Salt & vinegar: Not just for chips

It's odd that the elimination of body odor would be the impetus for me blogging again. But it is. Now that I’m trying to get in shape (have you ever noticed you never realize how out of shape you are until you try to get in shape? I think it’s denial…) I have stinky clothes.

I sweat like never before (prob because I’m pushing myself like never before) and I’m tired of spending money replacing tshirts and sports bras because I can’t get the odor out.

We must not be embarrassed that we stink. It is how the good Lord made us. When we sweat, the bacteria mutates and grows and stinks like the dickens. There are a few of us that don’t get raunchy, but I haven’t met one yet. I do have to admit that when my feet sweat, they do not stink. It is one of my gifts and attractive graces. I know people whose feet sweat and turn their fave shoes into bleu cheese factories. Poor things.

So I don’t have to worry about feet, but I do have to worry about pits. Nothing's worse than realizing you are offensive. So yesterday I was searching amazon.com for sportswear detergents and googling tips on washing stinky workout clothes. Unfortunately, most sports detergents are expensive – without naming any names, some are $20 for a few ounces. Seriously? It's hard for me to pay $20 for a pair of shoes.

I stumbled upon some sites that mentioned salt water and vinegar. I had tried baking soda and that didn’t seem to do much. Some sites mentioned making a paste and rubbing it on the pits. I do not have that kind of time – and how do you get it to stay on?...and, what a mess.

So, salt and vinegar seemed to be recurring themes. Why does salt work? For the same reason salt was used to cure meat (not the dehydration part) – because it is antibacterial. The salt is working to kill all of those armpit bacterium. Go salt.

I gathered up all of my workout clothes – from bras to socks (even though they of course, did not stink). I put them in a 5-gallon bucket that was filled halfway with hot water and ½ cup of table salt. I let it soak for a couple of hours. Some pieces that I tossed in towards the end after a workout were only in for about 10 minutes. Then I tossed all of that in (including the salt water) into the washer, filled to the appropriate level with hot water with very little detergent and 1 cup of vinegar – which neutralizes odors. I let that sit for about 20 minutes while I took a shower, then washed.

After it drained, I smelled the pits. Voila!!! Totally clean!! Not the smell of detergent masking B.O., but truly clean!! Miracles of miracles – and only for a few cents.
And, fyi, one of those sports bras may be older than me, with lingering bacteria from 10th grade. It smells as good as new.

I just had to share.