Body odour...

[Norm]

Not practical if you have a pub stop! I think deodorant is not too bad - the anti-perspirant is 'against nature'.

Indeed. I think that many confuse antiperspirant with deodorant.

 

[Norm]

I really like bamboo tops, like this. They're naturally antibacterial apparently, and also wick moisture away from the body.

A bit pricey, but really soft and comfortable.

Ben, do you use that site yourself because, if I put in your email addy, they say that the "might"send you a little thank you.

 

[benb]

Ben, do you use that site yourself because, if I put in your email addy, they say that the "might"send you a little thank you.

Yes, I have bought from there in the past, but not for a while.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

I've had some tops and t shirts that give me BO almost instantly it seems and others are fine. All of them are clean, must just be the fabric in some of them.

This is also true. I think what gets done to the fabric in the process of making it affects this. I've found organic cotton / bamboo / hemp much better than non-organic.

Have to disagree with Fossy about the daily washing. Seriously, merino tops can go a week of normal commuting. (if good merino, and I'm not talking merino-polyester blends either!).

Speicher - I've also got a sample of bamboo somewhere, I'll have a rummage tonight for the supplier if I remember. I have some bamboo tops, but I find the fabric is thin and as it's normally knitted it's fairly easy to make holes (they're not cycling specific though, they're normal pretty tops).

 

[ASC1951]

General feeling is that most (All?) man-made wicking material does suffer from smelliness.

Some are a lot worse than others. The early Helly Hansens were well known for making you gip by the end of the first wearing.

The standard polyester cycling top isn't very comfortable without a wicking layer under it, especially if you ride in bib shorts like most of us. I use M & S vests/sports vests, which are mainly polyamide with a bit of something stretchy, and don't go smelly any quicker than natural fabrics*. Not the cheapest, but easy to get.The vest gets rinsed every day and the cycling top every couple of days.

Some people also have smellier sweat, partly natural, partly diet. Turmeric for instance goes straight to your sweat glands and asparagus is nearly as bad.

[*I like the idea of one of these bamboo, recycled cardboard and yoghurt jobbies. Thanks for the link, BenB.]

 

[fossyant]

Try these dudes Speicher!!

£14.50 a metre - crikey......

My wife imports from the States via a fabric co-operative. Basically someone co-ordinates the buying (in the States) lists what they have available and then you put in your request - e.g. 3m of this, 5m of that. That's then shipped out. Ony worth it if you are into your 'sewing' as fabric supplies are pretty rubbish in the UK.

She's also made me a number of base layers out of 'power dry' as well - again imported.

 

[Globalti]

However, I recently complained about the pong in the wash-basket but he was away - the smell was our daughter's socks!! Her feet are rank, I'm sorry to say!

Smelly feet is caused by athlete's foot. Get her some Canestan thrush cream (it has 2% of the active ingredient whereas Canestan athlete's foot cream only has 1%) and tell her to wash, dry thoroughly and apply cream between the toes for a couple of weeks.

On odour generally, polymers fibres especially polypropylene have the ability to absorb odour molecules like amines and mercaptans from your sweat, which also explains why some riders smell so strongly of washing powder when you ride behind them. Detergent perfumes are designed to be cloth substantive so lots of stuff like synthetic musk is used, which has really sticky molecules. When testing substantivity you have to check on poly and wool and cotton to be sure.