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How do you wash your sports kit? Most of my cycling and outdoor gear is supposed to be washed on a delicates setting at 30°C, or even a cold handwash. It never quite seems to do the job and there can be a remaining whiff which is less than pleasant!
30C delicates wash with either eco-balls or eco liquid.
Make sure you try and hang it outside on a washing line as the UV in sunlight helps to kill the bacteria that causes odour.
Buy some new stuff.
Put two Milton or other sterilisation tablets in the machine with it. Job done. Of its very stinky you might want to cold soak it in Milton first to kill the bugs off.
I have the same issue. I find some kit, no matter how many times I wash it, smells
Halo Sports Wash is jolly good
antifungal, antibacterial and halal
At 30C in a normal washing machine using normal washing powder.
If that's not doing it, consider your personal hygiene.
Teach it to whistle instead?
Halo is the dog's danglies for stinky kit.
At 30C in a normal washing machine using normal washing powder.
You must be a lot more sweet smelling than me! If I wash my gear like that it then it seems okayish when first out the drier but soon stinks again.
Oxy stain remover. It both kills bacteria and stink and helps with the mud/oil stains. Always wash it on the 30C quick wash.
If kit does smell (been left to long in a bag after a trip) then it goes in for the full 2 hour wash, but still at 30C.
It might be your washing machine though, I used to find (before using the oxy clean) that the smell would build over time and often it was the machine itself. If you only wash at 30C then it needs something more to kill the bugs otherwise you're just washing them from one load to the next. The occasional 60C cycle and machine wash solved it. Still do it every few months as it's supposed to keep the limescale down as well.
This is superb, and I've tried a lot of stuff:
It's expensive but you only need a tiny capful so it lasts ages. Like most Assos stuff in my experience! Beware anti-bacterial stuff - we had some Dettol laundry anti-bacterial stuff that we used on nappies and it stripped the PU membrane from the covers so would probably do the same to any waterproof kit.
High C or Low D?
Halo sports wash, from Sainsbury's or online (wiggle used to?). Don't need to use it every wash but it does work miracles.
I use Halo as my default washing liquid.
Smells nice and restores days old damp gym kit.
I use Tesco Laundry Cleanser. Same ingredients as Dettol's version but half the price.
Halo and other gentle detergents are for materials that are ruined by stronger detergents ie sofshells and shells with a dwr. Most cycling kit is pretty robust nylon, no matter how much they try to sell you special cleaning products, what you really need is a normal biological detergent and some lenor.
Another vote for Halo Sports Wash. Can get it in bigger branches of Sainsburys.
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Halo and other gentle detergents are for materials that are ruined by stronger detergents ie sofshells and shells with a dwr. Most cycling kit is pretty robust nylon, no matter how much they try to sell you special cleaning products, what you really need is a normal biological detergent and some lenor.
biological detergent has enzymes that are very good at eating lyrcra and fabric softeners will compromise any wicking effects and waterproofing of clothes
Halo.
I've had good success with this: https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/dettol-antibacterial-laundry-cleanser-liquid--cotton-25l where halo etc have failed
Halo.... normally get from CRC
I use Halo sports wash on my older/everyday kit and assos active wear cleanser on the newer more expensive stuff. The assos stuff is a bit gentler and seems better for the washing machine (less slimy) but it's just too expensive to use for 5 washes a week.
Both do a good job of keeping pongs at bay and the halo stuff even managed to get rid of a long standing pong from my favourite cycling top.
Halo. Was gonna buy it online until I realised it was in Sainsburys 🙂 Specifically for 30 degree washes.
halo user here
At 30C in a normal washing machine using normal washing powder.
If that’s not doing it, consider your personal hygiene.
Well as I explained in the opening post that is how I wash my kit, so it must be my personal hygiene eh?
Other than the fragrant Scotroutes who doesn't sweat (or if he does it smells of lavender) there are some good ideas here, thanks. I'll give some of those products a try. A bit of interweb research suggests that 30°C is nowhere near hot enough to kill bacteria without a bit of help from an antibacterial product.
stick it in the freezer.
was a prog on R4 about washing clothes and one alternative was to stick stinky clothes in the freezer.
Ordinary Dettol, well the even cheaper supermarket own brand stuff.
They often have instructions for washing on the label, but I just dilute a couple of capfuls in a litre or two of water and tip it in the powder draw before putting the powder in.
