Sweaty Sheets: Dealing with Sweat Stains

I wish that I could blame my husband, but I am a woman who is responsible for the yellow sweat stains on our white sheets, pillow cases, and duvet covers. Thank you for the helpful tips. I've tried bleach and will now try to salvage our bedding with some better solutions.

So glad it's not just me!! I've been married almost 2 years and we have gone through 3 sets of sheets!! For a while I was wondering if it was the soap he uses, or the shampoo, or something, but we switched all those out and it still happens!! We have had tan, beige and gold sheets and they all turn different colors (either bleach out, or turn kind of greenish and dirty looking). It drives me crazy! I never noticed it before we were married, but he always had really dark colored sheets--blue or gray, and they were the cheaper, not 100% cotton type. Since we have nicer sheets now, it seems like it happens very quickly!! I will have to try the Oxi-clean, baking soda route, and the next set of sheets might have to try white (although he does the same thing to white t-shirts, so that probably won't help). So glad this isn't just me!! As a side note--he also greases up the shower unbelievably quickly (Cleaning every week isn't enough and it's so thick and greasy it almost has to be scraped off--disgusting, I know). Any ideas on how to help that??

I am seeing a lot of people say that things get yellow, has anyone experienced cream sheets turning green? The sheets and mattress cover on my husbands side have started turning green. The stain does not come out no matter how much I wash. We've been married over three years and I don't recall this being a problem until the last year. Could it be related to sweat and oil coming off on the sheets as well do you think?

Has anyone tried yellow since that's the offending color on all other colored sheets?

After reading all these comments I don't know what to do about my sheets. I don't know if the stain on my husband's side of the bed is actually due to sweat or oil. He takes a shower every night right before going to bed. He sleeps with only his underwear on, and there is a HUGE stain on the fitted sheet. We had white sheets and he turned them pink! Then we switched to dark red sheets and he's turning them black! I am not sure it is an oil problem, because if it were, I'm assuming he'd suffer from acne and he has never ever suffered from acne, not even during high school. So I can only think it's sweat... He gets mad at me because I don't stain the sheets, but he says it's because I wear pajamas and he doesn't. I ALWAYS add Oxi-Clean to my laundry loads, and I wash the sheets with hot water. I don't care if the color becomes dull, I just want the freaking stain to go away! I don't know what to do anymore! We have a memory foam mattress topper and on his side it has become orange! My side is white as it was when we first bought it. This is driving me crazy!

I have a problem with yellowing armpits on my white t-shirts and, to a lesser extent, bedsheets. I'm not sure if these problems are the same or associated but the solution I've found works in both cases: Oxi-Clean. Mix the recommended amount of the powder in water for soaking and let it soak in the bathtub or other container at least overnight, if not 24 hours. Whites come out bright white again. I haven't had a problem with odor or oily residue but purely as far as stains go, I can assure you this works when nothing else has. I would imagine it works for the other cases as well as I haven't found much this stuff doesn't work on.

*A word of caution though: like many of you, I assumed that since my whites were stained, a natural solution was to use bleach. When that didn't work, I added MORE bleach in the next load. I could have swore it was actually coming out of the laundry machine WORSE! At least I had enough sense not to throw the clothes in the dryer after and really set the stains. What I learned more recently is that bleach actually reacts with proteins in our bodily fluids like sweat and oils to cause DISCOLORATION (those yellow stains on your whites will actually come out DARKER and more discolored after bleaching). Now it made sense why my armpit stains were actually coming out worse and since I've STOPPED using bleach and STARTED using Oxi-Clean, no more yellow stains on my whites!

Man oh man....I'm a 26 year old male and I have this problem. It is TERRIBLE, I have some amazing Egyptian Cotton sheets and they are RUINED after a few weeks. I can't get the stains out and I have to buy new sheets at least twice a year if not more. It's very annoying and embarrassing when my lady friend makes surprise visits.

I discovered something that I am super excited about, and maybe it can help someone else as well. My husband really stinks up his pillowcases (and sometimes t-shirts as well). I guess it's hair/body oil. I have tried so many things to try to get the smell out, and have even thrown away some items due to the smell. Now I tried soaking a pillowcase in straight ammonia, then laundered it as usual, and it WORKED!

Try soaking your sheets and pillowcases in lemon juice and salt (sea salt works best) and then letting them sit out in the sun for a few hours. You can water it down for really large stains. Then launder as you would normally. This also works if you have any rust or blood stains to remove but if you have bleached prior to trying this, it won't work, the stain will be set for life.
I'm glad my hubby isn't the only stain leaver- I thought it was weird!!

My husband has very oily skin, but I never had a problem with the sheets being stained until we added a memory foam mattress topper to our bed. He also sleeps on a memory foam pillow. Now the sheets and pillowcase on his side of the bed are darkened by body oils. I read somewhere that memory foam doesn't absorb oils, which is why they stain your linens, instead of being absorbed into your mattress. I guess its better to have stained sheets that can be easily replaced than to have a stained, oily mattress.

