Bleaching a yoga/sleeping mat

[Badly Drawn Girl]

So I have this fantastic, ancient orange yoga mat...purchased in 2005. It has been my dedicated Bikram mat for that entire time and has a lot of sentimental value. (I know, I get attached to weird things.) It's a great mat and I've hauled it all around the world with me and even slept on it for weeks at a time when I crash-landed back in NYC and camped out on friends' floors. The issue is that after a decade of hot yoga use, it's pretty astonishingly funky. I want to take it with me but I don't want it smelling up people's cars so I was thinking of just soaking it in a bleach solution...but it occurred to me that the bleach might dissolve the material. Will I ruin it if I do this and if so are there any less caustic options that will still get rid of the sweaty feet smell?

 

[wizehop]

Yer on the wrong site if you're worried about shit stinking.

 

[Badly Drawn Girl]

Yer on the wrong site if you're worried about shit stinking.

I mean it's to the point where I myself cannot even fathom sleeping on it. My face will smell like feet for all eternity. Will I destroy it if I bleach it? If so, I will just go seek out another mat and maybe somehow taxidermy this one so I can remember it always.

 

[Deleted member 125]

ide say yer chances of not destroying a yoga mat with bleach are pretty slim. i guess you could maybe put it inside some tyvek but i dont know how well it would roll up, ide just get another mat.

 

[callmeG]

I'd look into wiping it down with vinegar or dish soap.

 

[pigpen]

you can get cleaning grade white vinegar (it's got a slightly higher pH than food grade) on food stamps for like 6 bucks a gallon. You could also add a couple drops of citrus or lavender essential oil to the vinegar in a spray bottle. I would spray it on, let it set in for a half hour or so and then rinse with warm water.

 

[Tude]

Woman!! I will send you mine!! - Used three times only so I didn't have to have my nose into the dog doo park (nothing like doing planks staring at dead bugs, something not good and looking around for the poo that is nearby) when working out with a group. I'll go run with them but I don't plan on joining them for that crap anymore. It's blue and new. Want it? pm me

 

[Desperado Deluxe]

How about that soap and water?