Removing bad smell of constant use cotton clothes

taco_truck_tom

Have here several cotton clothes that due to constant use, keeps with bad smell, even after washing. After been washed, when it's used, after a few minutes it begans to smell bad again. Already discovered that keeping it about 6 months at wardrobe without use neither washing makes it return to normal. Any idea on how to remove this? Preferably chemical ways.

Originally asked by Renan41 on Stack Exchange (lifehacks) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

In addition to Weather Vanes answer , there are some things that might affect old clothes more than new ones. Body odor is usually caused by bacteria. If a freshly washed shirt smells again after a few minutes, the bacteria survived the washing process and start producing body odor again. Wash the shirt at a high temperature to kill the bacteria. Cotton is very forgiving and survives being washed at (almost) boiling temperatures. In this case washing at 60°C / 140°F should be enough. Shirts that are old and worn very often tend to acculutate tiny deposits of hard-to-remove dirt in the armpits and the neck. These deposits are perfect breeding grounds for bacteria and can protect them from...

Full answer by Elmy: https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/a/22683 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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