Suncream stains on school tops

[LGBirmingham]

Has anyone actually found any successful method to get suncream stains out of white polo shirts and tshirts?

So far I've tried soaking in formil white powdered stain remover and washing in the machine with the stain remover added. I've done this twice. Also I'm leaving them outside to bleach in the son which might be having some effect, but will probably require weeks to have a significant impact.

In short, no!

The best advice I can give is to bulk buy the really cheap supermarket ones and accept that many will be trashed after a single use.

Rub neat fairy liquid into the stains. Leave on for a bit then wash as usual.

If I remember correctly, Anne someone the cleaning lady on TikTok said, use a spray cleaner and scrub it in with a toothbrush and leave to soak in before washing. If that doesn’t work, before it dries use Ace fabric bleach. But worth checking first.

I mean they were supermarket ones, it's not the cost of them that's the problem because as you say they are very cheap. It just seems to wasteful if they still fit to chuck them. This may have to be the approach though. If I can't get the stains out I might just keep the less stained ones and save them for next years summer term to avoid trashing the new ones.

I will definitely give this a try. Thanks. How long do you think I should leave it on for?

Thank you. I will try it. When you say spray cleaner do you mean the sort of think you might buy to clean a bathroom? I've never come across ace fabric bleach before either so will look out for it.

Maybe half an hour. Give it a good scrub with a brush. It’s the only thing I have found to work after years of trying .

I will give these methods a go over the next week and report back if anything worked.

No the oxy stuff got vlothes. That said I usually start with spraying stains on clothes with elbow grease if I think they are greasy which sun cream is.

My DC use the Boots stick sun block for school, which looks like an old fashioned solid deodorant. It doesn't stain.

For those white t-shirts that do stain, we then tie-dye them, a couple of times a year, and the DC then use them out of school

Which sun cream is this please that’s stained?

Nancy Birtwhistle's cream cleaner. Its a mix of bicarbonate of soda, washing up liquid and glycerine. Rub it in and then leave it so work over night.
And hanging on the line in the sun always helps!

It doesn’t help with stains already created but we find applying the 8 hour cream at home and leaving it dry in totally before dressing really limits staining. Trying to apply while clothed is always tricky.

It's 3 different brands, nivea, aldi and lidl. All were the sensitive children/baby variety

Any ideas on how to get it out of already stained and washed?!

Not much help on stain removal, but my kids just wear the stained clothes to school. They always come home filthy anyway so I've stopped caring about them looking pristine on their way in. The clothes are clean (if stained) and the kids are washed, that's all that matters.

Tbh mine did too when they were at school!

Hi all, so I tried the washing up liquid tip today. I thought I'd actually got the stains out of the less effected tops and made a significant impact on the badly stained ones but on second inspection I think the stains just show up less when the tops are wet :-(

There is an improvement though for sure. Especially as they've hung outside all day. Should I keep repeating this method or try something else?

I’ve found the same this year. Never had an issue with the Aldi suncream but it even left a yellow stain on my brand new grey vest top 🤦🏻‍♀️

For future reference, mineral sunscreen doesn’t leave any marks. Get one that states it is mineral (zinc oxide/titanium dioxide) as no more yellowing of whites then.

That's a good tip. Which brands should I be looking out for?

I mostly use an Avene one, there is a tinted version so look for the untainted, as the tinted does wash out but rubs off on white as foundation would. I do buy other brands though, as both I an my dd react to chemical sunscreens and need ones that are only mineral based. Green people do one, and also Heliocare.

No good advice but a warning, do not bleach! There a chemical in some suncream that turns bright pink on contact with bleach (I may have ruined an entirely batch of white polo's)

The ace bleach I recommended upthread - I meant Ace in the green bottle.

I just send my dd in with stained tops, I'm not prepared to replace them every time there's a yellow suncream stain or ink spots. Last week she wore a brand new gingham dress, and unbeknownst to me school were doing an art project that day so it's now got a massive pink stain all down the front, if it still fits her in September and it's still warm enough she will be wearing it!