Bamboo Clothing

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I recently took my wife on a second honeymoon on a cruise to Hawaii. We have been married for over 45 years. While on the excursions ashore, I came across some interesting clothing. It was created from a fabric made out of bamboo. What caught my attention was that fact that this material had antibacterial properties. So I bought a few pieces and took them home with me so that I could experiment with them.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

While over my long life, I have heard many times that "I STINK". I suspect this is not limited to just me but also many Aspies suffer from the same dilemma. My body produces an odor that offends people and drives them away. The big problem here is that normal methods for correcting this problem used by NTs do not work on me. I can cake on piles of deodorant onto my skin and it doesn't work on me. I can change clothes several times a day and it doesn't solve the problem. It has been a dilemma that has been unsolvable.

Now I am a proactive kind of guy and I do like to solve problems. I discovered that the root cause of body odors is the bacteria on my skin. So I came up with my own deodorant, one that kills the bacteria rather than hides the odor caused by the bacteria. And that works. I have been using it for over a year now with very good results. I put a dab under each armpit and I am good for a whole week. No more comments!

One of the properties of bamboo clothing is that they have antibacterial properties. Bamboo fabric is desirable because it is extremely soft to the touch, highly absorbent, and even has some natural antibacterial properties to reduce perspiration odor during wear. Because of the softness and smoothness of the fabric, it is ideal for anyone susceptible to skin irritation.

So I put that to the test. I bought a pair of stockings made from bamboo. They look like normal stockings. I have worn them now for about 6 weeks straight and decided this morning that it was time to throw them in the clothes hamper for washing. Before I did, I brought them to my nose and took a deep breath. Nothing. No odor at all. I'm impressed!

Interesting. I go through phases of suffering from excessive sweating.

What is your bespoke deodorant concoction?

I'm rather obsessive about personal hygiene and have the nose of a hound: I have some bamboo socks and t-shirts and I love them!

Confirmed member of the Bamboo Socks club here too!
And yes, I am rarely offended by the smell of my own feet anymore.

I mentioned this in a WP thread of Sept 2018 titled "Opinions About Being Considered 'The Smelly One'"

Underarm odor is caused by a bacteria. Deodorant and antiperspirants can't overcome the smell. Baking soda kills the bacteria. I recently began creating my own deodorant that doesn't mask the odor but rather kills the bacteria that cause the odor. Basically I put in some baking soda in a small jar and then add Organic coconut oil (from the cosmetic section) and make a paste. I add a few drops of Lavender essential oil to the paste and mix it in. I have been using it for a couple months and I am pleased with the results. The effects also last longer at least a couple days per application.

Fellow sweaty person here! I have bamboo tank tops. My feet blister easily so I wear paddec wool socks as I walk a lot. Are bamboo socks thin?

I sweat on my head and face too. Anybody have suggestions for that? I may give the underarm recipe a try.

The socks I bought in Hawaii by Cariloha were thin but I recently order several pairs on Amazon that read "KBNI Mens Bamboo Hiking Socks Heavy Duty Thick Athletic Socks With Reinforced Cushion Moisture Wicking Ordor Resistant For Working Sports Hiking Hunting Skiing Running Basketball".

So I think they will come in both thin and thick styles.

Bamboo sheets and duvet covers are also wonderful. I buy bamboo material and sew my own stuff.

I used to have a strong smell when I had a lot of yeast in my system. Now that my gut is healthier I have no smell at all.

Oh, that was your post. Yes I made myself up a batch after I read it, but I ran out a couple of months ago. I need to buy some more baking soda (in the UK we call it bicarbonate of soda for any Brits reading this).

I did find it effective.

My mum swears by tea tree oil, but I don't find that it helps. Lavender has worked so much better for me.

Thanks so much!

A box of KBNI Bamboo Hiking Socks arrived in the mail yesterday. They are similar to the thickness of athletic stockings perhaps 5 times thicker than the dress stockings that I bought from Cariloha. But they have a totally different feeling than cotton athletic stockings. When you put them on they feel really light and airy.

