You’ve Been Washing Your Gym Clothes All Wrong
It’s a problem you can probably relate to: You have a really amazing, sweaty, sticky workout that gets your endorphins pumping hard and pushes your every muscle to the bone… and afterwards your workout clothes smell, well, rank AF. Like, toxic. Forget wearing your workout clothes right to work like some sort of make-believe Lululemon model. How is it even possible that your body could produce such funkiness? And how the actual F are you supposed to wash that out like normal laundry, with normal detergent?
Drew Westervelt for sure feels your pain. The 31-year-old has been playing professional lacrosse for over a decade, and over the years he noticed a persistent problem. His workout clothes — and workout gear — just wouldn’t lose its post-game stank. And the problem only got worse over the years as more and more of his clothes transitioned from natural fibers like cotton to synthetics like nylon, polyester and whatever new moisture-wicking wonder weave that’s The Thing on any given week.
As he explained it over the phone last week: “Fabrics are changing — but detergents haven’t in forever.”
Enter HEX, a new detergent inspired by the athleisure and activewear movement, formulated to clean and protect synthetic fabrics from the icky stinky bacteria that’s become the bane of every athlete’s existence. Westervelt teamed up with a group of chemists to formulate a detergent that would work with the non-natural fibers that most of our workout clothes are now made of. Without added thickeners, the product is less viscous than your average laundry detergent, and it’s packaged in a distinctive pouch with a tap like boxed wine. But the real question: Does it work?
Honestly: I can’t tell you. I’m not a huge sweater under normal circumstances (real talk: I skip deodorant most days and don’t even own an antiperspirant), which means that ordinary detergent usually does the post-workout job just fine for me. But! The next time I hit up a Bikram class (AKA SWEAT CITY) I’ll probably need the extra help that HEX claims to offer. And when that time comes, trust that I’ll keep you posted.
HEX just launched this week in select Target, Wegmans, Shaws, Giant Eagle, ShopRite and Harris Teeter stores. You can also shop their site.
Would you try a detergent formulated for activewear? Let us know @BritandCo!
(Image via Getty)