OMG...My husband's oily skin has destroyed our green sheets and our comfy white down comforter, and the pillows. I googled this problem and am relieved to find he is not the only one. Now for the solution! I will attempt the ideas shared on this site and let you know if anything works. Will start with a bar of Zest and a shower that ends with cold water for my hubby tonight!

I'm so glad I read all of this! I was afraid my husband had some horrible disease and was nearly afraid to ask a professional. I can deal with stained yellow sheets now much more easily. He also will be much relieved to find out it's a common problem. Why men???

It's not only a man's problem... I'm a woman, and my side of the bed is always more stained than my boyfriend's. I suppose I have acidic sweat!

I was recently able to get my son's white sheets white again. After many attempts at getting the yellow sweat stains out I recently put 3 cups of white vinegar and 2 cups of bleach into the wash with his sheets and mattress pad. I then let them sit in the washer for about an hour soaking. To my surprise the sheets came out of the wash white with not any yellow stains at all.

I hope that this will also help you.

Have a very hot shower before bed, then just before you get out turn the water cold or nearly all the way down this process will open and clean the pores and the cold will close them preventing oil or bacteria to get in. This also helps reduce acne.

I asked my doctor why my husband was so oily and my skin is so dry (we have the same problem with oil-stained sheets on his side). My doctor said higher levels of testosterone makes the skin produce more oil, and that is why women use more lotions since our skin tends to be dry.

My husband showers at least twice to three times a day to combat the sweat/oil skin problem. Unfortunately, his pillow case still looks like a used french fry pouch. I a about ready to try kitty litter.

In college I worked in the kitchen at a fast food restaurant, and my uniform would always end up greasy. I would wash it separate from my other laundry, with hot water, and add a generous amount of liquid dish soap (like joy or dawn) to the washer. If there were chunks of grease on it, I would scrub those out with a dry wash cloth before washing. It really helps.
Now, my husband has an incredibly oily head, so his pillow gets oily in 2 days. I put a protector over the pillow under the pillowcase, and on the mattress. I wash our blue sheets separate from other laundry in hot water, and add dish soap and borax to each load. I also wash his pillows every other week.
The oil also somehow leeches the blue dye out of the pillowcases and onto the white wall behind the bed (we don't have a headboard) so I try to scrub the wall down when I do the sheets every week.

Are men the only ones with this awful problem? I noticed that my sheets and pillow cases were yellowing about 3 years ago but only on my husband's side of the bed. He showers before he goes to bed so I'm not sure what the cause of this staining is. I accidentally found out from one of his co-workers that he used dip while away in GA for training for about 3 months. I'm not sure if he is still using dip but this could explain why his drool is yellow and is staining my sheets. Ladies--- it could either be oily sweat or your husband could be using dip without you knowing. :-)

Oily sheets! I am so glad I'm not the only one dealing with this. My husband has oily skin, and even though he wears a clean t-shirt to bed each night, the sheets/mattress covers/pillowcases/pillows still get yellowed (and smelly?) after a time.

I also have a problem with fabrics (especially t-shirts, sheets, and pillowcases) retaining or developing a certain odor as they are stored in the closet. I believe this is connected to the oil problem.I have had some luck with the recently released Febreze laundry additive with this odor. In the past I had tried vinegar and baking soda, with no luck.

Some of you have mentioned Proactiv/acne treatments - benzoyl peroxide is a strong oxidant and will bleach almost any fabric. This was the bane of my adolescence, because I assumed it was the salicylic acid pads, and didn't figure it out until many years and ruined shirts and towels later. BP *is* also very effective as an exfoliant/antibacterial, so follow the Acne.org advice (apply a thin layer over a large area), and use white shirts, white towels, white sheets... Don't even touch anything colored until you've washed your hands thrice.

As to oil / sweat stains, my observations:
Vinegar can add some major kick to detergent just by virtue of lowering the pH if you have hard water.
It's also rather deodorizing and fabric-softening when used as a fabric softener - pick a highly-distilled not-too-stinky variety (the *cheapest* brand at the local store is actually best; Heinz et al. seem to have more 'flavor' left in), and the vinegar scent vanishes in the dryer. Vinegar isn't an oxidant, and it doesn't seem to bother most dyes (good for black T-shirts).

Bleach can sometimes help by virtue of its high pH, saponifying the stains. But you have to deal with the general yellowing caused by its strong oxidation - this is what 'bluing' was invented for but I haven't seen it on sale since I learned what it was good for.

Borax or OxyClean can help add a little bit of 'brightening' oxidation to the wash, and also help deodorize/etc. They seem useful for prevention on whites - a little oxidation each wash keeps gunk from building up...

Shout works pretty well (appears to have switched from an enzyme to detergent formula recently, both have worked equally well), but I'm still getting that effect from the old 'Wisk' ads on my greasy pillowcases - the sprayed area is clean, but any spots missed stay dark. Eww. It's not easy to spray 100% of the fabric without using half a bottle each.

UV (hanging to dry) would probably help break down the oils, but I'm not equipped for that here, so still looking for tips.

This might have been mentioned already but use a mattress protector. It repels moisture so you can easily clean your mattress. Having a mattress pad that can regulate temperature also helps. Some mattresses do not have inner vents. As a result, night sweats happen.

