Question about armpit stain (not from sweat)

This has been bugging me for a while so I figured to ask here for any answers to this question, if anyone can relate.

Why do my t-shirts get a yellow stain spot that won'y come out when washed? At first I thought it was my deodorant so I switched for 'secret' to 'dove' at it still happens. It's upsetting to me because most are light colored shirts like white or pink, whereas even the dark colors like royal blue look like a 'wet stain' under there. Most are Lacoste polo shirts which are not cheap. I really can't wear them anymore because I;ll get embarrassed anytime I would need to raise my arm! I'm so upset and at my wits end because the stain is under both arms and practically on every shirt. And they are all cotton. Any ideas how to get rid of this? Is it indeed from my deodorant? I've used the clear and the regular ones. The only ones I haven't tried are the sprays. Luckily I do not sweat really, but I like to apply it every day of course. Help!

No I havn't tried stain remover, but as you say it probably won't do anything since they have been washed a few times already. I am positive it's the deodorant. I just thought maybe someone might have had the same experience, and if so, what had they've done differently.

You're right. It is your deodorant (almost all deodorants contain aluminum) in combination with the urea of your sweat. The aluminum and the urea create a chemical reaction that creates the yellow stains.

Switching deodorants won't help unless you switch to an aluminum-free deodorant, which are hard to find in any general store (you can search 'aluminum-free deodorant' on Amazon to find some).

You CAN prevent the stain on new T-shirts (or at least lighten it a bit if it's already set in on older shirts), but it requires some extra laundering techniques. Prior to washing, scrub a 1 to 1 paste of OxiClean and water into the stain. Allow to soak for 1 hour, then wash in hot water. On brand new shirts, this works very well, but on older stains that are already set in, not as well, but much better than not.

Also, the sooner you do the pre-soak after wearing, the better (doesn't give the urea and aluminum time to react). It's very old-fashioned, but you might consider buying a diaper pail that you can fill with the OxiClean/water combo to soak your Ts in until you're ready to launder them.

Another efficient (and much easier IMO) option is to use dress shields. They are a replaceable fabric barrier between you and your clothes that protect the clothing from both the deodorant and sweat.

Wow, so glad I asked, thanks for the information! Yes. aluminum is the active ingredient, I had no idea. The dress shields sound like a very good idea going forward. In the meantime, you think Oxy Clean will help on a stain that's about 3 yrs old? I can try it i suppose. Now I need to look for deodorant without aluminum....

Most deodorants that are also antiperspirants have alluminum in them as has been mentioned by many above.

I highly recommend using Native Deodorant, which is alluminum and Paraban free. You can only get Native from the company itself, but there really isn’t a better deodorant on the market. Yes, it is more expensive than most other deodorants, but it doesn’t take much and lasts all day and smells fantastic.

When I was living in Italy last Summer I had run out of Native and purchased a basic deodorant. I wore my favorite and very expensive white Belstaff shirt during “Heatwave Lucifer” and had extreme yellow pit stains and couldn’t try and fix the shirt because it was dry clean only. When I got back to the states I had to go through 3 dry cleaning sessions and it still didn’t get the stains out completely. This is something I wouldn’t have probably happened had I still had my Native Deodorant... but I digress.

As suggested, Natural deodorant is the way to go. Tom’s makes really good ones that smell lovely. They are a bit pricey for deodorant but worth it. They are in most stores these days. I used to have the same problem. I find that the gel deodorants stain like crazy.

I was getting stains on my bath towels that almost looked like bleach. I don’t use bleach in the wash, so couldn’t figure out the culprit. Found out it was from my acne face wash.

The Tom’s I use is aluminum free. It’s the Men’s Mountain Spring in the blue packaging. It has pretty good coverage, for me at least.

I can try that too, thanks.

I switched to Aluminum Free quite awhile ago. At first I was hesitant to spend the money for it. $12.00 as I went with what my dermatologist recommended. He put it in perspective for me. Asked how much does your average shirts and polos cost. Plus undershirts. Most shirts are Brooks Brothers & Ralph Lauren and at least 10 or so had stains. Add that up by $60-80 each and the deodorant is a deal. Good Luck. :)

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Thanks again for all your responses. Honestly, I've been a bit busy to try any suggestions to see if they help. And they are all t-shirts which means, entering Fall, I'm not going to be wearing them anymore. I must say, all the recommendations of alternative brands have been for men, yes? As a female, I prefer the girly kind

Oh, ok then, I'll take your suggestion I have ordered something from Amazon and I;m waiting for it to arrive. However, I'd prefer them not to be so fragrant - I tend to overdo it (reasonably) with my perfume sometimes !!