I CANNOT get his shirts clean. Already!

this is why we have navy polo shirts!

but I would question if they need to stay white, he is a boy after all.

For stained polo shirts at least (and it makes you look like a slattern) ...but hang them out in daylight -so if you have a rotary drier on the front line.
(Found daylight is the absolute best stain remover for tomato puree type stains)
If when they are dry they are still mucky just leave them out come rain and shine - if it hasn't rained on them for a while dampen them - when stains have gone wash again ...it took two weeks once but I've saved two polo shirts that were so badly stained they were only fit for the bin...

And Vinegar/lemon juice/cream of tartar is supposed to be good for grass stains...

And YY to normal soap before I saw sense and started buying dark coloured/black socks for DDs white socks with filthy soles were the bane of my life - found the absolute best thing was to rub them with soap in warm water before washing (this works for the pads on my steam mop too )

Four boys here in white shirts and polos for School... Clean shirt or polo every day and then on Friday I spot treat any stain and the collars/cuffs and underarm! Then they soak overnight in napisan or similar white treatment from supermarket. Then a whites only wash and try and hang in sunlight.

But I can still end up with some marks and they won't be white white by the end of the year. I do get some new school shirts during the year, Xmas time normally but meh they just wear the stained/slightly grey ones as well.

Also an eczema sufferer to have to be very careful with washing liquid.

I think whoever decided on white for school uniform was a sadistic bastard!

this is the gold stuff i mean. It got bike chain oil out of my dc white karate kit yesterday (and they have been washed several times since so not a fresh stain) so I'm fairly impressed with it!

Mychildrenarebarmy - thank you SO much. I will definitely try that. I've been scouring supermarket shelves for something to address the smell but everything seems aimed at stains. Today's offerings are currently soaking in a bucket of biotex outside the back door!

stonecircle I use this on my husband's sports clothing and it is the only thing that stops the tom cat smell. www.mysupermarket.co.uk/sainsburys-price-comparison/laundry/halo_proactive_sports_non_bio_liquid_25_washes_1l.html

On white clothes I put neat bleach on any marks and on the collar and if they are just generally looking a bit grubby I squirt in some bleach just before I put the wash on.

Works brilliantly but only on whites. Wish my kids wore white school shirts

It seems unreasonably harsh to make him stain treat his own clothes UNLESS it is just a part of sharing out the household chores. And as for making him buy new shirts with his own money - that's just cruel. These marks get there because he's a busy, active child, and because schools are not especially clean places.

Relax. It really, really doesn't matter if he has grass stains or collar/cuff marks. Who, exactly, do you think would be judging? How would it improve his life or yours if you did buy new shirts every few weeks?
Poly cotton goes grey or yellow anyway after a while.

Just replace them when he grows out of them.

Ariel stain remover. I pre-treat ds's shirt cuffs before bunging in the wash. Works marvellously.

Green bar soap from fairy. Not the bathroom one, but they do one for the household. Someone recommended this to me years ago, claiming that it would get petrol/oil from clothes and it did.
Bloody good stuff and knocks the socks of all the over priced stain removers. Its very cheap and a bar lasts.
Arm him with the bar and the shirts and tell him to rub the bar into the cloth. Get a lather going and chuck in the machine with your normal powder.

Or arm him with a bottle of fairy washing up liquid and tell him to do the above.

Rub lemon juice into all the stains and leave for a few minutes before washing - gets all ours out x

Drum into him that he is only allowed to wear each shirt for ONE DAY before putting it in the wash.

That way you can get them reasonably clean- if they've worn a shirt for several days on the trot you can never get them properly clean again.

Persil bio really pongs! Can't believe anyone would say it's low fragrance, it gives me a headache it's so strong.

This thread just makes me believe it's MADNESS to make WHITE a part of any school uniform. they should all wear navy blue or grey.

I heard a long discussion a while ago about bio v. non bio for skin.

Apparently we are the only western country that has non bio. The early bio powders caused skin irritation because they were so strong, but in all the more recent tests there doesn't seem to be any difference for skin between bio and non bio. The key factor seems to be fragrance not the bio enzymes.

you can't boil wash them if they are the non iron ones as they are 60 % polyester.

ds had dirty collars after week 1. The next wash I sprayed collars with vanish and used bio on a 50 wash. they came up clean.

You need bio, for eczema sufferers you can simply rinse cycle them again (it is what I do)

If shirts are white (my DSs are)i even occassionally soak them in water with some neat bleach before washing them !

I soak grubby school shirts in water, fairy powder and napisan. Then wash with normal detergent and another scoop of napisan, It works a treat.
Napisan also takes sweat smells out of sports kits when used in the main wash.

Best Buy from Which .....Ariel Actilift.

If they are white then bleach them.

Don't worry. My DC's shirts are always covered in random grass stains, indelible paint and grime round the collars too. I take the view that if they've been washed, that's good enough.

If he's at secondary school, presumably most of the shirt is covered by a blazer anyway? Or by a jumper when the weather turns colder?

Soak over night in cold water and bio powder. Rub soap into particular stains (eg collars, cuffs ). Wash with normal powder plus a dollop of Ace bleach and a stain catcher sheet in the drum.

Ideally , dry outside in the sun ( less of an option now...)

www.vanish.co.uk/products/vanish-gold-oxi-action/vanish-gold-oxi-action-gel - gold gel stuff (have never used it - probably get as good results with washing up liquid!)