My kids look like I never wash their clothes

[marciagetscreamed]

Ds1 is 4 and at school. School has lovely white logo'd polo necks as their uniform.

EVERY SINGLE DAY ds comes home looking, quite frankly, shocking. Like he's been in a zombie panto - chalk and water pasted up all over himself, what seems like permanent marker on his face, something other substance similar to foundation that absolutely will not wash out.

When school send me pics of his progress all I can think is "Jesus, he looks filthy".

I have tried lemon juice, in wash stain remover, boil washing, bicarbonate of soda. I have Googled the shit out of this.

Can anyone please tell me how I can make his white school shirts look vaguely respectable?

White polo shirts here too...I have been known to pour neat bleach on the stains then put them in the wash...it's probably totally not recommended but it gets them out.

Are you washing using non-bio? If yes I'd try switching to bio.

Vanish spray carpet stain remover, it’s in a pink bottle. Spray it in on a few minutes before putting the clothes in the wash, it’s amazing stuff.

And yes to bio detergent.

Napisan.

Another neat bleacher. Be careful, but it works!

yes to bio detergent.
soda cystals as addition
and washing as hot as possible.
and hanging up outside to dry, the uv light bleaches (even in winter!)

I have white polo shirts here too!

Soak in napisan.
Then wash with ace for whites (I get it from the £ shop) in the powder draw with the powder and I also use a whites Dr beckmann sachet thing inside the drum and wash on a 60

I get about half a school year out of 5 t-shirts

Soak them in a bowl of warm water with lots of bleach added Leave them for a few hours then wash. Ink and some marker stains come out like that. Probably not good for the t-shirts but he will grow out of them before they get damaged by the bleach. Not every wash bit occasionally when they are really marked

My DCs were like that for a couple of years til I switched to bio and quite a hot wash. You don’t want an eco at 30 swirl, you need a proper wash.

Careful of neat bleach, I turned all our tee shirts pink and blotchy.

I sometimes rub neat fairy into bad stains and leave it for a day before washing, but I never got on with any actual stain removers.

Retired teacher here. I understand your frustrations! But it sounds like your little boy is having great fun. No one will be judging you if his polo shirt has stains.

Bio powder as it has bleaching agents which liquid doesnt.
Vanish oxy whites in the drum.
40° for a long wash, not the eco or quick program but the longest most comprehensive one.

Jobs a good'un.

Just noticed they are logoed. DS's were plain. The bleach might damage the logo. Maybe leave the top half hanging out of the bowl?

If you wash using bio at 60 you're neutralising all the enzymes! You pre-soak in bio then hot wash but I'd just go for the bleach. I keep a reasonably strong dilution in a spray bottle for cleaning the bathroom and use it to spot treat clothes before a hot wash with powder detergent.

Glad to see these tips! Nothing seems to get the bloody dry wipe marker stains out what’s wrong with using pencils
Although I’ve noticed has a boy after all girls before that his T-shirt stays clean because he doesn’t seem to take his jumper off, but if he has a cold comes home with snot all over his jumper sleeves despite pockets full of tissues!

Another one for bleach here! I use one of those bleach sprays you use in the kitchen, squirt on the bad bits then dab around. It helps but they still end up looking grubby.

Just noticed they are logoed. DS's were plain. The bleach might damage the logo. Maybe leave the top half hanging out of the bowl?

I damaged the logo with bleach...went a weird pinky colour!

Someone told me to spray hairspray on marker stains and it worked on my Dd’s White polo shirts!

I find washing up liquid is far more successful at getting stains out than stain removers. A good scrub with some fairy get most of it out, then a 60 wash with some whitener. ACE is supposed to be the best but haven't seen it in the shop So I grabbed any old one from the bargain shop. Dds polo tops and socks are still sparkling white, even after being splattered with tomato based things at lunch too.

When my 3 (girl, boy, girl) were little there was no uniform. Youngest girl always looked like a waif and stray that had attached herself to our family. Clean white polo short wouldn't have made any difference.

Ds had white polo shirts I remember the pain of it well. I used to resort to soaking in a bucket of cold water and bleach. Don't use hot water before it goes in the washing machine or it will set the stain and you'll never get it out.

I used Morrisons own whitening powder and it's really good. DDs polos shirts have come out well. Still not looking brand new, never will, but it's much better.

If you wash using bio at 60 you're neutralising all the enzymes!

most washing mashines are cold fill, so plenty of time for the enzymes to work. and once it get too hot for them the soap part takes over.