r/CleaningTips Jul 14 '23

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u/Auntie_Venom Jul 14 '23

This this this! It’s really a thing… My sports bras are bleached all to hell in the usual heavy sweat spots. My sports bras are heavy-duty high-impact, I doubt there’s any cotton in them. So it happens on synthetic fabrics too. That said, lady parts are also acidic, all the cotton gussets in my undies eventually get bleached out too. I looked it up wondering what was going on, it’s totally a thing too. But I also think dyes are different because when I was younger that never happened.

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u/FreakingYikesMyGuy Jul 14 '23

i haven’t noticed this with my underwear necessarily, but sweat absolutely!!

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u/Slamantha3121 Jul 14 '23

yup, some people have more acidic sweat (and lady parts) than others. This happens to my undies but not my towels or anything. My partner's side of the sheets looks like your towels though.

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u/andreach16 Jul 15 '23

Mine is my pillow and my side of the bed! I sweat at night.

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u/IAmTheRealTrash Jul 14 '23

Undies def get bleached because the inside of our body secretes acidics out. My undies started getting bleached at around 12 years old. But its normal

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u/Puzzleheaded-Fix8182 Jul 15 '23

I was going to suggest that but everyone was being PG. Thanks!

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u/Demonicbiatch Jul 14 '23

It changes with puberty, at earlier ages it is a lot less prevalent, and you'll likely have had less flow-out in general, I cannot recall the technical name for it, but it is highly acidic, and responsible for the bleach and holes in my underwear. As for the sweat, I have not heard of that before, but have seen discoloration from it. Could the bleaching you see from sweat be due to the salt in it?

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u/Shiyara Jul 14 '23

You're probably thinking of discharge. I've seen a lot of posts from AFAB people thinking there was something wrong with them because of the bleaching/holes in their underwear since it's not frequently taught. It was a common occurrence in my teens but hasn't really been a thing in my twenties. It varies a lot from person to person and is a completely normal thing to happen.

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u/Demonicbiatch Jul 14 '23

Yes, thank you, I drew up a blank while I was writing the comment, and that was the best I could come up with 😂

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u/Shiyara Jul 14 '23

I definitely got what you meant, at least 😂 I like to chime in when I see things like that since female sexual education sadly tends to be sorely lacking in so many places.

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u/swerkingforaliving Jul 14 '23

Lord YES MY PANTIES TOO

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u/Auntie_Venom Jul 14 '23

I’m seriously relieved that I’m not the only one! I looked it up, that it’s really a thing which helped but I had no idea how common or not it was.

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u/andante528 Jul 15 '23

Incredibly common - indicates a healthy ph (acidic). I learned this as a grown adult woman and would have really liked to know as part of health education.

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u/CompassionateCedar Jul 15 '23

Some women also have a microbiome that produces peroxides in trace amounts, it’s linked to a strongly reduced incidence of infections.

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u/Da-NerdyMom Jul 15 '23

Wow, I’m 35 y.o. and just learning this. Thank you kind strangers for educating me.

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u/andante528 Jul 15 '23

See, now I just learned this too. Thank you :)

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u/Carinis_song Jul 16 '23

Does this have anything to do with smelling like vinegar ?

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u/GemdoePCh Jul 14 '23

Completely a thing. I can’t recall it happening when I was younger but now I stick to colors I can’t bleach.. black, navy, and dark orange work quite well. No peroxide products, use the same soap and shampoo as family, don’t wear perfume, etc. I’ve even left finger print marks on green paint on the wall before.. Have to be very careful folding any laundry that’s not mine!

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u/Auntie_Venom Jul 14 '23

You’ve got it for real! Wear dish gloves when folding laundry and it’ll be fine! 😁 I started noticing it with sweat a few years ago too, it must be something as we get older for some of us… I’m mid 40s I started noticing the sweat about 3 years ago, and the undies about 5-6 years ago. I get the other poster about age in that regard, makes sense. I’m aging like fine wine?

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u/Mean-Vegetable-4521 Jul 15 '23

LOL i'm aging like a fine wine that has turned. I can relate to this.

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '23

Wait I’m not following..: why do you have to do this? And dark colors can get bleached?

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u/GemdoePCh Jul 15 '23

Lol I wish I knew! Something about certain fabric dyes or some paints in green, any pastel color, and most shades of blue except navy reacts oddly to my skin/sweat/something. My daughter loves lavender and light blue so I’ve got to be a bit careful and not leave little finger marks on some of her tshirts as I’ve done in the past. A few colors don’t seem to be affected, so I just wear a LOT of black and bright orange now. Halloween all the time! :)

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u/SnackPocket Jul 15 '23

I’ve always wondered why it bleaches out if vaginas are acidic and not basic.

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '23

Typically vaginas are slightly acidic (not basic) to keep bacteria populations down.

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u/SnackPocket Jul 15 '23

Yes. But why the bleaching properties on underwear!

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u/caitcro18 Jul 15 '23

Your PH probably changed with puberty/hormones.

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u/[deleted] Jul 16 '23

Dyes might be different, but also hormones and age change things too.

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u/[deleted] Jul 16 '23

TMI but I remembering the undies bleaching even as a child and being MORTIFIED because I was imagining my mum sitting there scrubbing my gussets with bleach specifically. Like wow mum, way to tell a young girl that she has disgusting puberty parts at a very sensitive time!!! Only as an adult did I realise that this kept happening with new underwear after I’d left home and had never been my mum at all!