Generally I walk around the house barefoot all the time and that drives my wife up a wall. After I put these on, I felt like I could wear them indoors all the time and that would make her happy.

You might want to look into silver ion clothing also. I first found it ten years ago in a ski supply store. Silver ions are anti-bacterial, so the cloth is supposed to keep the body oder away after skiing for a week without a bath or shower. It is made with a wash of nanoparticulated silver that bonds to the cloth.

I want to do an experiment by soaking the bamboo clothing in a silver colloid solution to see if it would kill bacteria better as a combo now.

kokopelli started a humorous thread Let's Go Back To The Old Ways To Avoid The Coronavirus. He suggested:
I'm going to stop by a really big western wear store on Tuesday of next week. I think that I'll get a bandanna or two while I'm there just in case.

So for a brief moment I thought about scarfs and the potential that they might be used to protect individuals from the coronavirus. Some fabrics made from bamboo fibers have antibacterial properties. I wondered if they might also have antiviral properties.

QuantumChemist brought up the idea of using material bonded with nanoparticle silver as antibacterial. So perhaps a scarf impregnated with nanoparticle silver might be a stand-in when face mask are unavailable (because they are all sold out). That type of fabric might be a better fit.

According to Wikipedia:
An innovation in antimicrobial surfaces is the discovery that copper and its alloys (brasses, bronzes, cupronickel, copper-nickel-zinc, and others) are natural antimicrobial materials that have intrinsic properties to destroy a wide range of microorganisms. An abundance of peer-reviewed antimicrobial efficacy studies have been published regarding copper’s efficacy to destroy E. coli O157:H7, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Staphylococcus, Clostridium difficile, influenza A virus, adenovirus, and fungi.

The use of silver as an antimicrobial is well documented. Silver ions have been shown to react with the thiol group in enzymes and inactivate them, leading to cell death. These ions can inhibit oxidative enzymes such as yeast alcohol dehydrogenase. Silver ions have also been shown to interact with DNA to enhance pyrimidine dimerization by the photodynamic reaction and possibly prevent DNA replication.

So I could see scarfs treated with nanoparticulated silver that bonds to the cloth, might find a use against the coronavirus threat. And perhaps bamboo fabrics might find a dual use here as well.

Twenty years ago, I pushed the idea that local hospitals needed to incorporate silver plating on commonly handled surfaces (like doorknobs, bed frames, etc.). Unfortunately it fell on deaf ears, as they did not want to spend the money to upgrade. I also had a idea to incorporate it into tissue paper that could be used to blow one’s nose then the silver reclaimed upon controlled combustion. Again, hospitals did not want to pay for an additional service that they viewed that they did not need. I think it would be useful in stopping some of the spread of infectious diseases, like the one we face in the news today.

For those into the chemistry:

Thiol groups (R-SH) contain a soft base when deprotonated, making them excellent bonding groups for certain metal cations. Oxygen groups are more electronegative, so they are hard bases and bond better to a different set of metals. I commonly use sulfur dust to cleanup mercury metal (oxidizes to a soft Lewis acid) spills in lab because the mercury metal will bind with the sulfur over time to make a strong covalent bond and produce cinnabar as a result. If the sulfur within the thiol groups become bound to a metal cation like silver ion, it will typically inhibit the enzyme catalytic effects. This causes some damage to the bacterium as it blocks part of the processes that it needs to survive and reproduce. It does not kill viruses, as those are not technically alive. It may stop their reproduction process though.

I received a flyer from a company in Hawaii called Cariloha this morning. They make bamboo clothing. In the flyer they were marketing bamboo weighted blankets. That is a neat idea. But the price is prohibited ($249 @). They are combining the concept of a "weighted blanket" to sooth an Aspie, with a bamboo cloth that is ideal for Aspies that have an oversensitivity to touch, with a bamboo material that has antibacterial properties (something desirable in a time of a pandemic.)

I'm thinking that I should buy myself some bamboo socks after reading your post.