Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you all are ready for some fun and safe trick-or-treating tonight! Man, can you believe the year is almost over?
So, earlier this year I posted news about the new Speed Stick with Stainguard non-armpit-staining antiperspirant. Well back in August, Curtis stopped by to let us know that he was about to embark on a 2-month Speed Stick Stainguard test to determine whether or not the product actually worked. Fast forward 3 months and Curtis is now back with his results and was super kind enough to provide use with a video and photos!
I intended to only take two months, but honestly didn’t think I wore my new shirts as much as normal (due to traveling and not have the Stainguard with me out of town), so I extended the test for another month.
To my naked eye, I had to look really hard, up against light, in order to notice some slight discoloration. It seemed that the camera picked up a little more. Regardless, it is MUCH better than anything in the past in which there was serious yellowing going on after just a month.
I would expect to see more discoloration in the next six-to-nine months, but I feel very confident in saying that Speed Stick Stainguard passed my test.
ADVERTISEMENT The first two weeks of wearing it, my armpits felt a little “raw”, as if they were irritated a bit by the deodorant. After three weeks, it didn’t seem to bother them anymore.
Well, although Curtis said that Speed Stick with Stainguard performed well for him and didn’t stain his shirts as much as his former antiperspirant, in looking at the pictures above, it does appear that it doesn’t eliminate staining completely.
The question in my mind is whether the deodorant caking up (as reported by another reader) and temporary raw armpits is worth switching over. Would be great to hear from more folks who tried Stainguard. If you’re one of those folks, please post a comment below!
Something that needs to be said is Mennen creates this product because their other product obviously was creating separate staining issues.
I think what should happen is the Mythbusters should do a test to determine if the product should even be permitted to be called “Stainguard”. I also think that a group of users should file a class action lawsuit against them since their products is causing millions of dollars in damages to people’s clothing.
I went from old school unscented (sensitive skin) to Stainguard thinking I was protecting my clothes but since the product does not naturally come off in the washer, I’m still damaging my clothes while trying to protect them.
It seems crazy that we should have to do something to our clothes before mashing them. Reminds me of how people wash dishes before putting them in the dish washer to wash them.
Let’s confront the manufacturer, who’s with me?
I’m with you on the class action law suit. I actually wrote about four paragraphs that I was about to submit and then of course my phone deleted what I typed!!
I was a lot more polite in detail with my last post but now I’m pissed So to summarize everything I said about my poor experience with Speed Stick Stainguard: Ruined about 5 shirts, $75 worth of damage, they try to blame it on body chemistry or laundry drying as a PR attempt to cover thier asses.
Colgate-Palmolive, in response to you complainants, sends you out a coupon book for $2 worth of free product and a bunch of 30 cent to 1 dollar ofr coupons. After my poor experience with this product I read a lot of 1 star reviews on Amazon and a lot of really mad people. This product causes dark gray to black stains on your shirt that has a greasy oil like feel to them.
The proof that its not my body chemistry or laundry is found in the fact that I had those shirts for 2 years with all different types of brand of antiperspirant With no poor effect. Also, it happened to a brand new shirt.
ALSO, another shirt of the same quality and I believe brand that was not exposed to Speed Stick Stain gaurd is now perfectly fine after multiple wears and washes with a competitor brand. When can we get this class action started?
heya chris,
thanks for sharing this information about stainguard.
have you tried any solutions to remove the stains caused by stain-no-guard?
recapping the comments:
1. whink wash away
2. raise stain remover
3. deo-go underarm stain remover
4. make your own underarm stain remover at home
Hey Tug! Wow, I am just seeing this reply now as I was using SpeedStick “GEAR” (Ironically as the free replacement deodorant that they sent me a coupon for to make up for the stain guard one)
But I Just noticed that it’s been staining my workout gear the same way to stain guard used to stay in my regular clothes!
So I decided to do a Google search for this again and lo and behold, LOL here is my comment so, I see that they have taken stain guard off the market.
So if they know that it was damaging people’s clothes, Don’t you think they were trying to make it up to the customers who wrote or called them?
I’m still not satisfied with losing almost $80 worth of clothes and getting a couple of coupons in the mail. It’s very strange that I only really seem to have this problem with Speed Stick products.
Well, thank you very much for the product suggestions to try and get the stains out. As I’m just seeing this now I will save the recommendations. I appreciate it!
Ps: I still think there should be some sort of class action lawsuit.
Imagining having close to only work 2 or 3 times be damaged?
It sucks :-( well, thanks again and take care!
Wow, sorry for all the typos! Speech-to-text must not like me! Hope you understood at least Part of that. Wish we could edit.
heya chris (:
no problemo buddy — i corrected most of the typos for you. thanks for the info on speedstick “gear” and stainguard.
yeah, if you’re calling something “stainguard” but it’s still staining clothes, that’s a bad recipe. i suspect that is the very reason this product really never gained much traction, and why it’s been discontinued.
dunno if it’s worth filing a class-action lawsuit, but it is definitely frustrating!
thanks again for stopping back by here and sharing your feedback.
