Give me all your best Stain removal secrets please!!!

[Bananananna]

This time of year is a bloody nightmare for toddler parents. If it's not ice cream stains - which seem to find themselves up the back of their t-shirts - it's clothing adopting an ugly yellow tinge all around the neck, arms, leg holes from the sunscreen I have to coat him in.

I've tried Vanish (powder and gel stuff). I've tried bicarb of soda. Those haven't worked so I need another plan because whilst I'm happy for him to play in scruffy old clothes plenty of the time, there are occasions where I don't want him looking like Oliver Twist and would like his clothes to be good for more than one use.

I think part of the issue is I can't always treat the stain very quickly. If he's at nursery our we're out then it's a whole day before I can get anything on it and it's well dried in by that point.

I just know some of you will have some magical secrets you can impart on to me

Sunshine! Especially on white. Otherwise as long as you use bio I’d imagine most stains would be able to come out without any treatment. Are you washing on 40? That’s better for stains too.

I know this one is weird but imperial leather soap rubbed on the stain under cold running water really works!

My go to is always washing up liquid, I have Aldi's own brand and it always seem to work. put some washing up liquid on the stain with some water, rub it in and then wash as normal.

Biological washing powder and washing soda and vanish powder

1 tablespoon each with half a washing up bowl of hottish water left overnight for food stains....but cooked tomato is often impossible

Generally works on food stains

vanish spray or gel and a hot wash works for me.
I don't think stain come out on a cool wash

Following with interest as I can’t get suncream out. Food stains yes but sun cream is evil!

This works for everything,use bio detergent to wash , Ariel cold gel is fantastic.

After years of getting pissed off with yellow sun cream stains I’ve found a method that actually removes them!

Dampen the stain with warm water, use Elbow Grease Laundry Soap Bar scrub it in generously on both sides of the fabric, you need to keep wetting the soap bar, let it sit for 15 minutes then reapply. Let it sit for a couple more minutes and spray both sides of the fabric with Elbow Grease Spray, let it soak in put in the machine with biological powder wash on a long cotton wash at 40 degrees. This method does not work with non biological or liquid detergents has to be biological powder, I don’t know why though.

Another vote for sunshine. It really is magic.

Soap bar
Spray

A Tallow and Ash pen. This sounds like I have a stake in the company because I’d never heard of them either until someone recommended me this product, but I promise that I’m just an enthusiastic customer. It’s genuinely a miracle. It’s got stains and grease out of clothes that I’d given up on and sharpie out of a carpet that I thought was ruined forever. Tallow and Ash Stain Remover Pen

Ordinary hairspray will remove biro marks from fabric.

I second this. Elbow grease is like some magic spray. It's so good!

I find cold water works better to rub the stain out and hot water seems like it 'cooks' it in more so harder to get out.

2 parts washing up liquid, 1 part bicarbonate of soda, 1 part hydrogen peroxide. Mix and put on crusty sweat and sun lotion stains. Leave for 1/2 hour rinse and repeat if necessary.

I use wash up liquid on food and oil stains and dry in sun.

Vanish old style soap bar is better than the fancy powder imo.

Look up Nancy Birtwhistle. She is the queen of stain removal. However I’m not sure that even she has a reliable cure for sun cream stains.

Hydrogen peroxide 6%. Removes anything that comes from the body.

I have just successfully cleaned a 10 year old stain off a mattress with it! Mattress now in sun for some UV cleaning.

hydrogen peroxide cleans blood and pit stains too. It’s like magic.

Amazing! Thanks for all the great suggestions. I happened to be in the in Pound Shop this morning and spotted one solitary bar of Elbow Grease soap on the shelf so have picked that up as my first method to try out, then I'll give some of the others a go too.