Getting school shirts white again

[Decafflatteplease]

So, I have 25 (!) school shirts here looking worse for wear. They still fit all my children fine so I'd rather not buy new for September if we can help it. However they are all a bit grey and have various pen/paint/deodorant/sweat marks on them.

We normally wash on 30 and tumble dry (lifes too short to peg out 25 shirts a week)

What can I do to make them any better, if anything or do I just have to buy new?

Thanks

Have you tried a bit of bleach?

Soak in a bucket with Napisan overnight? Then wash as normal.

I think, but not certain, I've read that before on here.

Good luck!

Soak in white Vanish powder, give them a proper wash at at least 40 degrees, hotter if they can take it and hang them in the sun to dry.

Some really stained bits may need pre-treating with a relevant Stain Devil - they have ones for paint, pen etc. Deodorant/sweat marks can be pre-treated with a paste made up of the Vanish powder before soaking.

Then just wash whites-only together with a scoop of vanish each time.

How do you wash the shirts usually? All together as a whites wash? If you wash with bio powder, not liquid, gel etc it has added whiteners in it and that helps. Glowhite or similar can help to restore whiteness. https://www.dr-beckmann.co.uk/products/glowhite/. And hanging outside in the sun, if available, good for tackling stains. But nothing is a miracle worker and school shirts live hard lives!

Good Housekeeping ran a test and said the Vanish version is best. www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/house-and-home/household-advice/a676759/the-clever-trick-to-get-your-whites-back-to-white/

Getting them out on the line in the best I’m afraid. The sunlight on them makes a massive difference

I always do a prewash with stain remover in the prewash drawer for every whites wash. This keeps them white. If you wash in warm water straight away without either soaking in cold water or doing a cold prewash it sets the stain. If I had stains to get rid of I'd spray with stain remover beforehand too.

I agree pegging them outdoors helps too

Get some Ace bleach for whites. You could soak them overnight to get them back to white, then once they are white put it in the wash every few weeks then they won’t go dingy again.

Nancy Birtwhistle makes a lot of her own cleaning products and swears by using green bleach. I follow her on Insta. Her cleaning hacks fascinate me. (Yes I know I need to get out more).

Scottish schools went back last week so I had the same issue and my sister recommended Napisan and they all look brand new. I did a wee dylon on the school trousers and jumpers and they came up a treat.

Are they cotton? If so, wash at 90 degrees. WithONLY other pure white cottons. The soaking in water with bleach will help get rid of the stains, and the Ace for whites or the glowhite as mentioned above. I put the Ace in every time I do a hot white wash. Keeps everything bright white.
if you mix colours with your whites they will go grey. Divide your washing correctly.

Wash with vanish powder then put in the sunshine (UV).

Wash with vanish at 40 degrees, peg out till almost dry, pop in dryer for 10 mins to get rid of creases. Or if dry, pop in with a damp sock! Hang up immediately. 😊😊

Thanks all I forgot to say we always wash just the white shirts together as they are a full load 😂

I've bought some vanish soaking stuff (well Tesco version). I presume I'll need to soak them in the bath as there's alot of them. How much water and how much powder? It says one scoop per 5litres of water but I'll need it a few inches deep in the bath surely?

Maybe I should just buy new ones!

I recently soaked my children's school shirts and polo shirts. Basically, I followed the instructions on the oxy powder box which was to soak for an hour with the powder and usual laundry liquid, then wash as normal. I added Spanish whitening tablets, and washed at 40 when I usually wash at 30. They came up really nice.

Soak in napisan and a hot wash (60) with bio washing powder, then hang them out in the sun

I'd soak overnight in a washing soda and white vinegar with water solution, then wash with washing powder and no fabric conditioner.

I'm assuming that you use fabric conditioner, and the grey colour will be the build up of that. Use white vinegar as "fabric conditioner" when washing in future.