Smelly clothes
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Ever noticed that a polyester T-shirt is smellier than a cotton one after you work out? New University of Alberta research now shows why.
Analysis of various fibres soaked in a solution of simulated sweat showed that cotton and viscose, which are cellulosic, or plant-derived fibres, absorbed — and consequently released — smaller amounts of odour-causing compounds than polyester, nylon and wool.
The key finding from the study explains why some commonly worn fibres are smellier than others when people sweat, says Rachel McQueen, a clothing and textiles scientist in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences who conducted the research with colleagues from the University of Otago in New Zealand.
“Although we know that polyester is smellier after being worn next to sweaty armpits compared to cotton T-shirts, we haven’t really known why. Now we have a better understanding of how odorants transfer and are selectively absorbed by various fibre types in sweat.”
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I know that there’s a difference between natural fibers and synthetics as far as odors go. But I thought wool was supposed to be better than cotton. (Have you seen those WoolX and Wool& ads? Wear the same merino wool dress or shirt every day; air it out at night and wash it weekly?)
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I wonder if the lanolin in wool attracts the oil a bit more and that's why it retains odors more than cotton does.
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Pro tip- Don’t work out.
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This lady knows laundry. One tip to remove smells is to spray clothes with cheap vodka.
She also tells how to wash beaded flapper dresses and feather boas, should such become necessary.
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Interesting piece!
I have a lot of cotton clothing and it seemed like things would shrink a lot when they got dried, so I've been skipping the dryer step for years. Our laundry room is in the basement and I have a few rolling racks I picked up at Aldi (great quality and cheap as dirt!) that I use to hang up the damp clothes. They're dry by the next day.
WaPo is making people sign up with an email to read gifted articles, so it you want to skip that step, here's a non-paywall version of the article that @Steve-Miller posted.
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@wtg I didn’t know about the email sign up thing. Grrrr!
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I think it's a new(er) thing. Not surprised; their subscriber base keeps dwindling.
