how can i annihilate this dry reaching odour? It stink so bad that, when i take my gloves off, my hands stink like them too!
Well anyway, ive tried soaking them in soapy water but it never de-oderizes them for more than 3 days... are there any more *long term* ways of making them smell a little more pretty? (deoderant doesn't work, just makes them worse)
-- Jack_C-B
ivan said:
*I'll just pretend I'm a ninja and disregard all potential pain.*
Are they washing machine safe? Soaking in sudsy water just doesn't compare to a good spin in the washer. I generally stick my cycle mits and lifting gloves in the machine after every five or six wears. It keeps 'em pretty sweet. Just don't put them in with anything that might take on their colour as the dye can leak pretty heavily for a lot longer than you'd expect. There's no real long term solution. Maybe Febreeze or something similar could stall it for a little while, but the fact is that you sweat into them and that's making them smell. If you use them, they will stink.
The stink comes from bacteria. Washing does not kill the bacteria. As soon as the bacteria get warm and moist again while you wear them the bacteria will start to breed and grow again and stink again.
To get rid of the stink you need to kill the bacteria. Washing only flushes some of them away and masks the odor with perfumes. There are some antimicrobials that will kill the bacteria and keep them in check. Febreze makes an antimicrobial version that will work OK. Wash the gloves in soap and water. Let them dry. Then spray with Febreze antimicrobial. Then spray them again after each time you wear them.
In the future you should wash your gear more often so the bacteria don't get such a foothold. Once the bacteria are in and happy it is very difficult to kill enough of them to stay ahead of the stink. Wash before the gear gets stinky. That includes gloves and leg armour.
I just hang them in the cupboard outside the front door, where they fester harmlessly with my kneepads.
And when I'm riding, the only people who can smell them must be behind me, so (like the mythical Italian driver who rips the rear view mirror out), who cares?
Bacteria do cause a stench. Basically when we sweat it is not our sweat but the waste created by the bacteria that eat our sweat that causes the stench. If it is bacteria that is causing the stench then there is a very simple solution and that is to put the gloves into boiling water for a few minutes. that will kill anything!
I wear Harbingers wrist wraps. They look like leather, but I launder them in the machine with no harm. Kris answered a post about KH stuff a while ago, and said that they are something synthetic that is washable. If your gloves are leather, you may have to buy a close pin, or some new gear.
