Laundry Tips??? - Berwyn,IL

Spray some lemon juice on the stain, or some hydrogen peroxide. I've had good luck with the lemon juice. I read once you can rub some salt after the lemon juice, but plain (non-diluted) lemon juice worked for me! I put the juice on and let it sit, then laundered it as normal. I scrubbed it a little, not a lot, just enough to get the lemon juice all over the stain.

I've also had good luck with Oxy-clean, but I've never tried it on underarm stains. Usually I mix up a cup, stick the part with the stain on it in the cup and let it sit. Then I throw it in the laundry. I hate scrubbing too! Who has time (or the knuckles) for that?

Vinegar actually does not leave a smell on laundered clothing. I use it in the laundry with my towels and my kids clothes. The only time you can tell is when the wash water is spinning out. One great source of removing sweat and deodorant stains is sea salt. Soak the shirt-or just the part needed-in a bath of warm water and sea salt and also scrub a bit with the sea salt at the problem area if it is really bad. I did this a long time ago and it worked pretty well. You may have trouble with items that have repeatedly been machine dried since the heat sets the stains. You can buy sea salt online in larger containers (2 pounds etc) and much cheaper than what you would find in the store.
You can also try soaking in the warmest water for the material and Oxyclean, overnight if necessary. I wouldn't do this all the time since I used to use Oxyclean for anything that seemed like it would stain and eventually the material weakened. When really bad stains come up, Oxy is great.
BTW, I have also found that bleaching the shirts makes the problem worse.

J.,

I'm not sure it IS the deodorant, I think it's moreso the sweat produced in that area. I once tried a laundry "trick" for old stains, baby food dribble spots and overall "BO" types of stains - use a concentration of Cascade dry powder and liquid dish detergent (yes, both are for dishes). If you make a paste of this and let it sit for awhile, then launder it really does work. I know you said you were looking for something quick and easy - this may not be that, however it is really effective especially on favorite whites or color items. I've had success with it on my DH's dress shirts, baseball hats (inside the cap where it gets really gross and sweat stained) and even "old" stains from baby clothes that were in storage.

I heard the reason those stains are so tricky is that it's the oils/greases that make them set. Even tho many laundry detergents taut being able to take most anything out, these oily based stains seem different. Believe me, this dish detergent paste does a great job with no residue stains (you know that little circle of faded area or detergent residue).

I hope this helps.

I use borax in all our laundry loads since it won me over getting old stains out and making my towels look new. It is great for getting stink out, too, not that it's your problem with this post. I really am pleased with how it works and haven't had any issue with deodorant stains even though we all wear it.

Good luck and enjoy your babies!
D.

Hi J.!
Yes! I use Shaklee laundry products. There is a laundry detergent and a brightener and they can be used together or mixed to fight stains and the best part (is there a 'best part' about laundry??) is that you can throw the clothes in a bucket with hot water and the detergent and walk away and just let it sit (it can sit there for as long as you need it to, but depending on the stain, it can be a few minutes or a few days!).

We went to a party over the weekend, and my 2 boys played with paint and when we got home, I stripped them down, threw their clothes in the bucket and yesterday I threw them in the washer and VOILA, the stains were gone!! I have been using the products for over 10 years and I have never had to scrub anything! The products are non-toxic (so no worries about your 2 year old or being pregnant around them!) and last and last! They are very concentrated, so a little goes a long way!

I am a distributor of Shaklee products, so I could give you more information if you'd like.

Hope this helps!
B.

If you don't have any success with the other suggestions, you could try "Sport-Wash". I found mine at a local running store (Running Unliited in Palatine). It costs $11 for enough to do 20 loads of laundry. You save time, since you don't have to spray it on beforehand. I was ready to throw my two favorite T-shirts away because I couldn't get the sweat smell out of the armpits - it worked wonders. I'm not sure this would remove the stain from white shirts (mine are not white) but you could use it as a preventative on shirts that haven't stained yet. Good luck!