How to get white school polo shirts nice again?

[Propertyofhood]

As DS wasn't wearing a jumper for most of the summer term, his white school polo shirts are looking very grubby, even after washing. I don't want to buy new ones as they are quite expensive (have to have school badge) and also these ones are perfectly fine, and fit him still, they are just a bit 'worn' looking .

How can I get them nice again? They don't have to be pristine white, just the marks off the collar and some faint but visible dirty marks on the front. Am I best spot treating with bleach? I don't want to bleach in the washing machine (should you even do that?) as I don't want to bleach the school badge. Is there another product that would work? I already have the vanish white powder but that doesn't seem to work all that well, maybe I'm not using enough?

If you cannot already tell, housekeeping isn't my thing!

Sorry OP, I’ve nothing solid to suggest but watching with interest!

What powder are you using I remember my auntie swearing my ace whitening for my cousin’s cricket whites. Worth a go?

I'd spot treat with a stain remover or washing up liquid or a household soap bar. I wouldn't use bleach as it could make the polo shirt go yellow

I use ace for whites laundry bleach on my dd polo shirts. She has a blue school badge on them that hasn't been discoloured by the bleach but the white is still very white.

Try soaking them in warm water and washing soda for an hour before putting them in the wash. A bit old fashioned but seems to shifts most things.

Treat stains with a stain remover or baby sterilising spray (Milton spray is good at getting stains out.) hang them in the line (even on an overcast day the sun is genius at helping get rid of stains) then wash with a whitening sachet in the drum of your machine. Hopefully they should be relatively stain free and bright after that. But sometimes spag-bol / baked bean mishaps will never be recoverable.

Isitweekendyet oh I'm glad you have said that - I had visions of people being like 'oh my god, she doesn't even know how to wash her kids school shirts' 😂

I just use Ariel tablets (although they are colour ones thinking about it). I used powder for a long time, thinking how good I was helping the environment with my cardboard box and everyone says how much better powder is etc - until I realised that the reason all my clothes were fading at such a horrific rate was because I was using way to much 'just a bit more, for good measure' washing powder! So I went back to tabs to be safe!

dementedpixie thanks, oh yes good point about the bleach making it go yellow, in fact I think that might have happened to me before a long time ago now thinking about it....

But sometimes spag-bol / baked bean mishaps will never be recoverable.

Oh, you've met my DS then To be fair he isn't as bad these days, when he was in Reception I really did have to chuck out his shirts as there was no hope!

The colour tablets wont have bleaches in them. Try soaking in the vanish first before washing

Vanish oxy whitening powder (or supermarket equivalent), hot wash (minimum 60 degrees) hang out in the sunshine.

Sometimes I have to do DSs twice - I really don't know how he gets so dirty!!

As a PP said, direct sunlight is a winner here.

A bleach soak then launder and dry in the sin works for me.
IME things that come out of the wash with e.g. tomato stains still showing end up entirely white after a few hours sunlight.

These are fab suggestions, thanks so much!

My DS is the same. I swear he can get oily tomato sauce all over himself even if it's not on the menu. A mystery.

I discovered the wonders of Milton spray on MN after a generous and misguided relative bought one of my daughters expensive embroidered dresses which quickly got encrusted with food. Milton lifted the stains without scrubbing and also didn't bleach the embroidery.

Also useful for school shirts (thankfully we don't have to have logo ones but Milton shouldn't bleach the logo hopefully)

I soak ds's in weak Milton fluid solution, wash and line dry. Seems to work on everything except whiteboard pen. Not sure if that would work with a logo shirt though.