Doing laundry can be a bewildering process. For starters, most people don’t know how to properly use a washing machine (or what wash cycles actually do.)

Laundry also presents challenges when it comes to removing odors. And many people don’t know how often they should *really* be washing their sheets.

Even for the most seasoned launderers, there is always a new laundry skill or lesson to learn. On Reddit, a wife struggling “for years” to remove sweat stains in the armpits of her husband’s undershirts shared what finally worked for her.

Wife removes husband’s pit stains

User Bupperoni shared with fellow laundry enthusiasts on the social media platform that she discovered the laundry hack after being fed up with her normal go-to detergent.

“I have been at a loss with my husband’s undershirt pit stains/buildup for years,” she explains. “Recently, I learned that my detergent is crap (All Free & Clear) and it was recommended here that I try adding Biz until my detergent runs out.”

Next, she explains that she “took around 20 of my husband’s undershirts” and applied Biz to them by creating a paste.

“I put some Biz in a cup with water to make a paste and one by one I poured the paste onto each armpit (inside and outside) and lightly scrubbed with a toothbrush. After that I let them sit for an hour,” she explains. “Then I added 1/2 cup of Biz to the washer, added the shirts, then added detergent. I washed with hot water and did an extra rinse cycle.”

The end result was a major success. “They came out so good! They aren’t perfectly white but the greasy deodorant, sweat, and dead skin buildup is gone!” she added.

Biz is an enzymatic laundry powder that contains a number of enzymes (including lipase) to break down lipids (fats) and oils. It also comes in liquid form.

It was invented in 1968. Laundry lovers on Reddit sing its praises, with many calling it “the best kept laundry secret.” One fan of Biz shared:

“I had given up hope on the armpit stains on our workout clothes, but today, I decided to soak them in Biz before washing and it’s like they were never there! I didn’t even bother making a paste and leaving them on the pit area — just 1/2 cup in a medium load using the auto soak feature in our washing machine for 1 hour. I wish I had before and after pics!”

It is also affordable. A 60 ounce box of Biz powder (available at Walmart) sells for $6.53, which can take care of 40-60 loads. The cost breakdown is about 11 cents per wash.

@jeeves_ny Lipase is one of the most important ingredients in laundry right now, and here’s why you should care!!! Lipase is an enzyme that breaks down fat and oil and is the same thing your body uses to digest a greasy meal. In detergents and stain removers, it targets sebum, which is the body oil your skin produces constantly. Sebum is the number one stain on your clothes, and when it builds up it causes yellowing and body odor. Here’s how enzymes work: think of them as tiny scissors. They cut big molecules into small ones so surfactants and water can actually wash them away. And unlike surfactants, enzymes aren’t destroyed in the process, they work over and over, which is why a little goes a long way with enzymatic pretreatments. The most important thing with enzymes: give them time. Just like digestion, they need to sit and work. Minimum one hour, maximum one week. When you’re reading ingredient labels, look for lipase, protease, amylase, cellulase, and mannanase. Each one targets something different. I like to keep my enzymatic stain remover on my hamper and pretreat stains when I take my clothes off. Do you want me to talk more about the different types of enzymes in laundry products? #laundry #detergent #cleantok ♬ original sound – clean freakz

Lipase is one of the most important ingredients in laundry right now, and here’s why you should care!!! Lipase is an enzyme that breaks down fat and oil and is the same thing your body uses to digest a greasy meal. In detergents and stain removers, it targets sebum, which is the body oil your skin produces constantly. Sebum is the number one stain on your clothes, and when it builds up it causes yellowing and body odor. Here’s how enzymes work: think of them as tiny scissors. They cut big molecules into small ones so surfactants and water can actually wash them away. And unlike surfactants, enzymes aren’t destroyed in the process, they work over and over, which is why a little goes a long way with enzymatic pretreatments. The most important thing with enzymes: give them time. Just like digestion, they need to sit and work. Minimum one hour, maximum one week. When you’re reading ingredient labels, look for lipase, protease, amylase, cellulase, and mannanase. Each one targets something different. I like to keep my enzymatic stain remover on my hamper and pretreat stains when I take my clothes off. Do you want me to talk more about the different types of enzymes in laundry products? #laundry #detergent #cleantok ♬ original sound – clean freakz

Professional dry cleaner explains what causes pit stains

Zachary Pozniak, a professional dry cleaner who runs YouTube channel Jeeves NY, breaks down why removing sweat stains can be so difficult. He explains that the root cause of pit stains is sebum.