UPDATES
Whink Wash Away stain remover, Whink Yellow NoMore & Raise Stain remover
Whink Wash Away
After having Mennen Speed Stick Stainguard underarm deodorant ruin my shirts/t-shirts by creating a grayish/blackish arm pit stain that was not coming out, I had to try Whink Wash Away.
Saturated t-shirts (white AND coloured) underarm stains with Whink Wash Away – some a few days prior to washing and others the day before washing.
I was surprised – old deodorant stains were removed. You can clearly see the delineation where the solution was & was not applied adequately. The 2 pix (I’ll email them to Tug to post) shows where the stains were removed and what remained, will have to re-apply it more thoroughly the next round of washing…
White t-shirt yellow underarm stains, not sure about them, will have to apply it again and let the solution soak in for 3 – 4 days (you can apply it up to 5 days prior to washing).
Will also try it on a couple of my dress/work shirts to see how effective it is on removing those old Stainguard deodorant stains…
It also worked on some kind of old VERY noticeable grease stain I inadvertently got on a nice gray sweat shirt, right shoulder. Stain’s been there for several washings & drying (at high heat, which I no longer do). Soaked the stain for a couple of days – after washing, it is gone.
AND, it worked on getting old blood out of a yellow bath towel.
— So, I’m kind of hooked on this product but it does not have a spray nozzle but a squirt type nozzle.
Whink Yellow NoMore
Decent results in removing ‘some’ yellowing and graying caused by hard water. Soaking your whites for several hours (or overnight) in this ‘before’ washing helps. Some yellow underarm stains will need multiple soaks, depending on how old the white tee is how many times it has been dried…
And you do not have to use bleach or any other detergent when you use this product to wash with.
— But I would not be using this for every single wash load, you have to use ½ a cup per load, and you will go through the bottle fairly rapidly…
Raise
Also some decent results, gonna try it again on yellow underarm stains before giving up on it if it doesn’t perform better.
Whink Wash Away for stains, right now, it wins my overall votes…!!!
heya pa — i was checking through my email (from last year) and couldn’t ever locate the photos you said you were going to send. did you ever send them.
have you tried anything new since last year?
I’ve been using the deodorant, and my stains have changed from yellow to dark gray almost black, ruining dress shirts undershirts etc, I no longer use this product and wouldn’t recommend it.
I meant to reply to your post but forgot. I’ve been thinking about this issue to and am not sure if it is a function of older clothing or new. I still have some of the Stainguard and will have to remember to look at my newer t-shirts/shirts.
I have used this Stainguard for several years and I am finding that recently this product is really damaging my shirts. It feels like they changed the formula and my shirts know have a yellowish look and the feel like wax was applied to them.
I stopped using the Stainguard and would like a suggestion on a good option.
Thanks
Yep, sorry about the damaged shirts.
I too no longer buy the Stainguard products.
As for an alternative stain prevention product, I don’t believe there is any on the market…
one other idea could be to use the stronger antiperspirants that last 7 days. you apply it at night, let it dry fully overnight, then you’re generally sweat free for the next 7 days.
if i recall correctly, using a stronger antiperspirant like that could eliminate (or at least minimize) underarm shirt staining. the products include kleinerts dry body or sweat shield, sweat block, klima, and certain dri.
to remove set-in underarm stains, you can use a product like deo-go (getdeogo.com or amazon) or raise (on amazon).
to prevent future staining, after wearing your shirts and before you put the in the hamper, just rinse the underarm area with water or use a small amount of a pre-treater spray like spray and wash or resolve.
heya mc,
the only other antiperspirant product i am aware of is nivea invisible black and white.
not sure if it’s still a current product offering, but i’m certain you’d be able to buy some online still. check amazon.com first.
I’ve always had yellowing stains from my antipersperants. But thank you stainguard for keeping my tee shirts white in the armpit. Use fresh or clean. Hope you get the same results. ME, Mr. Ed
Really…?
That is interesting and very different results from many of us.
I wonder if it boils down to physiology amongst us all – as we know that our chemical makeup varies from person to person and what manufacturers develop does not always translate into a workable solution for all of us.
Win some, lose some I guess. In this case, what we thought might work, turned out not to.
Good for you and your results though, very good for you. We are now jealous, well, I know I am…
For the rest of us, just gonna have to keep washing all of our ruined t-shirts and sending the ruined shirts to the cleaners to eventually (and hopefully) get the gray matter out – or at least very minimized…
(that is, for those that didn’t toss out those items…)
heya pa — i totally agree with you. i’d have to believe that physiology is the reason this type of stain-preventing antiperspirant would work for some and not for others.
i’m actually curious how sales are going with these types of products. i guess they can’t be too bad, because after 3+ years, the products are still being offered.
if you’re looking for a way to clean / remove the underarm stains from your shirts, here are the three best ways:
1. deo-go (getdeogo.com)
2. raise (armpitstainremover.com)
3. oxi-clean overnight soak
here’s an article that covers removing set-in deodorant build-up or antiperspirant stains from shirts.
