How to wash shin guards

The smell that prompted this search is almost never coming from the plastic. It is coming from the foam backing, the sock, or the gear bag — which is why the fix is a routine rather than a deep clean.

Hard-shell guards: the manufacturer method

Reusch's care instructions for its own shinguard are the clearest published statement of this and they are worth following to the letter:

1. Remove dirt with a soft brush. Dry, before anything wet touches it. Most of what is on a guard after a game is dried mud and it brushes straight off.
2. Wipe with a damp cloth. Water, and a drop of mild dish soap if it needs it.
3. No solvents or other cleaners — Reusch states these may cause damage. That rules out bleach, degreaser, alcohol wipes and anything "for sports gear" in a spray can.
4. No excessive heat or strong sunlight. This is the one that actually destroys guards, and it is also the one everybody breaks.
5. Store dry and ventilated. Not in a sealed gear bag, which is where the smell comes from.

Sleeve and fabric guards: cold wash

A sleeve-style guard — a compression sleeve with a flexible pad built in — is mostly fabric, and the general advice for these is a hand wash or a cold gentle machine cycle with mild detergent, rinsed thoroughly and hung to dry without wringing.

The rules that still apply: no bleach, no fabric softener, and no dryer. Softener coats the fibers and makes it harder for detergent to reach the odor-causing bacteria next time, which is why Nike's own jersey guidance tells you to skip it — the same logic applies here.

Where the smell actually comes from

Worth diagnosing before you scrub, because three of the four sources are not the guard.

• The foam backing. Molded EVA foam on the inside of the shell absorbs sweat and holds it. Wipe it, let it dry fully, and it stops. This is the only guard-side source.
• The socks. Far more often the culprit. Over-the-calf match socks are thick, worn against the guard, and frequently washed with softener which stops the detergent working.
• The gear bag. A damp guard sealed in a bag for six days is a culture. Reusch's "dry and ventilated" storage instruction is doing more work than any cleaning method.
• The cleats. Usually the real answer when a bag smells. How to clean soccer cleats deals with those.

The routine that solves all four: take the guards and cleats out of the bag after every session, not after every week. That one habit does more than anything you can buy.

How often

Brush and wipe the shell after any muddy session, which takes under a minute. A proper wash of a fabric sleeve once a week during the season is plenty. There is no benefit to cleaning a hard shell more often than it is dirty — and some risk, because every cleaning is another chance to use the wrong product on it.

Between sessions, air them. Out of the bag, somewhere with moving air, pad side up. The guards that stay usable longest are the ones that get dry rather than the ones that get scrubbed.

When to replace rather than clean

Three signs, and the first is the one to act on:

1. The shell no longer sits flat against the shin. That is warping, usually from heat, and it is not recoverable. Replace.
2. The foam is compressed flat or crumbling. The foam is what spreads an impact; a shell on bare skin transmits it.
3. Cracks anywhere in the shell. A cracked guard concentrates force at the crack instead of spreading it, and the edges are a hazard to the other player.

Guards are also the cheapest thing in the bag, so the replace threshold should be low — and because they are sized by height, re-ordering is one measurement. The size chart has the bands, and growth is usually the real reason to replace anyway.