We’ve all lost many a good outfit to antiperspirant stains, but there’s no reason for those white smears to rule what you wear. Here are some homespun tricks to get antiperspirant stains out of your clothes.

Cleaning antiperspirant stains from your clothes: the washing machine doesn’t seem to work, and sometimes you just have to throw those favourite tops and t-shirts away.

But this shouldn’t have to be the case – there are many time-tested home remedies for cleaning those stains from the arm-pits of your clothes, and they can be done with simple ingredients from around your home.

We collected some of the best tips for getting antiperspirant stains out of your clothes:

Vinegar

Great on chips, it’s also pretty decent at getting rid of antiperspirant stains.

  1. Take some white vinegar (other vinegars may colourise the material) and apply liberally to the affected areas of your clothes.
  2. Rub the vinegar into the stains, trying to remove as much of the antiperspirant build-up as possible. *You can use a cloth or old toothbrush to help you achieve this.

Afterwards, leave the material saturated in vinegar overnight, so it can really get to work. The next day you should wash your garments in your washing machine as usual and it should remove the last traces of the stains (and the vinegar!).

Salt

Also pretty good on chips, also great at getting stains out.

What you need to do is wet some salt and apply it to the affected area of fabric.

  1. Rub it in a little to allow it to permeate.
  2. Then, add more salt on top.
  3. Leave garment overnight to allow the salt to take effect.

Nylons/Tights

If you have an old pair of tights to hand, they can help remove visible stains.

This tip couldn’t be easier: simply rub the tights against white, powdery antiperspirant marks and they will disappear.

The trick is that fine-woven tights can be actually be delicately abrasive, and should lift off any antiperspirant residue.

Baking Soda Paste

Baking soda seems a wonder-drug of home remedies and, again, it works perfectly against antiperspirant stains.

  1. Make a paste out of some baking soda and water.
  2. Then, using an old toothbrush, work the paste into the stain.
  3. Once it’s deep into the material, leave for an hour for the soda to get to work.
  4. Then, rinse the paste off and throw the garment into the laundry as normal.