laundry help, my shirts - especially tshirts that are dark keeping coming out of the

[Emily in IL]

wash with tiny spots that look like oil stains. Now, I'm hard enough on my clothes with cooking, but it's my good ones that I purposely don't have on while cooking so I can go out sometimes. We use Gain liquid and oxiclean, everything is dissolved before placing in clothes, and we use dryer sheets....any idea of the culprit or cause and the cure? Thanks in advance.

 

btw we've also done the home made laundry soap with the water, borax, phels napa, washing soda - can't recall if we had same problem then.

thanks

[staceyobu]

We have the same problem. No idea what causes it. I'll be watching this. We use clear and free detergent, no softener, and have a new washing machine (it was happening with the old one too).

[TXMomof4]

I have the same issue. If I treat the spots with a stain stick and wash them again, generally they come clean. I don't have any idea what's causing it. The only thing I can figure is ds gets hold of me with greasy hands or something. I don't think I'm that much of a slob all the time.

[AHASRADA]

I'm no expert, but I think these clothing items might be getting contaminated from oil on other items in the same load. If the soap does remove the oil from the clothes, where does it go? Into the water, where it might well re-deposit itself onto the nearest piece of clothing as the water is being drained.

 

This doesn't happen to me often (I don't think we have grease on our clothes too often anyway), but it has from time to time. This was always my assumption.

 

I would say, try washing "dirty" clothes separately from nicer items, and see if that takes care of it.

 

HTH,

[Oakblossoms]

I get it too sometimes and it doesn't matter what detergent I use. I hardly every use oil in my cooking and I don't cook meat. I used to think it was actually detergent spots. I've only noticed it once since I started making my own soap with Fels. I'm pretty sure that shirt was already stained though.

 

It does seem to only happen to my shirts and down the front. So, I'm pretty sure it's something I ate;)

[VaKim]

Dryer sheets will cause oily spots if they are against a piece of clothing for very long (like if you leave the clothes in the dryer for a bit after it has stopped). Also, if you put more than a couple dryer sheets in at a time, this will happen.

[melissel]

It does seem to only happen to my shirts and down the front. So, I'm pretty sure it's something I ate;)

 

Uh, yeah, me too :tongue_smilie: I was sure something was wrong with my washing routine--my loads were too big, the washer wasn't agitating enough, the detergent was leaving a residue, etc. But then I realized that they spots were only ever on the fronts of my shirts! If it's the same in your case, I'm going to vote for food stains. Is it possibly that some of them come from small, oily fingerprints, perhaps? It wasn't until some starting showing up on my sleeves that I realized that DD4 (younger at the time) was using me as a napkin when she cuddled up against my arm :glare:

 

High-quality dish detergent will take it out. Dawn is usually recommended, but I have ancient bottles of Palmolive handed down from an elderly relative, and that works fine too. What's so annoying is that the darn stains don't usually become apparent until after you've washed and dried the shirts. Then they're clear as day, so you have to treat and rewash!

[Mrs Mungo]

I read somewhere (I forget where) that sometimes spots like these are caused by using too much detergent, particularly in HE washers.

Edited May 13, 2010 by Mrs Mungo
gah, what is with my typos today!? Sheesh!