Maintaining a clean uniform

D

DrewTheTKDStudent1992

Yellow Belt
Hey guys,

I need help
1. How do we keep our Taekwondo uniforms free from stains?
2. What tools do I need to keep my uniform from yellowing b/c of sweat or deodorant stains?

I would appreciate your help at your earliest convenience, thank you.
 
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Other brands are available.


While other colours might not show marks as much, it depends on the school as to whether other than white is acceptable...
 
Buka said:
One must have several gis.

Or face it dude, you're screwed.
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I have different ones, two BJJ ones and spare bottoms for them, a thick canvas type for karate kata, ordinary ones I use when taking kids classes and lots of Gi bottoms, all black to wear with rashguards and t shirts. I don't wear shorts lol. Over the years I've built up a collection.
 
I wish I could remember all my favorite gis. I bet I had some corkers.
 
Couple of things to try.
1. Change deodorants.- Some stain worse than others.
2. Before throwing it in washer put detergent straight on stain - let it soak in.
3. A few hours or night before washing put detergent straight on stain and throw it in a bucket and let it soak.
 
pdg said:
Yep, I can vouch for that too.

Also, it sometimes helps to ignore the maximum wash temperature on the label...
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That latter can cause problems with some uniforms. My go-to gi's would both shrink two sizes if I washed on hot, one size if I washed on warm. Ask me how I know. :oops:
 
DrewTheTKDStudent1992 said:
Hey guys,

I need help
1. How do we keep our Taekwondo uniforms free from stains?
2. What tools do I need to keep my uniform from yellowing b/c of sweat or deodorant stains?

I would appreciate your help at your earliest convenience, thank you.
Click to expand...
For most folks, yellowing via sweat stains won't be an issue - while the entire uniform may get less white over time, specific sweat stains won't form. There are some folks whose body chemistry causes yellowing at armpits, etc. I seem to recall a vinegar soak helps that, but I'd have to go back and search for that to be sure.

In any case, the answer will vary, based upon the uniform. Cotton shrinks, so if it's the right size, you don't want to wash on higher temps. Some synthetics will retain more smells if washed on hot (it can actually set the odor in the fabric). If the uniform is entirely white (no edging, no patches, etc.), then some of the whitening solutions can be useful if used a couple of times a year. If you have any non-white (again, edging or patches) then I'd avoid those, as some will turn red into pink and black into grey in a single wash. Avoid bleach (except as a very occasional fix for an entirely white uniform) because it weakens the fabric.

Generally, if you wash the uniform after EVERY class (please don't be the guy who waits until you think it stinks - your partners thought so 3 classes before you did) and make sure it dries fully (whether you hang it to dry or use a dryer), it will stay fresh and clean looking. Keep a stain stick or similar near the laundry area, and treat any stains as soon as you get home.

As others have said, have more than one uniform. I usually only had two in my bag - my primary (the newest) and one of my old ones, in case the primary didn't get cleaned in time - and maybe one or two other old ones lying about at home. Having more than one will avoid the temptation to wear the dirty one if you forget to wash.
 
gpseymour said:
That latter can cause problems with some uniforms. My go-to gi's would both shrink two sizes if I washed on hot, one size if I washed on warm. Ask me how I know. :oops:
Click to expand...


I have 'handwash' on my washing machine which along with a washing liquid designed for wool does the trick without shrinking. use it for my Guiding uniform tops which are horrendous for shrinking width ways and stretching in length so they end up looking weird.


gpseymour said:
Yes. I used a similar product when I decided to go to class a few hours after giving blood. It turns out that's not a good idea. Who knew??
Click to expand...

I could train after donating blood because I am not a 'bleeder', takes hours to get blood out of me so they usually take some and let me go off to my cuppa and biscuit.
 
