Underwear should offer comfort and protection against outer clothing. Such underwear must prevent sweating and be odorless. Therefore, we must choose underwear made of materials that prevent this. Let’s see which underwear materials are for odor and sweat resistance.
The best materials for odors and sweat resistance are natural materials. Underwear made of natural materials such as cotton, bamboo, merino wool, silk, and modal does not trap odors and wick sweat well away from the skin. Such underwear can also be used for sports.
In the rest of this article, you will find out which underwear is the best against odors. And which materials are best for preventing excessive sweating.
What kind of underwear is best for odor?
The best odor-resistant underwear is made from natural materials that absorb and wick away sweat and dry quickly. Such materials include bamboo, merino wool, modal, silk, and cotton. Natural materials are better at preventing odors than synthetic materials.
Natural materials do not trap odors like synthetic materials. Although you will sweat a lot and your underwear will absorb sweat, underwear made from cotton, bamboo, wool, or modal will not smell.
Synthetic materials, unlike natural materials, have thin fibers that do not absorb sweat but only repel it. Odors accumulate in the synthetic fibers, causing unpleasant smells after even a small amount of perspiration.
Usually, synthetic materials (polyester) are used for sportswear, which in my opinion, is not the best. For workouts, it is better to wear underwear made of bamboo or modal. Here you can read all 7 reasons why bamboo is a good material for underwear.
Merino wool can also be used for sports and is particularly popular with hikers. Because wool is an excellent conductor of heat, it protects them from the cold and keeps them warm in cold weather. Merino wool absorbs as much as 50% of its weight in moisture but stays dry to the touch and doesn’t start to get unpleasant odors.
Like other natural materials, cotton does not trap odors, so your cotton clothes will not smell. Clothes that have a mix of natural and synthetic fabrics start to smell. Cotton is a great underwear material for every day when you don’t sweat a lot if you are a person who sweats a lot. Or if you are subject to circumstances when you start to sweat more quickly (high temperatures, working out). Other underwear materials are more suitable in these cases, but more on that below.
What material underwear is best for sweat?
The best sweat-resistance materials are breathable, absorb and wick sweat, and dry quickly. Natural materials – bamboo, merino wool, modal, and silk – have these properties. They can also be mixed with synthetic materials in underwear – polyester, nylon, and elastane.
To prevent sweating too quickly, materials are breathable, absorb a lot of sweat, wick sweat away, and dry quickly.
Breathability. The skin stays fresh and cool, so sweating happens later when the body temperature increases.
Absorbency. Sweat that accumulates on the skin prevents the skin from being able to breathe, which causes a rise in temperature and further increases sweating. Wearing underwear made of absorbent materials can prevent this. The fabric will absorb the sweat, and the skin can breathe and stay dry for longer.
Wicking sweat. Skin that accumulates sweat is harder to breathe on and overheats. The best underwear materials also wick sweat away, not just absorb it. They move sweat that they can no longer absorb away from the skin so that it doesn’t build up on the skin.
Quick drying. Clothes can only absorb a certain amount of moisture. Some materials absorb more moisture than others. The most absorbent materials are merino wool, modal, silk, and bamboo. It is important that the material of the underwear also dries quickly so that it can reabsorb the sweat that has built up and keep us dry for longer.
Materials that have all four of these properties are:
- Bamboo,
- Merino wool,
- silk and
- modal.
Are you surprised that cotton is not on this list? Cotton has 3 of these properties, but not one that is also important. Cotton does not dry quickly. Cotton absorbs a lot of moisture and becomes damp, which is also not healthy for our skin and our private areas.
Cotton underwear works best when worn for leisure, as we don’t sweat much then. If you are a person who sweats a lot and wants your underwear to handle sweat well, then you should wear underwear made from one of the four materials above. Read the full comparison of the best underwear materials here.
Best Odor and Sweat Resistant Materials for Underwear – Conclusion
To prevent unpleasant odors and excessive sweating, natural materials are best. I recommend underwear made of bamboo, modal, silk, or merino wool.
Bamboo and modal are very soft and thin materials. Therefore, you can wear them daily for leisure and exercise.
Silk is great for everyday wear, but its high price makes it less affordable, so it tends to be kept in smaller quantities in the wardrobe. Read more about silk underwear here.
Merino wool underwear is warm and absorbent. It is best suited for hikers who walk for hours and don’t want to get cold and wet. If you are a hiker, I recommend merino wool underwear.