Then normal wash on either 30 or 40 degrees.
Do it every few washes. A bottle for a quid will last over a year.
I've used both Halo and the Assos stuff. The Assos is miles better, it really is.
have a daughter that plays (ice) hockey and that kit really stinks (glad not a teen boy)
2 things - use a 30deg wash as required max for sports stuff with non bio powder but longest possible wash machine will do at that temp - our short cycle wash come out minging
every other wash I add Canasteen antibacterial rinse - live downunder and can't quickly see in UK but looks like dettol do a similar available Tesco - check the rinse aid goes in... our sports stuff labelled cycle doesn't because most sports stuff shouldn't use softener products on so machine say no and leaves it in the tray
I bin my stuff when it starts to stink, I never have found anything that can bring it back. Saying that I do use Halo on all sports kit to help keep the inevitable away for as long as possible.
I am already the slow, sweaty one at the back on group rides, I don't want to be the slow, sweaty stinky one at the back.
I just throw it in the machine and hit the auto button. I've smashed my nose to bits several times so not much sense of smell left. Don't care what other people think.
OP
Try cleaning your washing machine ,run it empty on a hot wash with some baking soda and vinegar. Check all the areas where old soap can hide.
Softshell jacket and shorts go straight in the machine with pads and gloves when I get home on a 30c short cycle w/o detergent other than what is left in the machine. They probably want a proper wash now but no-one has complained yet. Everything else at 40c with regular load using non bio. 40 kills bugs.
run it empty on a hot wash with some baking soda and vinegar
I usually just do an empty boil wash with a capful of bleach in it.
Worth noting that some modern machines have a self-clean cycle which may also help.
I've had pretty good results with that Dettol stuff - I have a couple of old trusty base layers that get absolutely howling if not washed immediately after wearing & then transfer the stink to jerseys / jackets etc. might give the Tesco own brand stuff a whirl.
Also - I tend to throw caution to the wind & wash at 40, seems to help & nothing's shrunk or disintegrated in the wash so far
This thread has basically three answers:
- People who use Halo and love it.
- People who haven't tried Halo so are bodging with other stuff that is nearly as good
- Smelly people who don't realise they stink
😉
40 degrees for all of it, no matter if it says 30, and Halo. I rinse all the mud off outside, and wash the kit straight away, leaving it foosty just makes it harder to get the smell out. I also put it on a longer wash as well, not the short wash.
Stop mucking around and buy some of that Assos stuff! It's miles better than Halo!
Modern lycra fabrics are OK with much hotter temps than 30degs, and as you've noticed, the bacteria that cause the smell can survive that. The occasional wash at even 60degs won't hurt and make sure you line dry as often as you can, nothing quite as effective as UV for killing bugs.
Wash at 40 degrees for sports clothing, 30 just won't cut it.
For anyone that wants to give the Assos Active Wear Cleanser a go Merlin have it on offer at the moment.
It's still not cheap mind but £17.50 per litre is about the lowest price i've seen for a long time.
Don't let it hang around damp before it goes in the wash. If it isn't going straight in the wash, hang it out so that it dries out before it goes in the wash: fewer bugs grow that way.
I use standard Aldi own brand non-Bio at 30 degrees and have no problems. Softshells and waterproofs with pure soap suds (no fabric wettners to destroy DWR). Even my smelly hellys seem OK to me ... but then maybe I've become conditioned over the years ...
As about the third poster said, use Napisan.
Your kit pongs because of the bacteria. The active oxygen wotsits in Napisan kill the bacteria (same as Oxiclean etc but cheaperer). It's designed for washing nappies in, so pretty good at getting rid of pongs.
And its not bleach, which some people seem to think it is.
White vinegar worked for me on a stinky gore soft shell, half a cup in a bucket of cool water. Left in there for 30 mins and then washed at 30 with normal non bio detergent. Got rid of all sweaty smell.
Guess to improve breath ability I could now use a tech wash of some kind.
I'm with Qwerty on this - a box of Napisan lasts a while can can be had pretty much everywhere. Seems to work just fine on all our artificial fibre sporty kit at 30 and 40.
Stop mucking around and buy some of that Assos stuff! It’s miles better than Halo!
I don't need miles better, Halo works, and I can pick it up locally.
Napisan does work. It was my go-to solution before I tried Halo.
I'm sure Assos works well too but seems a lot more expensive when the Halo works perfectly.