Just on the topic of cleaning generally. My understanding (based on a few year of college chemistry) is this:
  • Enzymatic cleaners are often sold in pet stores under brand names such as Simple Solutions and OxiClean Pet Stain Remover to remove pets' pee and poop stains from carpet and upholstery. These sprays contain a variety of organic chemicals called enzymes that are good at breaking-down other organic molecules. Some of the enzymes break-down proteins, some of the enzymes break down fats such as oil and grease, and some enzymes break down starches. Generally speaking, these cleaners work remarkably well at breaking-down organic stains so that subsequent washing can actually remove the staining materials.
  • Some laundry detergents such as some kinds of Tide and some kinds of Arm and Hammer also contain enzymatic cleaners. So if you're trying to remove organic stains (such as blood and sweat) then enzymatic cleaners are great. But you don't actually have to buy an enzymatic laundry detergent to accomplish this: you can just go to the pet store and buy an enzymatic spray to pre-spray organic stains before throwing them in the wash! Wait a few minutes before washing so that the pet spray can do its job. By the way, for people who live in hot humid climates, pet sprays are also a good way to clean sweat off mattresses (and they work well if your kid wets a mattress by accident).
  • So this will get sweat and blood out of your dobok, but it will do nothing for deodorant stains. The active ingredients in deodorants are inorganic.
  • Though we don't generally think of it this way, Oxygen is a ridiculously corrosive substance - it really really really wants to interact with other elements. Oxygen is so corrosive that if you take even a simple piece of wood, and you make it very warm, that heat will activate a chemical reaction that causes the surrounding oxygen to corrode the wood in a spectacular burst of energy called flame :) releasing heat quickly in the process, and leaving only ash where the wood was. This corrosive process works even with something very strong, like iron...though it takes longer, releases less heat, and leaves iron-ash (which we call rust) as the end product. Bottom line: oxygen really likes to react with other chemicals -- a lot.
  • Oxidizing cleaners don't always remove stains -- but the oxygen is eager to interact with whatever chemicals are causing the stain. Oxidizing cleaners often react chemically with whatever substance is causing the stain to merely change its color to something that can only be seen under UV light. Essentially, this is just another form of bleaching. The actual stain is still there, but you can't see it. But for other kinds of materials (depending on the type of stain), the corrosive effect of oxygen may cause the staining substance to actually break down (like wood turning to ash). Oxidizing cleaners are called Non-Chlorine Bleaches such as Clorox2 Stain Remover. Oxidizing bleaches are generally good at changing the color of organic materials (like sweat and blood) but they often don't actually remove the material.
  • I don't know for sure that this is true, but I think OxiClean also just changes the color of the pigments in a stain. So the stain isn't actually removed, it's just no longer visible. Bottom line: an enzymatic cleaner actually removes a stain, while bleaching agents just hide stains.
  • OxiClean claims on its website that the "bubbling" that goes on when its sodium percarbonate interacts with water (to release oxygen) serves to "lift the stain" away from the underlying fabric. I strongly suspect that's just hype. The mechanical action of bubbling is meager compared to the mechanical action of your machine's tumbling drum, so I don't know what a little bubbling is going to accomplish. The only reason that bubbling is important is because it's the outcome of the chemical reaction that releases the oxygen.
  • Chlorine Bleach doesn't use oxygen to interact with stains, it uses sodium hypochlorite instead -- but the effect is the same: Chlorine Bleach interacts with pigments so that they're no longer in the visible spectrum for human eyes. Unfortunately, this applies to all pigments, not just stains. Chlorine Bleach has the added advantage that it kills microbes by destroying their cell walls (it does the same to the cells in your skin). So small amounts of Chlorine Bleach can be useful for removing a dobok's odor (which is caused by all the stinky bacteria living in the fabric, bacteria that was living off your sweat).
  • Like bleach, Lye (sodium hydroxide) breaks down fats to make soap. Have you ever spilled a little bit of bleach or lye on your fingers and felt how slippery it is? Yah, uh, that's your skin being converted to soap! A basic laundry detergent is just liquid soap, often with some perfumes added. What does soap accomplish? Read on...
  • Water is a solvent. It's not necessarily the best solvent the world, but it is the best at being a general-purpose solvent. Water is medium-good at dissolving almost everything: both organic and inorganic compounds. The only disadvantage of water is that it adheres to itself really well (which is why rain comes down in the form of drops rather than as a molecular mist). This makes it difficult for water to penetrate into the weave of fabrics: the water wants to bead on the surface of the fabric instead. This is where soap comes in: soap makes water wetter. Soaps breaks down the surface-tension of water so that water can penetrate fabrics better. Bottom line: laundry detergent does NOT actually clean clothes; all laundry detergent does it make it easier for water to do its job. Water is the real hero here.
  • Dry cleaning is not actually dry! Dry cleaning is just as wet as a regular washing machine, except that instead of using water, the dry cleaner's washing machine uses tetrachloroethene. This chemical is much better than water at dissolving organic materials (such as sweat and blood).
Bottom line:
  • To remove organic materials such as sweat and blood, the easiest thing to do is go to the pet store and buy an enzymatic spray, and use that as a pre-spray before washing your dobok.
  • If your dobok is getting very stinky, nothing is going to work better than washing the dobok in a very mild solution of bleach, but you will lose some of the color.
  • For inorganic stains such as deodorant, your best bet is probably to just wash the dobok with detergent. But if that doesn't work, OxiClean or Clorox2 Stain Remover will at least change the color of the stain so that you can't see it.
  • A competent dry cleaner understands the difference between all the various types of stains, and knows which chemicals to use to attack which types of stains. So taking your dobok to a dry cleaner if it's overly stained actually isn't a bad way to get some more life out of an old dobok.
Ten years of college was not wasted on me.
 
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