How do I keep my white shirts looking good?

[ruben]

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

I use Arm and Hammer natural deodorant and its the only one I've found that doesnt leave a yellow-stain. It can be found at wegmans and purchased for about $2.5/stick. Much cheaper then Toms of Maine which did not perform well and still left stains.

I hand-wash the collar and cuffs with Natural bar soap prior to washing.

I think we're talking two different kinds of pit stains here; the yellow stain from perspiration and DO, and the hard residue some deodorants leave.

 

[westinghouse]

Wash all whites together in hot water with detergent and color safe bleach. Nothing else is needed.

 

[ogbupta]

Soak them in oxyclean. It'll bring any white shirt back to life.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Originally Posted by ruben

I think we're talking two different kinds of pit stains here; the yellow stain from perspiration and DO, and the hard residue some deodorants leave.

Are we?

 

[lastlight]

As far as the sweating, stop wearing antipersperant. Drink more water and less salt and use normal deoderant. Your sweating will be less stainy. No bullshit I marked shirts for all my adolesence, used drysol, anti persperent, whatevs.

 

[SuitMyself]

I noticed something very depressing and disturbing that happened to two white shirts I own (one is a white OCBD and the other is a Lacoste polo): I noticed--for lack of a better way to describe it--what appears to be oil blotches or stains on various parts of the shirts.

I've had both of these shirts for a long time now and they've both been laundered hundreds of times over the years. If I were to guess what caused these mysterious oil blotches, I would say they came from the perspiration of my socks which I toss into the same hamper as my shirts and the sweat from my socks, I assume, soaked into the white shirts.

Does anyone else notice this happening on their white shirts?

I can't see these stains unless I look really closely and only when I hold them up to the light.

I'm thinking of tossing these shirts since the oil blotches are very obvious now that I know they're there.

 

[JayJay]

Originally Posted by SuitMyself

I noticed something very depressing and disturbing that happened to two white shirts I own (one is a white OCBD and the other is a Lacoste polo): I noticed--for lack of a better way to describe it--what appears to be oil blotches or stains on various parts of the shirts.

I've had both of these shirts for a long time now and they've both been laundered hundreds of times over the years. If I were to guess what caused these mysterious oil blotches, I would say they came from the perspiration of my socks which I toss into the same hamper as my shirts and the sweat from my socks, I assume, soaked into the white shirts.

Does anyone else notice this happening on their white shirts?

I can't see these stains unless I look really closely and only when I hold them up to the light.

I'm thinking of tossing these shirts since the oil blotches are very obvious now that I know they're there.

My previous washing machine developed a leak in which it emited stains that showed up on whites from time to time. It took a couple of washes or so before I realized where the stains were coming from. Unfortunately, a few shirts were ruined.

 

[bowtielover]

Never wash with other colors, I like to use oxy clean for my whites. It really helps the shirts to keep their color.

 

[imageWIS]

I launder my white items together, sans any other color, in cold water, with a colorless, odorless liquid detergent and hang to dry. I have 10 year old shirts that still look brand new.

 

[NoVaguy]

I now do the occasional diluted vinegar soak followed by oxyclean (or other brands of the same Oxy stuff) soak treatments (I've only done this twice, though it worked great but not perfectly both times). My particular treatment is the one suggested by putthison web site, (soak #1 - cup of vinegar mixed with gallon of hot water for maybe an hour or two; step #2 brush/scrub troublesome stains with something like a scoop of oxyclean and cup of hotwater, leave solution for maybe a couple hours; soak #3 - scoop of oxyclean and gallon or two of hot water and soak for 3 hours to overnight). But you can change around with the concentrations and quantities as needed and skip the brush/scrub intermediate step if not need.

In between soak treatments, I'm just adding a scoop of oxyclean to my normal laundry with Tide detergent when I launder the shirts. I think that helps to prevent build up.

I had previously just laundered normally and had been wearing extra strength antiperspirants and just retiring the shirts as the antiperspirant stained them, but the vinegar/oxyclean treatment pretty much brought all my old shirts back out of retirement. Now I have a pretty full closet of shirts where the white just pops out, which is why I've given up on buying stuff (no space for more stuff, quite a few old shirts looking better and back in the rotation).

One thing I've noticed (or at least think I noticed) is that the vinegar plus oxyclean soaks seem to make my non-iron shirts a lot less stiff (but they still hold a great press compared to must iron). Just not as stiff as I remember them being, compared to must-iron shirts. I think the soaks might wear away at the non-iron coating.

 

[ruben]

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

Are we?

maybe?

I had white shirts that got unremovable, unpleasant underarm buildup, this problem ceased when I stopped using anti-persperant.

Nowadays I'll occasionally get a bit of a stain if I sweat a lot in a shirt, this seems to come out easy with a little attention when laundering.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Originally Posted by ruben

maybe?

I had white shirts that got unremovable, unpleasant underarm buildup, this problem ceased when I stopped using anti-persperant.

Nowadays I'll occasionally get a bit of a stain if I sweat a lot in a shirt, this seems to come out easy with a little attention when laundering.

Same thing happened to me, I switched to the natural DO and that cured the issue.

 

[ruben]

this:http://www.amazon.com/Arm-Hammer-Ess.../dp/B002BX4E0Q ??

 

[jeffersonmc]

I used to toss white t-shirts on the regular (and a couple white lacoste and R.L. polos too) due to staining. I switched to a combination of Crystal underarm stick and a Weleda natural spray and no problems since. Never a yellow armpit any longer. And the combo of the 2 holds up excellent even when bundled up in the winter or in the hot summer. Regular wash with other whites.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Originally Posted by ruben

this:http://www.amazon.com/Arm-Hammer-Ess.../dp/B002BX4E0Q ??
thats the stuff. My local wegmans has it for under $3/stick. ($2.75ish).