Your Smartwatch Is (Probably) Gross. Here's How to Fix That.

Jolie Kerr is a cleaning expert and advice columnist. She'll be here every week helping to answer your filthiest questions. Are you dirty? Email her. Are you still dirty? Subscribe to Ask a Clean Person: The Podcast on Acast, iTunes or Stitcher, and like Ask a Clean Person on Facebook.

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Do you have any advice for getting rid of, or preventing, watch stink? I wear an Apple Watch with a rubber (Fluoroelastamer) band and it smells like some cheese went to die on my wrist.

I wear the watch while exercising and on my bike commute, but I clean the band and connections a few times a week with a disinfecting wipe. If I go watchless for a day, my wrist smells fine, so I can only conclude that I'm doing something wrong in the watch maintenance department. Based on conversations with friends and a kajillion Google searches, this is not an uncommon problem for many types of fitness trackers and watches, but it doesn't seem that anyone on the internet has a definitive answer. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you have.

I think you guys have been with me long enough to know that I say this in complete sincerity, but just in case anyone might interpret it as sarcasm, I want to assure you I'm being utterly earnest when I say that the description of your cheese-smelling wrist delighted me to no end. How evocative and compellingly disgusting! I love it.

I can also help you avoid it going forward, because I live here in the real world with you and I know that delighting in the description versus the occurrence of a cheese-smelling wrist are two totally different things.

Preventing Wrist Cheese Smell

Before I get into the suggestion I'm going to make to help prevent the cheese smell from taking over your wrist in the first place, it bears mentioning that the problem may be that your skin is having a reaction to the watchband material. Unless you really love the Sport Band, you might want to opt for a replacement in silicone, rubber, leather, or metal. But let's say you do really love the Sport Band, or you make the switch and the problem persists. No problem. Here's what I think you need to do: Use deodorant.

Just as there's more than one way to skin a cat, there's more than one way to tackle a cleaning problem. So instead of focusing so much on the watch band, addressing your wrist is a not-bad approach to take.

You can totally, absolutely use the deodorant/antiperspirant you put on your pits on your wrist. But maybe the formula isn't ideal for wearing on your wrist, under a watch band (for example, I suspect gel-style deodorants would feel kind of sticky or slimy under a watch band). No problem, because hand deodorant exists in this world. I know. It's a hell of a time to be alive!

Most of these super specialized deodorants are designed with sport in mind—Ghost Grip is great for lifters, Clap Balm is marketed towards hockey players, Carpe Lotion seems to be designed for the Tinder set. Since this is both a sport watch, and something you're literally wearing during sport (working out, cycling), a sport-specific deodorant is a perfectly sensible choice.

How to Clean Watch Bands

Even if you do start using deodorant to prevent a cheese-smelling wrist situation, you'll still want to clean your watch bands on the regular. Our Letter Writer touched on an important aspect of cleaning watch bands by mentioning the material out of which his Apple Watch band is fabricated; you'll need that information in order to avoid using a product that might damage the band.

It's also worth mentioning that watch bands—especially sport watch bands—have a lifespan, and that there's a very good reason that replacement bands are a thing that you can buy.

Cleaning Apple Watch Sport Bands (Fluoroelastamer)

As we've noted, Apple Watch Sport Bands are made of a material called Fluoroelastamer, and a thing you need to know about it is that it does not love alcohol. That means that good old isopropyl alcohol, and products that contain it, like hand sanitizer or Lysol, are out.

Apple's official instructions are:

For all other [non-leather] bands, buckles, and closures:

Wipe the band clean with a nonabrasive, lint-free cloth. If necessary, lightly dampen the cloth with fresh water. Dry the band with a nonabrasive, lint-free cloth before you attach it to your Apple Watch.

Let us now level with one another: You and I both know a lint-free cloth and water isn't going to do a darned thing about your stinking watch band. Fortunately, our old friend dish soap is fine to use on Fluoroelastamer. Remove the band, and use wet fingers to massage a tiny drop of whatever dish soap you've got on hand into the band. Then rinse with cool water, dry well and reattach the band and the watch.

If soiling is more your problem than odor, a Magic Eraser will take dirt and grime off of Fluoroelastamer.

Cleaning a Silicone or Rubber Watch Band

Silicone and rubber are also popular sport watch band materials and, while they don't hate rubbing alcohol the way that Fluoroelastamer does, there's actually an even better way to clean them that will handle both grime and odors: Baking soda.

Yup, good old baking soda is The Thing for giving your silicone or rubber watch band a good scrubbing. To use it, mix about a tablespoon of baking soda in a small bowl with just enough water to make a thick paste. Remove the band from the watch and use your fingers or a thin rag to apply the paste and work it in. Allow it to sit on the band for 5-10 minutes before rinsing will cool water. Dry the band and reattach to the watch.

Cleaning a Leather Watch Band

First, let's review the official line from Apple on how to care for their leather watch bands:

For leather bands:

Wipe the leather portions of the bands clean with a nonabrasive, lint-free cloth. If necessary, lightly dampen the cloth with fresh water. Don't soak leather bands in water. The leather bands aren't water resistant. Let the band air dry thoroughly before you attach it to your Apple Watch. Don't store leather bands in direct sunlight, at high temperatures, or in high humidity.

It's a good start, but again, if your watch band has started to smell like cheese, something stronger than a damp cloth is required. Enter: leather cleaner and conditioner. Any brand is fine, so if you have a favorite, stick with that. If you need a recommendation, I can help with that too; Cadillac Leather Cleaner is what I use. A small amount goes a long way, and to use, you'll apply a small amount to a soft cloth, rub it into the leather in a circular motion, then buff it out with a clean portion of the cloth. Do this regularly—once a week, once a month, depending on usage and the depth of the cheese-smell factor—and your leather watch band will last you a long, long time.