Table of contents:
- What color is human sweat?
- Then what causes the sweat to turn yellow on the shirt?
- Chemical reaction
- Chromhidrosis
- Prevent yellow sweat on clothes
Do your white clothes get yellowish stains on the armpits? You're not alone, really. Yellow sweat stains on clothes are a fairly common problem. Usually this is not dangerous for health. However, yellow sweat may also be caused by clinical conditions. To determine why your sweat leaves yellow stains on clothes, keep on looking at the following information.
What color is human sweat?
Under normal circumstances, human sweat should be clear or colorless. Sweat is produced by the sweat glands that are under the layers of your skin. Unlike urine which contains special pigments (coloring agents) called urochromes and other waste products, normal sweat does not contain pigments. Thus, human sweat is clear as white water.
Then what causes the sweat to turn yellow on the shirt?
Sweat can change color to yellow. To find out what causes yellow sweat, consider the following two reasons.
Chemical reaction
Yellow sweat stains on your clothes are not usually the result of a disease or disorder. The cause is precisely the deodorant you used. Your sweat is made up of various types of protein and minerals. When these proteins and minerals meet aluminum, which is a deodorant content that works to suppress sweat production, a chemical reaction occurs that changes the structure of your sweat. As a result, the sweat that has been produced by the sweat glands turns yellow. This yellow sweat will then be absorbed by the fabric of your clothes and leave a stain.
Chromhidrosis
Besides the frequent chemical reactions, there is a rare condition that can make a person's sweat turn yellow, orange, or greenish. This rare condition is chromhidrosis. Until now, it is not certain what causes chromhidrosis.
There are two glands that control your sweat production: the apocrine glands and the eccrine glands. In the case of apocrine chromhidrosis, usually the sweat produced contains the pigment lipofuscin which causes a yellowish change in the color of the sweat. Usually the parts of the body most affected by apocrine chromhidrosis are the armpits, groin, nipple areola, nose, and eyelids.
Meanwhile, eccrine chromhydrosis can occur in any part of the body. However, this condition occurs less frequently than apocrine chromhydrosis. Generally, eccrine chromhydrosis occurs after a person has consumed certain food dyes or drugs.
Prevent yellow sweat on clothes
Yellow sweat stains on clothes can affect your self-esteem. To prevent this, make sure you take the following steps.
- Use a deodorant that doesn't contain too much aluminum. Usually on the deodorant package, it says "stain free".
- To reduce sweat production, periodically shave your underarm hair.
- If yellow sweat appears on your arms or any other part of the skin on your body, call your doctor right away.
