ruining the lining and dry cleaning which is rough on the rest of the suit which does not need to be cleaned. Furthermore, I am not thrilled having perchloroethylene or other harsh chemicals near my body. I of course do not want to stink but it seems to me there must be another solution to my problem.

Earthmover your point about the ozone chamber is very interesting. I have never heard of an ozone chamber before. Unfortunately, it sounds like it would not solve my problem because my problem is due to bacteria. I will call some cleaners in the Buffalo area to see if they have one. 

The best advice I have received so far for a dry cleaning alternative is to use Frebreeze or steam which would hopefully kill the bacteria.


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## WeTommyD (Oct 5, 2005)

Concordia
I eat fresh garlic but I am sure it has some effect on the smell of my body. To prevent the problem I will certainly always make it a practice to wear t-shirts under my suits from this time forward. If the problem persist I will look in to the dress shields.


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## Cantabrigian (Aug 29, 2005)

There are more nature-friendly ways to dry clean - there is an article about them on the first page. 

I think that what you tailor really meant was don't get them dry cleaned unless they have a spot on them (or smell really bad) -- he probably just figured that the last part went without saying.


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## crs (Dec 30, 2004)

Dry cleaning won't get rid of an odor anyway. In the 90s I bought a Brooks Brothers suit at a thrift shop that had no apparent smell, had it dry-cleaned before I wore it, and after an hour of wear the suit became an embarassment. Repeated dry cleanings did not help, and I threw out the suit.

I doubt shaving the pits would help. Most American women shave, and they are not exempt from body odor, either.

Sometimes it can't be helped during a long day in hot weather. Bathe daily, use a good deoderant, of course, but every human's gonna stink once in a while. But forget about getting the aroma out of that suit.


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## rojo (Apr 29, 2004)

The only item I have with this problem was a thrift store find. I've spent more on dry cleaning than I did to purchase it, but it has not helped.


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## guitone (Mar 20, 2005)

If you rotate your suits it will help, and an undershirt is a must if you are a heavy sweater. In addition, once you get a stench in wool it has to be cleaned. Dry cleaning is not good for your suits so get them cleaned, wear T shirts and rotate, rotate, rotate. Try not to wear any suite more than once or twice a week at most, take your jacket off when you can (in the office) and if you really need to, bring another T shirt to work and change mid-day. Cut the garlic down as well, it really can be offensive, even though it tastes great. Being a light if a sweater at all has it's advantages.

Also, if there is stress in your life causing the sweating see if you can do some stress relieving exercised, meditation, relaxation, these may also help.

Good luck

guit


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## Earthmover (Jan 3, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by WeTommyD_
> 
> I guess my question or point is that there is bacteria on the inside of the lining which is making the coat smell. That is the only place that needs cleaning. Not the whole coat. So it seems to me that there must be an alternative way to clean the coat with some product (soap or other) that will remove the bacteria without ruining the lining and dry cleaning which is rough on the rest of the suit which does not need to be cleaned. Furthermore, I am not thrilled having perchloroethylene or other harsh chemicals near my body. I of course do not want to stink but it seems to me there must be another solution to my problem.
> 
> ...


The problem is that bacteria-caused smells are NOT caused by bacteria itself, but because bacteria have something to eat and release foul-smelling gases. The reason the armpits smell is because in sweat there are low amounts of albumin (think egg white protein) and lipid molecules that bacteria can use as food, digest them, and in the process, release malodorous gases.

Because of that, killing the bacteria is not a permanent solution; bacteria are essentially infinite in our world. The only "permanent" solution here is to get rid of the food that the bacteria feed on, so that 1) they don't congregate and multiply in one localized area, and 2) even if they are around, they won't have sustenance. This is sort of analogous to the moth problem; the real problem is caused by stains/food on clothes, not on the moths themselves.

And to get to the real detail, albumin and lipids are more non-polar in chemical terms than they are polar. Lipids are completely nonpolar, and while proteins are technically polar, larger proteins tend have a large nonpolar center with polar functional groups, which means that they react better (read: dissolve into) with other nonpolar chemicals. Therefore using water (very polar) is nowhere near as effective as using Perchloroethylene (chemical formula C2Cl4), a nonpolar solvent when trying to get rid of nonpolar compounds from clothing.

The reason laundry detergents exist is exactly for this reason: to get rid of nonpolar stains. But note your problem: you are trying to get an area that will undoubtedly be 1) very hard to spot-clean; 2) very hard to remove all chemicals used after spot-cleaning; and 3) most sensitive to any remaining trace chemicals that will irritate your skin, as most detergents tend to be. This is in addition to any problem with localized washing of wool with water-based solutions.

Anyway, I can go on for hours on the topic, but I think you get my point. It is the reason drycleaners exist. Despite what you may believe, it's actually practical and safe.

And as for the perc remaining on your clothes, yes, this does happen, but in very low amounts (In New York State, I believe EPA/DEC currently requires that all drycleaner machines have perc levels lower than 15ppb (parts per billion) when the dry cycle is complete. Yes, you can probably smell it, and it worries you, but it's not going to harm you in any way.


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