There's nothing worse than putting on your favorite white T-shirt or blouse, only to realize that it's actually unwearable due to not-so-pleasant yellow stains in the underarm area from deodorant residue and sweat.
Sure, you could try to hide the marks with a blazer or cardigan, but if you want to wear the top as is (and don't want to rush out and buy something new!), a quick solution to remove the stains is key. To help you decide what works best, we put three remedies found on Pinterest to the test. All of these use household items you probably already have at home—we're talking the lemon juice test, baking soda trick, and salt-solution formula.
Keep scrolling to check out our before and after photos—and uncover which item works best to remove underarm stains. And if you're in the market to just buy a new white shirt after all, we rounded up a few of our favorites below, too.
What You Need: Equal parts lemon and water to create an at-home lemon juice solution.
Dab a liberal amount of your solution on a clean towel, and rub into the underarm area. Repeat a few times as needed. Note that you will need to wait until the area is dry to see any result.
The Verdict: Lemon juice worked surprisingly well to remove the yellow underarm stains. While you can still see discoloration, the stain is significantly less dark and less intense as it was before.
What You Need: 4 tablespoons of baking soda and a 1/4 cup of hot water.
Mix the baking soda and water together to make a paste. Then use a clean towel to rub the solution into the underarm area. Wait for it to dry.
The Verdict: This solution seemed to work the best in terms of seeing an immediate result in cleaning up the underarm area. While the lemon solution worked as well, this proved to be more effective overall. The underarm area almost looks as good as new!
What You Need: 4 tablespoons of salt and 1 liter of hot water.
Dissolve the salt in the hot water, and use a towel to scoop up the solution and rub it into the underarm area. As with the other tricks, wait for the solution to dry before seeing results.
The Verdict: This was the least effective of the three. There is almost no change in the before and after. We'd recommend trying the other two tricks before testing this one out.
Shop white shirts:
This isn't your average white T-shirt.
The cold-shoulder detail is so on trend for summer.
We love the white-on-white look here.
It's the slouchy fit that makes this tee so perfect.
Now this is how you do a T-shirt for the office. The ruching gives it that polished twist.
You can wear this to the office, on the weekend, and beyond.
What's your secret trick for removing underarm stains? Let us know in the comments below!
Opening Image: Style du Monde