The Odour Problem Nobody Talks About
What Actually Causes That End-of-Shift Smell
Here's something most scrub cap manufacturers won't tell you: the fabric you choose directly influences how your headwear smells after a long shift.
Researchers at Ghent University conducted a controlled study comparing cotton and polyester garments after 28 hours of post-exercise wear. The finding?
Polyester items smelled significantly worse than their cotton counterparts.
The culprit is a bacterium that thrives almost exclusively on synthetic fibres
These bacteria convert the compounds in sweat into malodorous byproducts—a process that simply doesn't occur at the same rate on cotton.
It's not about hygiene. It's about chemistry. The fabric structure itself determines bacterial growth patterns.
Reference
Callewaert, C. et al. (2014). Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Ghent University
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