How to keep shirts white

[Tobaiass22]

Hi all

Eldest just started secondary school and wears white shirts

How do you keep these shirts white and new looking?

When I was at secondary myself I remember my shirts looking off white, and the neckline faded, and underarms on the shirt yellowing or stiff with deodorant

I remember seeing other children's shirts looking as though they had just taken them from the wrapper new

So please give me tips on this

My coats and jackets don't stink because I don't wear them next to my skin and take them off when I get indoors. I tell children to do the same. When we get home I air things which is just putting them on a hanger and hooking it on the top of a door for a while. That usually makes them smell fresh, especially since we don't have smoking indoors anymore. Unless by fresh people mean smelling of washing liquid.

There are bonkers headteachers who insist on school blazers being worn at all times because they have a fantasy of what a smart school is, but normal people take outer layers of clothing off when it's warm or put them on when it's cold. I don't run around in a playground any more but I go running and when I do I don't do it in my coat.

Thanks I put it in darker colour load so probably something else ran. Dried it in the sun and it helped a bit, will make sure nothing dark in next time! Thanks

Of course you wash blazers, coats and jackets??

To op, whites alone, no fabric Conditioner, daz and vanish on a hot wash and dried in sunshine if possible.

Glow white

Napisan, ariel pod and 40 degree wash works a treat.

I don't @Sunnyqueen. I sometimes take them to the dry cleaners but not usually because I tend not to make my coats and jackets dirty or imagine that I stink.

Wash whites alone and never wash below 40C. Anything lower and they will go grey.

I used to wash daily with oxy stain remover. Every few weeks I’d get a giant metal pan and my late mum’s laundry tongs and boil the whites on the hob. You’ll be surprised what comes out of them. Socks I gave a damned good scrub with a white bar soap and if needed, a nail brush.
i washed blazers every holiday they had or when they messed them up.
Jumpers were changed and washed daily, as were skirts and trousers, until they got to about 15 and I went to work leaving them to see themselves to the bus stop, which in when they started flinging on the clothes they wore the day before even though they knew there were plenty of clean items.
I’m afraid I suffer with intense OCD which is why I was like that. They also showered and washed their hair every morning. I know they were maybe too clean but I’m still very particular now. I have to be. I’m a professional housekeeper. 🤣

Washing blazers weekly? Even wool ones? That ridiculous and will ruin them quickly. A brush. Sponge out stains. Hang outside. Dry clean occasionally.

I did wash coats and jackets either every school break, every weekend when the wearing was daily or during the week when they made a mess on them (mud or whatever).
why would you not wash a coat? I also polished shoes and washed P.E. trainers. I wanted my children to be clean and tidy at school.

Never had wool ones. That would be suicide. Most schools have synthetic blazers. They can be washed exactly the same as skirts and trousers.

You are not a child though. Children are made to go into the playground in the cold. They run about and coats can get dirty quickly. Not only that but they get knocked off of pegs onto dusty floors, get wet paint on them from bringing a still damp drawing or paints model home, or chalk from the playground if the school allows it, or their break time fruit down it. Anything can happen. Older children are more often than not made to wear blazers inside in the summer, and if you have had a teenage boy you will know how much they sweat and how ripe that can smell sometimes.
You get some and some when it comes to parents and children. You get the parents who I have worked for whose children’s coats are muddy and hanging up ready for school the next day along with similar muddy shoes and a child and parent that are ok with it, or a child that would like their things washed and the parent refuses, or a child that is fussy along with the parents, or a child that isn’t fussy but has fussy parents. We all come with different ideas.
my children went to school with completely clean h inform top to bottom each day. That was me. How they came out of school was a different matter but I always prided myself on them being spotless when I delivered them.
You personally don’t see why people would wash children’s coats and others on here don’t see why you wouldn’t wash them. No big deal. Each to their own.

🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮 you don't wash blazers coats or jackets?!?? I have news for you, they absolutely do stink you're just accustomed to the smell.