Why don't women contribute to this bedtime-sweat-stain phenomenon?

My boyfriend also ruins my bed sheets. The colored sheets look like someone threw clorox on them or have yellowed spots on them. Thanks for your comments, I thought he had a real bad disorder of some kind. I'm just glad he does not have a bad illness. I can put up with the sweating. I will buy only white sheets and save the nice color and decorative sheets fore company. Great - problem now solved.......

My boyfriend had a set of pale blue cotton sheets that were really sweaty and then sat forgotten in a laundry basket for a few months... during this time the sweat oxidized into a gross dark beige-brown. I washed them twice and even soaked in 1/3 water, 2/3 vinegar for twelve hours with no results. Regular bleach didn't work either. The one thing that worked was concentrated chlorine pool shock! I dissolved 1 teaspoon in a bucket of warm water, and soaked for 3 hours (do this outside or keep a window open cause it's strong). The sheets are now completely white, but that's much better than the disgusting blue-brown-yellow they were before... use this technique at your own risk though since it's quite harsh and could ruin your material.

Whatever you do, be sure you use a pillow protector to keep the drool out of the filling. :)

I have the same question --- about removing perspiration stains from the mattress itself. Has anyone used a product and had success with it for this?

how do i get sweat stains out of a pillow top mattress

Yes. A good oxidation agent will definately help rid yourself of yellowing from sweat. OxiClean and Clorox II are the most popular oxidizers.

We get this and it's from spot treatments like Oxy10 or Clearasil Acne Cream. It's like your body absorbs it and it's excreted in your sweat and drool. I combat it with white white white and bleach!

My husband has a very oily complexion and I've never been able to get the stains out. I suspect my daughter has the same complexion. Maybe I'll save this and print it out for when she sets up her own housekeeping. I simply gave in and bought separate sets of sheets. I have a pristine set for houseguests. And the clean but stained ones are for us.

I have the same issue with my husband. White sheets turn yellow, too, and I've tried everything. An experiment with hydrogen peroxide - a powerful oxidant (as is OxyClean) - made the yellowing worse, revealing that this is a true oxidation reaction, the sheets are "rusting" - only with cotton it manifests as yellowing, like papers can yellow over time. Acids from the skin are at issue. Here's an approach that will help:

1. Ask hubby to shower before coming to bed. Buy him an alkaline detergent bath bar to use, like Zest. Soap, moisturizing bars or washes make the problem worse.

2. Dust the sheets daily with cornstarch-based powder - these are sold as deodorants/sweat absorbers. Don't use talcum powder near where you're going to breathe - talc and lungs are a bad combination. Read the label. Many of these powders also contain baking soda - that's even better.

3. Definitely use a quilted mattress cover, one that will breathe so moisture won't build up, but also thick enough to soak up any sweat before it reaches the mattress.

I was able to slow down the process this way but not stop it entirely. White and green sheet seem to be the most affected by this condition, browns/oranges/reds seem to be the least affected. Of course, yellowing will show up least on really dark colors.

If sheets are really, really oily, normal detergents won't get it out after a certain point. If yours have passed that point and you want to try to salvage them, try soaking the sheets in a solution of trisodium phosphate (TSP) and water. Use a "degreasing" dilution - read the box it comes in. TSP is a serious chemical and can cause burns - be sure to wear gloves (and an apron or old clothes) and keep kids and pets away. It probably won't strip the dye in your sheets, but it could - be aware of that before you start. Pretesting may not reveal this, because you are dealing with a piece of damaged fabric, and not all parts of it may react the same way. After soaking (20 mins - 1 hr.), rinse thoroughly in a deep sink or bathtub (wear gloves) and then wash twice in the washer without detergent to remove any residue. (I learned this trick years ago, when dealing with a very elderly relative's laundry.)

We've got blue sheets and they kept bleaching out, both on the pillow case and on the fitted sheet. Then a friend who used Proactiv said that she has a hard time finding sheets that won't bleach out (she wears it at night), and I've figured that my husband using a similar product may be doing it. We'll be going with white next time too.

We have the same problem, only we have white sheets, so I'm not sure what kind of chemical reaction would be occurring. I've tried soaking them in vinegar, washing with baking soda, washing with bleach, etc. and nothing makes a difference. Is Oxy clean my only option now? Is it too late (have I permanently set the stain?)

Please help. These sheets were wedding presents and we've only been married 6 months and they are ruined!!

I find that baking soda in the wash helps with the oilyness.

*Grin* same here. I just shrig my shoulders, know that the sheets are clean when washed, they are under the covers, and I make sure the stained side stays on his side of the bed. >: )

My spouse also discolors the sheets, but I think it is oily skin more than anything. He does not wear shirts to bed, and to me, it looks like I have oil cloth sheets after a while. I still have no solution to it. The mattress cover also gets stained badly as well. Any recommended solution for oily sheets?

We've had this same problem on pillowcases...I finally figured out that a drooling husband + whitening toothpaste = bleached out/discolored pillowcases.

Next time we're due for new sheets...I'm going to go the white route.