Poly blend shirts and B.O.

[roxroses]

I have tried wearing the new poly blend shirts from Nike, Under Armour, etc that are non cotton and every time I wind up pitting them out in a couple hours. If I wear a cotton polo, no problems. My wife got me an Under Armour polo for my birthday and I wore it today. By 9:30 I was hummin. I play a lot of golf and most golf polos are now this poly usb non cotton stuff. Anyone have any tips. I currently use old spice deodorant and have no pit issues with cotton polo shirts.

[newtogolf]

Few options;

1. wear a t-shirt under your polos.
2. Try an antiperspirant / deodorant.
3. I use special detergents for my technical fabric running clothes, you could try washing the polos in "Win Green" or "Penguin Sport Wash", both are available at Dicks Sporting Goods or online.

[roxroses]

Thanks NTG

I really don't want to wear a t shirt under my polo.

I DO use a deodorant as stated, maybe an antiperspirant is the key.

Would the tech washing stuff prevent odor. I am only sitting in my cube at work and stinking. It does not happen with cotton shirts.

[newtogolf]

Originally Posted by roxroses

Thanks NTG

I really don't want to wear a t shirt under my polo.

I DO use a deodorant as stated, maybe an antiperspirant is the key.

Would the tech washing stuff prevent odor. I am only sitting in my cube at work and stinking. It does not happen with cotton shirts.

I saw you wore deodorant, but wasn't sure it was an antiperspirant as well.  Antiperspirants cut down on the amount of sweat for me.  If you sweat alot, there are "Clinical" versions, a bit expensive but they do work better.

Tech detergents are great for stains and removal of odors in the fibers.  Until I switched to them my running clothes wouldn't smell fresh for long.  I'd give them a try.

[roxroses]

I'll try an antiperspirant. Thanks for the tip.

[drglew]

I actually do agree that the new "tech" shirts (i.e. Nike Dri-fit, etc...) do make one smell much more sweaty to the outside world.  I don't think it's necessarily B.O. (unless you of course have B.O.), but just transmitting whatever your normal "sweaty" smell is (which i guess may be B.O...hmmm).  They are designed after all to wick moisture (and all the yucky bacteria etc living it that sweat) away from your body to evaporate to the outside world.

Thus, I only wear them when playing golf or tennis...as I do think they feel much cooler than a cotton polo on a hot day.  Even though some of mine are pretty nice, and much more expensive than most of my cotton polo's, I could never wear one to a restaurant or something without stinking up the placel

[jamo]

I can tell you from personal experience that the Clinical deodorants don't work any better (for me at least). They are much more expensive and for maximum effectiveness you have to apply them the night before. The best I've found is Degree Adrenaline series.

[ohiolefty]

Originally Posted by drglew

I actually do agree that the new "tech" shirts (i.e. Nike Dri-fit, etc...) do make one smell much more sweaty to the outside world.  I don't think it's necessarily B.O. (unless you of course have B.O.), but just transmitting whatever your normal "sweaty" smell is (which i guess may be B.O...hmmm).  They are designed after all to wick moisture (and all the yucky bacteria etc living it that sweat) away from your body to evaporate to the outside world.

DING! DING! DING! We have a winner.

The irony is that you are sweatier and stinkier with a cotton shirt on...you just don't smell yourself as much. The reality is that in a cotton shirt you smell worse. I can't stand to play golf, in weather where I'll sweat, in a cotton shirt. Can't stand it. Unacceptable. Especially not a cotton polo which is/are heavy as hell, doubly so with sweat on them. If one of my synthetic-fiber shirts isn't ready, and it's hot, I'll play golf in a v-neck white t-shirt and just change it at the turn, or every 6 holes if it's really steamy. If I sweat it out so bad it's toast, I can just run to the local value store and get another pack for a few bucks.

[John Humphrey]

I totally get where you are coming from.  I play a lot of golf and although I love the way the new golf shirts look, they seem to smell up rather quickly.  All cotton shirts, I have no odor at all.

It's amazing.  I too am searching for a solution.

Cheers

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by roxroses

I have tried wearing the new poly blend shirts from Nike, Under Armour, etc that are non cotton and every time I wind up pitting them out in a couple hours. If I wear a cotton polo, no problems. My wife got me an Under Armour polo for my birthday and I wore it today. By 9:30 I was hummin. I play a lot of golf and most golf polos are now this poly usb non cotton stuff. Anyone have any tips. I currently use old spice deodorant and have no pit issues with cotton polo shirts.

Polypropylene is notorious for absorbing and holding body odor.  When it first came out i used to wear it for backpacking and kayaking, and it seemed to get to a point where although it got clean in the wash, as soon as I started to sweat a little, it was as if it had never been cleaned.  The stuff just reeked.  I ended up tossing all of it out, and have never since worn polypro for anything where I would get sweaty.   I have never been able to use an antiperspirant, as they all give me a wicked rash, so just a deodorant (Mennen Speed Stick) for me.  I find that good old fashioned cotton t-shirts or polos still work best for me next to my skin when it's hot.  All it takes is a bit of a breeze to cool a damp cotton shirt, and that is after all why your body sweats in the first place.

For outerwear, my Underarmor polos seem to have beaten the stink, but I don't wear them if I know I'm going to sweat heavily.