I CANNOT get his shirts clean. Already!

[Soonish]

I've just washed some of ds1's school shirts twice using persil and using a prewash the second time.

Zilch effect, the collars and cuffs are filthy and there are random grass stains too.

These are brand new, super ultra non iron ones from M&S that he has probably worn about 3 days each.

He's just started secondary and I am almost in tears of despair. I can't afford to keep replacing them every few weeks.

What do I DO?

DSS got bloody white board pen on 3 of his 4 brand new white shirts in the first week of school. They are also grubby around the collars. I've soaked then in stain remover powder and dried on the line, they are still grubby. I've given up worrying too much!

I used to work in a fancy dress shop and for the clothes that came back filthy it would be a vanish bar and nail brush, for stinky pits we would spray them with malt vinegar and leave for a couple of hours before washing. Seemed to do the job!

DD1 is 6 and her shirts are stained from all sorts, pen, paint, grass, lunch. She's a complete muck magnet. Oh and bloody sun cream stains too.

Only solution is to wash and wear and ignore stains.

Napisan all the way.

After years of cricket whites, white polos and white school shirts from 2 DS I use vanish spray for bad stains (mud/grass on cricket whites), vanish powder, normal persil/ariel tabs and my secret weapon Beckman glowwhite sachets

Soap and a nail brush on collar and cuff dirt before washing.

And thy need anti pirspirant /deodorant not just deodorant. Otherwise they will smell.

Wash the shirts after each wearing. Cotton can be bleached, so stays cleaner. If your child rios off buttons, sew the buttons in place over the buttonholes, and sew hook and loop tape to the back of the buttonhole placket and where the buttons were when you bought the shirt.

My 8yo dd managed to ruin several several new items of clothing this summer, she is very hard on her clothes (think mud pies, climbing trees, playing football) I haven't found anything that shifts ground in mud.

Will try the soap bar though.

Have tried various other so called stain removers, hot washes, soaking over night. We use a non fragranced bio washing powder called Prudax.

My 4 year old pfb just started reception a week ago and already one of his brand new polo shirts is stained beyond redemption. They are blue rather than white but it doesn't help. I have left it out in the sun and rain for 3 days but nothing has changed. I can't quite bring myself as yet to send him in a stained shirt - I've put it to the back of the cupboard for now. At £2 for 2 in Tesco they are almost disposably cheap, but it seems such a waste of resources really. Hmm.

I see that your ds has eczema but you could apply bio liquid directly to the stain, wash it and then rewash in plain water or non bio.

wincher if it wasn't your pfb you would send them in...
DD1 was immaculate - remember disposing of a school sweatshirt (£10ish) after one wear because it had white board marker on it.
Don't think DD2 has a school sweatshirt without whiteboard marker on it - and I keep one (white) polo and cardigan to one side for things like church services and singing with the school choir...so she has one lot without stains. She then wears them when they are almost grown out of and I can get away with the next size up for my unsoiled uniform

For smelly sports kit trscvo do a sports wash liquid also and a capful or lavender dettol or zoflora

Tesco do sports wash

My children have revolting polos, but they wear them until they outgrow them. I spray stain remover if I remember, otherwise just wash as normal. It is honestly not worth the effort, and soon they will be wearing jumpers anyway. I personally hate uniforms and if the school were ever to complain (which I doubt they would) I would send them packing. Who, on earth, thinks that white shirts/polos are appropriate clothing for children. Honestly...

I soak all shirts in a bucket of Biotex solution before washing, then pre-treat cuffs & collars before washing with bio liquid and a Glo-White sachet.

They gleam, I tell you.

I use the green household soap too and we use biotex as a prewash. Bought enough bars of fairy household soap before they stopped selling them to last my lifetime. I use it on the carpet too when someone spills something or the cat throws up.

Soak in Napisan (Tesco baby section) overnight & rub gently before throwing into your regular 40 degree wash... Has removed paint & grass stains and general school grubbiness from our M&S shirts...

I use flash with bleach on whites with bad stains, or the green fairy bar, which is amazing stuff as it has nearly got all the sun cream out of some of my whites.

Now have Ds 3 at Secondary and having experienced sweaty grimy shirts with 1 and 2 my formulae -have persuaded him to shower each am and a clean shirt daily.I use Fairy powder and if very grubby scoop of soda bicarbonate crystals (they come in bag and cheaper than vanish), 40C wash hang on washing line when possible facing sun which bleaches stains.Also frost does the same. I extract shirts from school bag or bedroom floor every couple of days,have found if leave it til Saturday dirt too entrenched. This means I do several smaller loads of whites a couple of times a week and put in tea towels, white socks and DHs shirts sometimes depending on colour.Reckon it's easier than rewashing a bigger load that hasn't come clean. In IME MandS school shirts do wash better and last longer than other makes. They usually have 20% off or 3for2 in May every year so I buy them then. Hope he's enjoying his new school.

whiteboard marker - you need to dab it with nail varnish remover, that gets it out.

For smells like underarms, urine or even the smell when things have sat around wet for a wee while (like swimmers and towels tend to do in the summer terms) add a good handful of baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) to the wash and use white vinegar instead of fabric softener. Smells GONE!

The vinegar smell goes away on drying so you don't need to be worried about smelling like a chippie

just saying - DS shirts which never get clean in school wash - wash them at 60 - 90 degrees and as brave potato says - rinse them again if you need to .

Korma - it can be a bit fiddly, but cut off the buttons, sew them on the front as though they are done up, then replace with press-studs/poppers or Velcro. Poppers look neater, Velcro is easier, either will (hopefully) save the shirts!

Dry outside.

UV light from the sun bleaches stains away. My kids have pristine white shirts- I line dry all year round- even when there is snow on the ground.