As you know, I’ve been spinning and zumba-ing my butt off to get back into half marathon shape. (Notice I didn’t say I was running yet? Ha!) Spinning has been killing me – I think the amount of sweat that comes off me is the same amount I used to drip when doing bikram yoga. Thanks to all that sweat, my clothes are drenched when I peel them off. Sometimes I’m able to wash them right after the gym, and other times, I have to wait until I get home from work. (My classes are at 6am, I tend not to get home from work until about 7:30pm these days.)
Post-spinning. I wish you could see the sweat.
The nice folks at Roux Maison introduced me to their sport detergent last month, and wow – I’m a convert. They got me on the scent. I’m a lover of all things citrus-smelling. Roux Maison sent me a bottle of their Sweet Tea sport detergent, and it smells amazing!
Roux Maison – Sweet Tea sport detergent
I was kind of skeptical with this fancy detergent. What could this do that my favorite Tide detergent couldn’t? Here’s the thing – I noticed that when I handwashed my gym clothes with Tide, the colors in my tops faded. My pink and blue dri-fit shirts didn’t look as bright anymore. This would be an interesting experiment with all of my technical workout clothes. Over the last three years, I picked up a bunch of half marathon racing shirts from races as well as compression sleeves, shorts, tights, you name it.
NOTE: I handwash my workout clothes most of the time. If I didn’t, they’d sit there for a WEEK in my hamper before being tossed in the washing machine. You can use Roux Maison in the machine or handwash.
So I created an unfair test (yes, unfair) to see if 1. the detergent would actually clean my clothes, and 2. make them smell like citrus:
I left my gym clothes (in a plastic bag) in my gym bag for 2 days. Accidentally, on purpose. It was kind of by accident because sometimes I forget I have gym clothes in my bag. It was kind of on purpose because I really didn’t want to be handwashing gym clothes at 10pm at night when just put in a 10-hour work day and cooked dinner. WTH – who wants to handwash when you’re zonked?
These gym clothes sat in stench for 12-48 hours. Crusty!
I had the day’s gym clothes as well as the day before’s – 2 Lululemon bras, 1 Nike dri-fit top, and 1 race technical shirt from the Long Beach Half. I threw my clothes in the sink and turned on the hot-ish/warm water and tossed a capful of Roux Maison. (I was skeptical that that tiny capful was going to do anything but make bubbles. I mean, that cap is TINY.) The first thing I noticed was the strong citrus scent – I LIKEY! That tiny capful worked – I could see the water turning … not clear. Once my clothes were rinsed, I hung them to dry on a bar over our bathtub.
When they were dry the next day, I shoved my face in them to see if I could still smell any sweat or odor. No sweat smell. All I smelled was a light pleasant scent of CITRUS! Yeah! I tried this on my other sports bras – Champion brand from Target – they bleed like crazy. There’s still some color that bleeds but not as much as when I used a regular detergent.
The Wife has crazy sensitive skin, so I tested the detergent on his gym clothes as well. He noticed the sharp citrus scent as soon as I started washing his clothes, but once they dried, he found it to be subtle scent.
Bonus points for the folks at Roux Maison:
- pH neutral – good to know when you’ve got sensitive skin
- not tested on animals
- essential oils in each bottle
- no chemical residue on clothes (you know what I’m talking about)
- hypoallergenic
- does NOT contain sodium laurel sulfate (which most detergents, shampoos do)
If you go to their website, you can get a 1-ounce sample of their stain remover for free. I don’t think the local Target sells them but you can buy on Amazon.com if you’d like to try them out. They also have detergents for regular clothes, delicates, swimwear, and the stain remover.
Final verdict – YES, go get a bottle. This is a Buy for us. It took me over a month to write this review because I kept testing different clothes, sports bras and different temperatures with it. I cleaned my swimsuit with it (even though it’s not specifically made for swimsuits) and it turned out great. Did I tell you how much I love citrus?
The Wife and I are converts – and we’ll continue using Roux Maison’s sport detergent for our workout gear. This year will be a big test – I’m also doing the Color Run in May with my teenage cousins (they still think I’m cool – yeah! insert fistpump) and the Disneyland Half Marathon is in early September. Roux Maison has to keep my gear clean for the next 7 months.
Enjoy your citrus-scented workout gear! If you’re running at the Rose Bowl or Griffith Park, I’ll see ya there!
Disclosure: The folks at Roux Maison sent me a complimentary bottle of “Sweet Tea” sport detergent for review. This is an honest review because who the hell writes fake reviews? Duh. Don’t be stupid. (No, really, don’t be stupid.)
