Removing sun cream stains from white cotton clothing - is it possible?

[SwedishEdith]

Every summer I fall for the "buy a light white cotton top" and every time, it's stained with sun cream the first time I wear it. I never learn. Is there a 100% successful way to get it all bright white again?

UV takes it out, I've found, even when the stains are very bright yellow. Hang it in the sun soaking wet and resoak and rehang if it's not all gone the first time.

YY to sun.

Also, lemon juice on the stains would help the sun process

@strawberriesarenot Thanks. I did dry it in the sun and it's faded a little but may just keep trying. And @00100001 - thanks, never thought to try lemon juice on it.

It's so bloody annoying though - every time!

Buy mineral sunscreen and it won't happen. It's chemical sunscreens that go yellow.

Simples!

Sneaky stuff, sunscreen, because nothing shows on the garment when you take it off. It's the laundering that makes the stains come up. The trick is to prevent them in the first place by spraying collars, reveres and cuffs with oxygen-based stain remover before washing.

If you forget and the garment comes out of the machine and surprises you with manky yellow stains when you're pegging it out, stop. Do not let the garment dry. Spray the stain liberally with the oxygen bleach, let soak for a few minutes, and wash the garment again before it has a chance to dry out.

The only way I know to remove established stains, though, is to use sunlight. And even then UK sunlight often isn't strong enough.

Thanks @Dilbertian - I'm not in the UK atm and the sun is very strong so will see what I can do. I think what I will do is learn to stop buying white cotton clothing. And use mineral sunscreen - which I'd never heard of @GuyFawkesDay

We've just had some success with mostly getting the stains out of a shirt my daughter brought back from a gap year. The stains would have been a few months old ... Anyway, I used laundry soap on all the stains, rinsed it, washed it, soaked it in vanish (well, non-brand equivalent), washed it - better but not perfect. Soaked it again in freshly made up solution and washed again, can only see a couple of marks on the sleeves because we were looking for it. (white with blue pattern rather than completely white)

Haven't hung outside yet (though I'd suggested to my daughter we do that too)

Try using a facial oil cleanser on the stains before washing, something cheap. Then a little scrub with a vanish bar. It worked for me last week!