Pretreating shirts

[chorse123]

What do you use for stains on the collars and cuffs when you wash your shirts? The stain remover I used--bought in London--has run out. Any advice? I bought a bar of Fels Naptha soap at the grocery store, though haven't tried it yet.

 

[Ed13]

I use either Shout or Spray & Wash. What seems to make the difference is letting the shirt soak in water for a day or two after spraying.

 

[trogdor]

You can get Shout in a little bottle with a soft red plastic brush attached to the top; the brush is pretty gentle on cotton and it's great for working the soap into the stain, especially on general collar and cuff grime.

 

[Fabienne]

Usually, just pretreating for a while with pure liquid detergent before washing is sufficient. For tough jobs (had a case recently) and only on white/off white shirts, I swear by blue Dawn + Hydrogen peroxide in equal parts. I let the shirt soak in that mixture and rub once in a while until the stains disappear. That last shirt took too days. It did not seem to damage the fabric in the least (cotton/linen). Otherwise, I like K2R from Germany.

 

[demeis]

Shampoo. Its ment to get oil and dirt out of your hair and that is pretty much whats on your collar and cuffs. Works great.

 

[arkirshner]

Oxyclean. even takes out yellow stains under arms

 

[Horace]

Oxyclean.  even takes out yellow stains under arms

I've started using this product. Good stuff.

Kabbaz has an article on laundering shirts.

 

[dah328]

How do you use the oxyclean to remove sweat stains? Â I've tried with no success. Â Perhaps it was due to the aluminum-containing anti-perspirant that I wore at the time. Here's an earlier thread on cleaning shirts: http://www.styleforum.net/cgi-bin....;t=4142 dan

 

[Phil]

Oxyclean may be the best invention ever produced if you have children. As the dad of a 2 year old, I have found oxyclean has been a tremendous help. All you do is start the machine, put in the oxclean powder, throw in the clothes, and let them soak for like 30 min, more if the stains are worse. You dont have to pre treat any specific spots. The stuff is amazing. You have to try it to understand how amazing it really is. It literally, in 2 years, has NEVER failed to get a stain out, and 2 year olds are masters of making a mess of themselves.

 

[bch]

Oxyclean. even takes out yellow stains under arms

Use deodorant and not anti-perspirant and you can stop worrying about those yellow stains altogether. I used to stain my shirts all the time. It got expensive, not to mention discouraging with custom shirts. Changed to deodrant and haven't had a stain since.

 

[johnw86]

I use Shout on the collars and cuffs. I don't soak them for a day before washing, however. I put the Shout on, then start the washer...after it's about half filled (a couple of minutes), I add the shirts. It seems to work just fine.

 

[Vespa]

A vote for Oxyclean.

I add the Oxyclean first just set the neptune to pre-soak and ta da.

Works great. If one must wear the anti-p I have noticed that the Arm and Hammer brand seems to leave little or no stains compared to some of the others.

 

[trogdor]

If one must wear the anti-p I have noticed that the Arm and Hammer brand seems to leave little or no stains compared to some of the others.

I'll second that -- since I switched to the A&H anti-perspirant, I haven't yellowed a single shirt.