“Your body produces around 40 grams of oil everyday. It’s called sebum,” he says. “It lubricates and protects our skin and hair.”

He adds that sebum is the main cause behind body odor and acne, and also causes yellowing of clothing.

“Over time, sebum will oxidize, or turn things yellow,” he shares. “This is the same exact thing that happens to apples or avocadoes, and this is commonly seen on the underarm area.”

When asked to describe what Tanzania smells like, Grace Isekore closes her eyes and breathes in deep. For a moment, she’s somewhere else entirely. Tanzania is a rich tapestry of sights and scents, from the smell of sea mist that permeates the coastline to the earthy cardamom and cloves she cooks with in her kitchen. But when Grace emerges from her reverie, her answer is unexpected.

“Tanzania smells like peace,” she says, her eyes still closed. “I see a beautiful country where we are free to move, free to speak. And there is peace within the community.” 

For Grace, that sense of peace isn’t just something she smells; it’s something she works toward every day. As a project coordinator with Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC), a women-led organization that empowers pastoralist communities in northern Tanzania, she has seen firsthand how girls flourish when they have the opportunity to attend school. Like scent, education not only connects girls to their own culture, but also helps broaden their horizons, realizing new possibilities for themselves and others. That transformation reshapes entire communities and ripples outward, with the potential to change countries and transform the world for the better. 

Different scents, different approaches, and communities driving change

For Grace and others around the world, education is freedom, as well as a pathway to a stronger community. Rooted in that shared  belief, Pura, a home fragrance company, was inspired to build on their four-year partnership with Malala Fund to create something truly unique: a fragrance collection that connects people through scent to communities in Tanzania, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Brazil, where barriers to girls’ education are among the highest. 

Using ingredients from each region, the new Pura x Malala Fund Collection uses scent to transport people to these regions directly. “Future in Bloom,” for example, invokes Pakistan’s lush valleys through notes of jasmine, cedarwood, and mango; while Tanzania’s fragrance, “Heart on Fire,” evokes the spirit and joyfulness of the girls who live there through cardamom, lemon, and green tea. 

The new Collection honors the work Malala Fund does every day, partnering with locally-led organizations in these four countries to ensure every girl can access and complete 12 years of education. Each scent celebrates the joy, tenacity, and courage of the women and girls driving change on the ground, while also augmenting Pura’s annual grant to Malala Fund by donating eight percent of net revenue from the Pura x Malala Fund Collection to Malala Fund directly. 

Just as each country’s scent is unique, so too are their needs related to education. But with support from Malala Fund and Pura, local leaders are coming up with creative ways to mobilize entire communities (parents, teachers, elders, and the students themselves, in their pursuit of solutions, understanding that educating girls helps everyone thrive. Here’s how their efforts are creating real, durable impact in Tanzania and Pakistan, and creating a ripple effect that changes the world for the better. 

Parent-teacher associations help Maasai girls and their communities in Tanzania problem-solve 

Northern Tanzania, Grace’s home, is home to pastoralist communities like the Maasai, a nomadic people who have moved with the seasons to nurture the land and care for their livestock for centuries. The nomadic nature of this lifestyle creates significant and unique barriers to girls’ education. Longstanding gender roles have enabled Maasai to survive in the harsh environment and have placed great value on both women and men. Over time, as nomadic life has been threatened by the privatization of land and stationary education models have been implemented, the reality of pastoralist livelihood has shifted and introduced new complexities. Now, the sheer distance to schools is both a practical challenge and one that often comes with danger from the landscape, predators, and potential exposure to assault along the journey. Girls shoulder the responsibility of household chores and there is often cultural pressure around early marriage – both leading to boys’ education being prioritized over girls’. 

“There are very, very good [pastoralist] cultural practices, which are passed from generation to generation,” says Janet Kimori, an English teacher at Lekule Girls Secondary School in Longido, Tanzania. But when cultural practices act as educational barriers, “you have to sit down and look for where you are going to assist. As a school, as an individual, the school administration—all of us will chip in and know how we are going to deal with this problem.” 

PWC works to ensure girls are able to exercise their right to an education while also preserving pastoralist culture. One successful approach, the organization found, has been the formation of Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), created with help from Malala Fund. In PTA meetings, students, parents, teachers, elders, and government officials meet, discuss educational barriers, and come up with community-led solutions that preserve and honor their culture while advancing educational outcomes. 

