Sometimes when you wash your athletic gear you’ll notice it doesn’t seem totally clean. It might still have a musty athletic smell to it. Personally, I’ve always wondered why this is so, and recently I got the chance not only to learn why, but also to resolve the issue effectively with WIN sports detergent.
What I learned from the folks at WIN was that the standard detergents you might use are hydrophilic. That means their chemical makeup is drawn to water. Cotton fabric is the same way, and so the detergent essentially goes straight to the fiber. Oils produced by our skin, on the other hand, are hydrophobic, so they are repelled by water. The phrase “like oil and water” is a metaphor for a reason: the two don’t mix. When the detergent and water hang out on the cotton fibers, they repel any oil that has built up over time.
The problem with this method of cleaning, chemically speaking, is that most athletic clothes are synthetic. Clothing manufacturers make the fibers synthetic for a variety of reasons, one of which is that the fibers remove moisture from the skin. The problem is, synthetic fibers, according to WIN, are hydrophobic just like oil. Because of this, the fibers themselves repel standard detergents and attract oils. This makes them hard to clean, and is the reason why the musty smell can stick around even after cleaning.
So WIN has come up with a solution. They have formulated their detergent specifically for athletic apparel. The detergent is designed to clean synthetic fibers with a lot of oil, which is exactly what Breaking Muscle readers might be looking for.
I tested the detergent and, sure enough, it works quite well. I’m not the sweatiest and oiliest dude, but this detergent definitely performed as well as or better than other products I’ve tried. If you’re like me, you also use regular shirts sometimes for runs and other workouts, and despite what WIN Detergent is designed for, it seemed to work just fine on my cotton clothes too.
If you haven’t noticed your clothes keeping their smell after washing, or use mostly natural fibers, this might not be for you. If you’re an avid exerciser and want to keep your synthetic athetic gear fresh and extend it’s lifespan, it’s time to give WIN Detergent a shot.
WIN Detergent is available for $19.90 for 2 bottles at WINDetergent.com.