Hey there, thanks for that other info.
As for the ongoing sales, my guess is that it might be working for many.
Then there are those continual ‘new’ buyers who want to give it a shot…
Deo-go, we did give it a shot, not the greatest results but still okay.
Oxi-clean, been using that off and on since it was sold, again, not the greatest results.
Now, on Raise (formerly Pitstop until Good Housekeeping gave the company a BIG thumbs up) – I don’t recall ever hearing of Raise/Pitstop.
After doing some research on it, I’m willing to give it a shot.
However, Raise does state that it is best on fresh stains – and the clothing should have ‘not’ been treated with bleach (or other chlorinated products).
Lastly, while doing that Raise research, I came across this one that I am also going to give a shot at:
–> Whink – No More Yellow Stain Remover
hey pa — good stuff buddy!
ya know, i don’t think that whink stuff will work for underarm stains. it’s mostly for “yellowing” (dulling) shirts from washing in hard water, not for removing set-in antiperspirant stains or deodorant build up.
i’ve never had the chance to test raise (formerly pitstop) but i’ve heard it’s formula is slightly less powerful than deo-go’s current/most recent formula. though i suppose if it works, that’s all that really matters.
so, i have an idea — i’m pretty sure i can get the folks at deo-go to offer up a free test bottle, and maybe i can get the folks at raise to do the same thing. if i could do that, would you be willing to do a dual-test? test deo-go on one underarm and raise on the other?
I’ve been using Speed Stick Stainguard for a long time now. The other ones I used would cake up after time in the armpit area of the shirts, such as golf shirts that have bigger pores than a t-shirt. I would try every thing to get that white hard caked up out and would end up having to throw the shirt out. Since using Stainguard I have not had this problem. The problem I am having now is where to buy it, I’m in Chatsworth, San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles County. If any one knows, please let me know. I’ve tried Target, Some of the Pharmacy stores, some of the grocery stores. No one seem to have it anymore.
You might want to check out Amazon maybe or even CVS (when on sale).
hey james! check out drugstore.com too. i just did a quick search there and found it.
the local drugstores may not be carrying that product anymore “in-store” if the product did not perform well.
The stainguard is terrible. The old forumla used to stain shirts after about a year or so. The new forumla stains them immediately.
thanks for stopping by and letting me know. i kinda suspected it wasn’t a miracle product because i think i would have heard from more people about it.
Good info, thanks for posting that.
I was starting to wonder why I was getting stains and couldn’t figure out why. Now I know that it appears to be the Stainguard.
hey pa, thanks for stopping by and giving us an update. hey, did you ever try out deo-go yet? curious if it worked for you or not.
hmmm, it seems I’ve come to this site late. Now June 2, 2012….
I started using Stainguard late last year, I was not aware of this product but use it religiously now.
My t-shirts, same as all others, men and women – yellow pit stains.
After switching to stain guard, and after doing a overnight bleach soak for all my whites – my t-shirts show a MUCH better result. They are not near as yellow in the armpit area.
So, since using stain guard, and using bleach in my wash (which I’ve always done as well but to no avail it seemed) AND using Oxyclean (exactly as they indicate in those instructions) – better looking t-shirts. A LOT less yellow.
I’m happier now.
The only down side, the price of the friggin’ deoderant/antiperspiant SUCKS!!! At $4 (or $3.60 at Shopppers) per stick, that’s expensive.
I got luck once at CVS during a sale, got it for $1.30 per stick – bought a dozen….!!!!
Still looking for that price point – or even $2.5 or even $3…
Good luck
hey pa! thanks for stopping by and posting your feedback on stainguard, as well as providing information on how you keep your undershirts clean and white.
for what it’s worth, i’d be careful not to use too much chlorine bleach in your overnight soak – if that’s what you use. i’m fairly certain that can make your shirts look more dingy over time – or at least that’s what i’ve read.
the most common recommendation i’ve come across to keep your whites their whitest, is to soak them in warm water and color safe, oxygen bleach, or oxiclean for 24 hours, then rinse them with vinegar and water. put them out in the sun to dry as it’s said that the sun will bleach them naturally.
now, if after doing that you still have underarm stains, i’d recommend reading this article that has a comprehensive list of methods on how to remove deodorant stains (the set-in kind).
hope that helps and thanks again for taking the time to post here!
…..it’s worth, i’d be careful not to use too much chlorine bleach in your overnight soak ….
Yes indeed, you’d be correct in your assessment. I’ve been using bleach for over 40 years and want to point out to others, if you use bleach – be very, very careful. I learned that lesson years ago.
Be sure you use a decent water/bleach ratio….
On some of those cleaning methods, too time consuming for me. I’d give the rinse with vinegar a shot though (since I already use oxygenated (oxygen) bleach.
I’m also going to give Deo-Go a shot, I’m curious. I believe I’d heard about it previously but not sure where.
Take care.