Suncream has stained white clothes

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Been discovering yellow/brown marks on white clothes after washing, and realised it seems to be linked to suncream.

Anyone else had this? Any tips for getting rid of the marks? I can’t use bleach as some of the clothes are only partly white (eg striped).

Also any tips for avoiding it happening again? Been using Nivea suncream so will swap brands but not sure if that will be enough.

thank you

thanks everyone- I think Ultrasun is the way forward for future and I have a few things to try for the wrecked items.

I hate to tell you but Ultrasun does stain. I still use it though. I just don't wear white. I think it was 30 sport I used but I can't remember.

Yes I have read the sport Ultrasun stains. But not the regular one. I will give the regular Ultrasun a go and report back after holiday (& laundry..).

Sun cream also ruins car paintwork, we had white patches appear on our black car, couldn’t polish them out, when we traded it in, we had £500 knocked off as garage would need to sort the paintwork. Never touch your car after applying.

Wow 😮 what is in this stuff!!

I pretty much got rid of some this week by scrubbing with washing up liquid and leaving it for an hour then rewashing.

Thanks Captain - was that after it had been through the wash already? Bit worried I have cooked the stains in by washing at 40.

it clearly saying on the bottle not to come into contact with fabric until the cream has absorbed

How do you square this with the need to reapply? Sure, in the morning you can apply sunscreen and wait for a while before getting dressed. Who can always be sure of doing that to reapply? Are you stripping in a toilet cubicle and waiting 15 mins there? It's not so easy to hold clothes out of place for a sufficient time.

I had washed it already and hung it in the sunshine all day which made no difference. Then treated it with the washing up liquid.

Thank you, another option to try!!

Yep sunshine is your friend here, works a treat!

All you need is white vinegar. I buy the cheapest white vinegar from Lidl, I always have several bottles of it here.

The stuff is INSANE at stain removal. Suncream stains, spag bol on a white tshirt, baked in mud and grass stains on a football kit that spent a few days ignored at the bottom of a wash basket. Dried on blood stains, black grease marks from a bike chain. All completely gone.

Just run the item under a cold tap then wring out so it's damp, not dripping. Squeezy bottle of vinegar, cover the stain really liberally and leave it for a couple of hours, then wash as normal.

The only thing it's ever failed me on is pen marks. Everything else, any type of food/mud/grass/generic dirt I've had a 100% success rate with.

I’m finding that the more modern sunscreens don’t stain but traditional brands like Nivea still stain and always have. Last two years I’ve use Ultra Violette Extreme Screen spf 50 and not had any yellow staining!

@Precipice - I didn't work in R&D or marketing... the bottles just state the facts - suncream can stain fabric. What users choose to do with that information is up to them.
Of course the reality is that most people don't read the bottle, so they don't realise, and then stuff gets stained.

It's a common SPF ingredient that causes the stains - I assume all the product developers for all the big brands have yet to find one that works, doesn't stain and is at a sensible price.

@ViscountDreams have you found white vinegar ever takes the colour out of coloured items? Thank you

I ruined my favourite white top last year, by trying to bleach it out. For some reason it went pink. I was gutted!

No, never.

I've used it many times on colours. Through the summer I tend to use it nearly every day on the collars of dc's school polos (one red, one yellow) due to suncream residue, so they're covered in it regularly - never had any fading.

I add bicarbonate of soda to my white wash and everything comes out nice and white