One recent PTA meeting highlights how these community-led solutions are often the most effective. At Lekule Girls Secondary School, the lack of fresh water forces girls to walk long distances to collect water for the school’s kitchen during the school day, and these long journeys not only disrupt class time but can leave girls vulnerable to sexual assault in isolated areas. Through facilitated discussion, PTA members landed on a solution: installing a borehole to pipe in fresh water to the school. Reliable access to water creates a better learning environment for the girls, but it also benefits the community at large, as local governments are then more likely to invest in health clinics and other community resources nearby. 

With a solution in place, the PTA was then able to discuss ideas and map out a course of action. The women would raise money for the cost of the borehole, while the men would recruit workers to dig the hole and lay the pipe. Together, they would ask government officials to match their investment. 

The benefits of PTA meetings within the pastoralist communities are undeniable. “The girls are talking and addressing issues in a confident way, and parents feel they are part of the resource team to solve challenges happening at school,” Grace says. One unexpected benefit: The larger cultural impact these PTA meetings have created. Thanks to the success of PTAs within pastoralist communities, the models are now being endorsed on a national level, and schools across Tanzania are starting to use them to solve problems in their own communities. When a community creates opportunities for girls to learn, everyone benefits. 

Safe spaces in rural Pakistan help students and their parents connect, then drive change

A continent away in Pakistan, the country’s northernmost region of Gilgit-Baltistan seems like a land untouched by time. The region’s looming mountains, snow-capped peaks, lush valleys and crystalline lakes draw nature lovers and landscape photographers from around the world, but living among this kind of breathtaking scenery has its drawbacks. Schools in the region are few and far between, and the area’s harsh climate often makes roads inaccessible for travel. Poverty and gender-based discrimination are additional obstacles, making school even further out of reach, and girls are affected disproportionately. Going up against these barriers requires a persistent, quiet strength that’s found in the women who live there and reflected in Pakistan’s signature scent. 

Saheli Circles are how local leaders in Gilgit-Baltistan are bridging the gap between girls and education. An Urdu term for “female friend,” Saheli Circles are after-school safe spaces where girls explore subjects like art and climate change, while also developing skills that help them manage emotions, set goals, and build positive relationships. Girls study in groups, visit the library, play sports, and tackle filmmaking and photography projects, all designed to develop self confidence and teach the girls how to advocate for issues that matter to them. But the work doesn’t stop there. 

“What we’re trying to achieve here will only be impactful if it trickles down to the home environment and the school environment,” says Marvi Sumro, founder and program director of Innovate, Educate, and Inspire Pakistan (IEI), the local organization that developed the Saheli Circles model and partnered with Malala Fund in 2021 to make it a reality. Ever since, Saheli Circles have grown to involve teachers, elders, and parents to encourage relationship building that’s essential for young girls and adolescents. “Our spaces can give mothers and daughters an opportunity to interact a little differently—do an art activity, or have a cup of tea together, or some good conversation,” Marvi says. 

The relationship building is what makes the biggest positive impact throughout the community. Recently, one Saheli Circle was able to bring together parents, teachers, and administrators to advocate for better education at their local school, and together they convinced the department of education to hire a science teacher. Another Saheli Circle organized a fund where members of the community can contribute monthly to pay for uniforms, books, and other school expenses for the girls in their village, eliminating those small, hidden costs that are often a barrier to education for many. A third Saheli Circle was able to produce a short film about how gender-based household chores can take away valuable study time from girls, leaving them at a disadvantage. “The girls put the film together and showed it to the mothers, and the response from the mothers was just beautiful,” Marvi says. 

The education and relationship building that the girls receive in Saheli Circles connects them to larger opportunities and economic freedom that are not possible in their hometown. “For girls in Gilgit-Baltistan, education is extremely important because of the fact that we’re so far away from where the economy is, where the opportunity is. Education becomes this bridge for us, for our girls, to access all the opportunity and economy that exists in [larger cities].” 

From rural Tanzania to remote Pakistan, local organizations prove every day that prioritizing girls’ education benefits everyone. Communities that lift up girls are able to secure resources like clean water and well-staffed schools, as well as build stronger relationships. 

These outcomes are only possible because of the women and girls who work tirelessly in these regions to overcome barriers and drive progress. The Pura x Malala Fund Collection is a way to honor them, celebrate their achievements, and unite people the world over around a shared belief that education is freedom. Like scent, that belief can build, travel, and has the possibility to transform the world. 

Experience the Pura x Malala Fund Collection here, and connect with the stories of real girls leading change across the globe.

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And Americans are shelling out their........

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