There is nothing quite as noticeable and embarrassing as underarm deodorant stains on a black T-shirt. It always seems to happen when we are in a rush or going somewhere special or with your absolute favorite black T-shirt. To make things worse, it’s not easy to remove such stains and you need to pay particular attention when laundering the item. Below you will find some tips on making sure you get rid of those annoying marks. There are also some emergency tips to get rid of them when you have nothing to change into or have already left home before you realize that you have deodorant streaks.

When washing your black T-shirt, follow these great tips to get rid of deodorant stains.

Option #1
Put ammonia on a cloth or paper towel and apply it to the stain as a treatment to remove the white deodorant stain. Wash as usual. Be careful not to inhale the ammonia.

Option #2
Apply enzyme activated laundry detergent to the stain and let it sit for a while, before laundering the T-shirt in more of the same detergent.

Option #3
Remove the T-shirt as soon as possible to clean it. Pre-treat the area with a commercially made stain treatment or a mixture of liquid laundry detergent and water and gently rub the area. Wash the shirt in the hottest water possible.

Option #4
The environmentally friendly way to remove deodorant stains from black T-shirts is with salt. Wet the area with the stain and pour some table salt on it, rub it into the stain to erase it. Then add a little extra salt to the wash water and wash the shirt as usual. A pricier version, but still environmentally friendly, is to use vodka as a pre-treatment on deodorant stains and rub it in a little. If the stain has been there a while, you may need to let the vodka sit on it for a couple of hours. Wash as usual.

If you need the stain off now because you want to wear the black T-shirt, there is an immediate fix to the problem. Take a black cotton sock and rub the deodorant stain until it comes out. Sounds too easy to be true. Try it and see. Turning the T-shirt inside out and rubbing the deodorant stain with the inside of the fabric will usually remove the stain too. Do not try removing the stain with water and paper towels, because this only leads to disaster. Little white fibers will be stuck to your black shirt from the paper towel and when the water dries the stain will still be there.

So now that you have the inside edge on getting rid of those nasty white streaks that deodorant can leave on your favorite black T-shirt, you are ready to start wearing it every chance you get. Get yourself some new custom-made black T-shirts too, because they are always in style. Then wear them confidently knowing that your deodorant is not ruining your look.