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Cleaning my Shirts

Real estate

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Hey Guys,

How do you clean your shirts? I usually get the nice Italian made shirts and shell out a few hundred for each (but never pay retail- thats against my religion). I've always hand washed these shirts using luke warm water with a pinch of detergent because I really baby them. I use a soft brush if there are any occasional stains as well as for the collar and the cuffs. My question is how the heck do I get the collar clean? With my white shirts it leaves a brown strip and my dark shirts seem kinda faded from my natural body oils that the stains from. I shower every morning before I dress but at the end of the day that collar stain is there. And no, I'm not some greasy sweat drenched kinda guy. After I wash it, it does fade quite a bit but it is still there. That part that bother me is on some shirts, the stains are on the visible side of the collar in the middle of the shirt's collar. Should I bring my shirts for the occasional dry clean, will that get rid of it?? Or is this something that everyone has to live with??
 

swiego

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I think it is something to live with (to a degree) but I have found some ways to reduce the effect.

1. When showering, really scrub the neck area. I used to just soap and rinse that area off. Now I use one of those exfoiliating gloves and really scrub the neck area. It's made a marked difference.

2. Particularly on hotter days, try to minimize how long you wear the collared dress shirts. I usually take them off the moment I get home. I used to lounge around in my fine dress shirts for hours after getting some, and sometimes even fell asleep in them depending on how many drinks we had the night before
smile.gif
Cutting out that nonsense has helped extend the life of my better shirts.

3. Be smarter about collar size. I used to err on the side of shirts with collars a bit too tight. Now I err on the side of collars that are a bit loose. Tight collars seem to scrub off more skin especially if they are buttoned up and worn with a tie.

4. I'm rougher with my shirts when washing the collars. With white shirts I'll soak the collars in the strongest bleach I can find, if necessary.
 

kdaust

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I just use a toothbrush and some laundry soap (sunlight soap actually). Gets most of them out. Especially if they're not old, and haven't been ironed over numerous times...
 

MTM

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SHOUT is the answer. Spray the collar an cuffs at the end of the day and leave in the laundry basket for the day you're ready to do your wash. On the day you do your laundry wash the collar and cuffs by hand under running water(Med-hot). Add Oxiclean to what ever detergent you use. I suggest you do that religiously when you get new shirts and you will never experience this issue again.
 

MTM

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By the way do not use a brush on your shirts, it's so harsh on fine fabrics and you will shorten the life of your shirts.
 

Septavius

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Originally Posted by MTM
SHOUT is the answer. Spray the collar an cuffs at the end of the day and leave in the laundry basket for the day you're ready to do your wash. On the day you do your laundry wash the collar and cuffs by hand under running water(Med-hot). Add Oxiclean to what ever detergent you use. I suggest you do that religiously when you get new shirts and you will never experience this issue again.

+1 on Shout. I use the Shout Ultra Gel with built in application brush. It only needs a few minutes to set in before washing the clothes. Works well for the collar and all sorts of other stains.
 

DoTheGrownup

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Originally Posted by swiego

2. Particularly on hotter days, try to minimize how long you wear the collared dress shirts. I usually take them off the moment I get home. I used to lounge around in my fine dress shirts for hours after getting some


Keeping your dress shirts on while getting some is a sure way to get stains on them.

devil.gif
 

HomerJ

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Originally Posted by swiego
I think it is something to live with (to a degree) but I have found some ways to reduce the effect. 1. When showering, really scrub the neck area. I used to just soap and rinse that area off. Now I use one of those exfoiliating gloves and really scrub the neck area. It's made a marked difference. 2. Particularly on hotter days, try to minimize how long you wear the collared dress shirts. I usually take them off the moment I get home. I used to lounge around in my fine dress shirts for hours after getting some, and sometimes even fell asleep in them depending on how many drinks we had the night before
smile.gif
Cutting out that nonsense has helped extend the life of my better shirts. 3. Be smarter about collar size. I used to err on the side of shirts with collars a bit too tight. Now I err on the side of collars that are a bit loose. Tight collars seem to scrub off more skin especially if they are buttoned up and worn with a tie. 4. I'm rougher with my shirts when washing the collars. With white shirts I'll soak the collars in the strongest bleach I can find, if necessary.

Lounging in a fine dress shirt sounds good to me. Stripping it off as soon as possible so I don't stain it.. that seems like your life revolves around your shirts more than your shirts revolve around your life, if that makes sense. It's just clothing isn't it?
peepwall[1].gif
 

orthofrancis

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Starch on the inside of the collar will deflect some of the skin/dirt/oils. My shirt collars are cleaner since I've been doing this, with no noticeable wear.

+1 on the detergent on the neck before washing - works well.

I hadn't thought about the looser collar bit, but it makes sense. Sounds like an experiment is needed.
 

billiebob

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I use spray n wash stick when I take the shirt off, then scrub the collars with detergent before laundering them. This treatment is quite harsh but it's gotta be done if the shirt is to last a year without becoming visibly yellowed. My collars wear rather rapidly from the scrubbing. I'll try shout, but I doubt it will work without scrubbing.
 

swiego

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Oops, that should be "getting home" instead of "getting some" but I guess the damage is done by now
smile.gif
 

swiego

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Originally Posted by HomerJ
Lounging in a fine dress shirt sounds good to me. Stripping it off as soon as possible so I don't stain it.. that seems like your life revolves around your shirts more than your shirts revolve around your life, if that makes sense. It's just clothing isn't it?
peepwall[1].gif

It depends on your income. If I were made of money, I could afford to treat clothing like junk and replace it whenever necessary. I suspect that for many people here, if not most, we are (a) capable of affording some nice clothing but (b) not capable of affording so much of it that we can treat it like crap and not feel any consequences. For me, if I can keep my clothing going, that's more money left over for the things that my life DOES resolve around, such as travel to visit my girlfriend, family and friends, which tends to be my largest expense. Also, some of my nicer clothes are gifts. They are precious to me beyond their label, fit or sticker price. A birthday gift of a very nice dress shirt given by a loved one is something I want to both wear, as well as protect.
 

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