Yoga is a rigorous form of exercise that will leave you dripping in sweat by the end of the session. Many yoga classes believe in the power of sweating to eliminate toxins from the body but sweat will also leave some effects on your yoga wear far after your session has ended. Odors in your smelly yoga clothes can become embedded into the fabric and leave an impenetrable layer of odors that not even detergent can fight. There is nothing worse than spending a bunch of time washing your smelly workout clothes to be left still smelling the foul sweat odors you originally started with. There can be a few reasons for this lingering odor, and one is the fabric of the yoga wear.

Synthetic Fabric Yoga Clothes vs Washing Machine

You know your favorite yoga pants that you love, chances are the material composed of your pants is a synthetic fabric that gives your pants the added stretch that you need for your yoga positions. Synthetic fabrics can offer a lot of benefits such as flexibility, durability, and sometimes moisture-wicking capabilities but with these benefits can come some negatives as well. Because most synthetic fabrics are derived from plastic, a high temperature such as those in your dryer can damage and, in some cases, melt the fibers of your clothing. Also, workout clothes that contain synthetic fabrics like yoga pants or high-performance shirts can be a challenge to clean in your washing machine, especially with the task of ridding the fabrics of odors created by yoga or other forms of exercise. The popular “moisture-wicking” fabrics are commonly used in most athletic apparel today, especially our loved yoga wear. The moisture-wicking fabric has two particular jobs, one is to quickly move sweat to the outer surface of the fabric and the second is to dry the moisture quickly so that sweat doesn’t fill the fabric. Therefore, helping to regulate your body temperature and keep your skin dry during your workout. The fabrics are excellent at conducting out their intended purpose when you are working out or doing yoga but when it comes to washing the fabric they cannot quick their intended purpose which can lead to issues in the cleaning and deodorization of the fabric. When moisture gets absorbed into the synthetic fabric it traps it in the fabric rather than moving it through the fabric, meaning the fabric is “hydrophobic” as it repels water. Thus, when you are trying to wash these fabrics, water from your washing machine is not able to penetrate the fabric, leaving detergent and fabric softener to be found in the synthetic fabric after the wash cycle has ended. This can lead to an added layer of odor in your yoga clothes on top of the already pungent sweat odors.

What to Do When Yoga Clothes Smell Bad After Washing?

That lingering smell in your cleaned laundry can be extremely frustrating, sometimes even so that all you think is left to do is throw them in the trash but hold off on throwing your stinky yoga clothes away for good! The odorous sweat smell left behind on your clothes happens for a reason, all of which can be easily rectified by following the quick tips below!

Turn Clothing Inside Out

When we workout and sweat, sweat can accumulate in the inside of the fabric of your clothes. Typically, when washing a load of laundry many of us will throw in sweaty clothes haphazardly into your laundry machine not paying in my what side is left exposed to be washed. Keeping in mind that sweat accumulates on the inside of your fabric, it can help to wash your clothes inside out, so you can fully penetrate the sweat odors more effectively to help to expel the odor from the yoga clothes in question.

Avoid Fabric Softener

Fabric softeners, once a common laundry practice, can have some lasting effects on your synthetic yoga fabrics. Fabric softeners are designed to leave your clothing with a vibrant color and soft appearance, but they can also be hazardous to your synthetic fabrics. When using a fabric softener, the liquid or sheet will leave behind a coating that on athletic wear is a no go. The coating which helps keep the fabric soft and vibrant will build up over time and turn into a shield that makes it hard for detergent and water to make contact with the fabric. The softener can also impact the fibers of your yoga clothes and break them down when used regularly on the piece of clothing. Hence, skipping the fabric softener is a good tip for when you wash your synthetic yoga apparel.

Minimize Detergent

Detergent is not the answer to all your yoga odor problems. It makes sense to believe that if you have an extra stinky pair of yoga pants to add in a little extra detergent to help mitigate the problem but in reality, this logic can do more harm to the odor on your yoga pants than good. Detergent can build up over time on your moisture-wicking fabrics and leave you with an added odor of body soil, detergent, and sweat that can make you want to burn your clothes. Therefore, applying detergent in moderation to your washing load is recommended for improved odor issues.  

Skip the Dryer

The dryer is not a friend to our favorite yoga clothes, as these fabrics can only magnify their odor when placed in the dryer. Heat is known to amplify the odor that is already embedded into the fabric of the clothing, and thus hanging you apparel rather than drying in the dryer is a critical step in reducing sweat odors in your yoga workout clothes.

Sport Odor Eliminating Laundry Additive

Lastly, and most importantly having a sport odor eliminating laundry additive on deck to help with your laundry odors – aka yoga odors is important. Sport odor eliminating additives are specifically geared to eliminating odors caused by sports including those of sweat. Try picking up a product like the OdorKlenz Sport Laundry Additive as a means to kick these sweat odors out of your synthetic fabrics. The OdorKlenz Sport Laundry Additive utilizes safe earth minerals to effectively break down the chemistry behind sweat and remove it from your favorite yoga clothes.