Modern blazers are all polyester I think ? Therefore they are prone to getting sweaty and stinky I imagine. They are washable, but like most school uniform now they are an environmental disaster. All that micro plastic. My dcs thankfully don’t have blazers.
I had a pure wool blazer at school, they never got sweaty or very dirty, we only wore them for an hour a day, the walk to and from school. An occasional sponge over or dry clean was all that was needed, much better for the environment.

@Hymnulop there is no need to get up in the air and insult my personal hygiene or sense of smell. I'm not deluded: my jackets and coats don't smell of body odour because I shower every day, use deodorant, wear a clean shirt and crucially, take my coat off before I get sweaty.

Therefore I am confident I don't need to wash them. But if you or your child's jackets do smell then of course you should do something about it. There's no need to get upset about it or think other people are commenting on your standards of cleanliness. Just do what makes you happy.

It would make me very unhappy if someone said to my child for instance: "I have news for you. They [you] absolutely do stink. You're just accustomed to it."

That would be stupid - you can do a lot of things on the internet but you can't smell people - and worse, would be the words of a complete fucking bitch who was taking a chat with a stranger on Mumsnet a bit too seriously.

Anyway, I recommend taking jackets off when it gets a bit warm but it's really up to you how you deal with your personal hygiene and that of your child. Just so long as no one over reacts and is rude to anyone, that's all that matters.

Ooh you've really taken that personally. They may not smell of body odour but they absolutely do smell. Generally house smell, cooking smells, pollution etc etc. They need washing like everything we wear. Even trainers need washing. I wouldn't walk up to your kid and say ew your coat needs a wash and nor did I say that 🙄

No, I haven't taken it personally @Hymnulop. Did you mean it personally? You might find it hard to believe but though not sterile, my house doesn't smell because we wash and hoover and throw the rubbish out and don't smoke and if we cook smelly food we put on the extractor fan and leave the windows open. Like most people really. There's nothing wrong with smelly food, is there?

But why should I care and why should you? As I said if you detect smells in your house or on your person you should take whatever steps to deal with them you deem necessary. Trainers are a tricky thing and shoes too. You can try putting trainers in the washing machine but once the sweat sinks in you have to throw them away or put up with the smell. In that case, I'd advise not taking them off unless you have to like at airport security.

BTW I'm very sure you wouldn't walk up to me or my child and say we smelled.

I disagree. They might not smell of bo for example, but they definitely don’t smell fresh.

coats and jackets that don’t get washed get a weird smell, bit like a charity shop smell. They may not be dirty, but they definitely don’t smell fresh and you can smell that not fresh smell standing next to the person wearing it…

That's what I do quick was at 30c with oxygen bleach then normal wash at 40c for whites. Works well for me

Wash the shirts separately with a scoop of oxy powder. Blazer washed every week and a clean jumper every day.

Proper shower with soap or shower jelly instead of shower gel. DD also finds shaving made a difference.

Don't mix whites
Use Bio-Washing powder/liquid
I also use Zoflora on the arm pits every 2-3 weeks to get all remaining sweat out of them.
Dry outside if possible.

Blazer - ours was dry clean only so it went during half-term. Each weekend it was treated with Febreeze and small stains sponge cleaned in the evening.

It's the teenage young man smell that's impossible to get out of bed linen. We've even changed the mattress which did help before that it was vile

@Workinghardeveryday how do you know you can always tell? You can only tell about the ones you can smell. Those you can't smell, you can't tell. Unless perhaps you''re a bloodhound.

@limitedperiodonly lol, it has been said 😂.

I see what you are saying, I just mean when standing next to someone if they are wearing a coat or jacket that hasn’t been washed for a while you can smell it. If it has been washed but lost it’s freshness it smells of nothing. After that nothing smell has gone it gets a not fresh smell if that makes sense?

Try sainsburys hero wash liquid, gets the sweaty smell outof DS sports kit so might work on sheets.