Try citric acid in the softener rinse. Will rinse out any leftover detergent.
Yeah, was gonna be my suggestion, too. I get small white stains on specific fabrics and one of my shirts' colors looked completely washed-out. And yeah, I can get rid of that with citric acid in what my washing machine calls "pre-wash".
I'm not sure, it was just leftover detergent for me, though, because while I could wash out some of it by hand-washing the clothes with water afterwards, a lot of it stayed. So, my assumption was that it's actually just calcium build-up, which of course also goes away with acid.
Ty!! Will try this.
Use it in the “fabric softener” cycle, not the pre wash. Citric acid neutralizes detergent.
Does it make a difference, though, if I only put acid into the pre-wash, so no detergent? I was hoping, it would get flushed out before the proper wash cycle.
I mean, I will check, if my washing machine has a separate hole to put fabric softener in. It does sound like the more appropriate place for it.
It does not do a rinse after the prewash, so any detergent added during the main wash will get neutralised and won’t really wash anything.
It also helps prevent a soap buildup in the machine.
If you don’t have a fabric softener spot, can always get a “downy ball” which will release during the spin cycle.
How much do you typically use?
I use pure citric acid powder, and use a full tablespoon per load. Just put the powder directly in the fabric softener dispenser.
It is also makes a cheap, toxic chemical free, perfect rinse aid for the dishwasher.
chemical free
Literally a chemical.
It's a common one found in lots of natural foods and such, nothing particularly scary or unusual, but you are presumably buying a purified, concentrated chemical and not just squeezing a lemon into your washing machine as a natural source of that chemical.
I use acetylsalicylic acid whenever I want a chemical free painkiller.
Do you consider vinegar a chemical as well?
No it's at least 2 chemicals- acetic acid and water.
And quite a few others if we're talking about something besides distilled white vinegar.
Thanks. This is exactly the kind of tip i was looking for.
As a guy with oily skin, I’ve found adding a pea sized drop of liquid Dawn dish soap works well for this.
Emphasis on pea size. I don't know the actual limit, but most soap is actually a problem in a washing machine. Laundry detergent is specifically non-sudsing. Dish soap puts you at risk of having a foamy mess to deal with.
Dawn stinks tho. Like real bad. You can even taste it on dishes.
Only if you don't rinse them thoroughly
You can’t ‘thoroughly’ wash a silicon tray or bag from pthalates. Those are in the pores for life.
I guess I don't eat off silicone so I wouldn't know
What a spectacular conversationalist you are.
Any type of grease that stays gets washed in hot. Add .25-.5 cups of baking soda in the drum, front or top loader. And do a second rinse if your machine has that setting. Set the wash cycle to heavy. This works well for everything except knits like t-shirts & sweat pants. It will clean those but knits seem to hold that grease longer.
Thanks. The point here about knits fabrics really clarifying.
I have a similar problem with certain shirts in the armpit region, so here's my €0,02:
Could be a bad washer leaking oil into the wash. Had this happen in an apartment block with shared laundry. One machine did this, the other didn’t.
Is it possible heat or moisture from you back is melting /dissolving something out of the been of the chair? Try draping a towel over the back of the chair while using it for a while to see if it intercepts this substance... Or maybe a sheet of plastic.
you could try borax powder, which mitigates hard water.
I don't think this has happened to me, and I've had hard water most my life.
Same! I have also had hard water at various times in my life but never had this problem. Stumped lol
I listened to a podcast recently where they were trying to figure out a similarly difficult to remove stain someone was getting in the armpits of some of their t-shirts, but never on their sweaty gym clothes.
spoiler
It turns out that stress-sweat is different from exercise-sweat, and he was getting worked up during his video game sessions. I think the solution was along the lines of: “don’t wear your nice shirts when you engage in predictably stressful activities.”
Sounds like the washer just needs to be cleaned. It's not water it's just old detergent. Go get some of the washer cleaning pods, home Depot has them, they're pretty much everywhere. Run a clean cycle, then another one after that just to rinse it, everything will be fine.
Get a water softener? Or use extra soap, or add some oxiclean to the tub
Extra soap is the problem. Not getting rinsed out.
Bacne?
Maybe also try to use the vinegar in the wash cycle by putting it in the cup meant for bleach. Soaking it maybe isn't letting the vinegar do all it can do.
That will reduce the effectiveness of the detergent. Detergent is typically alkaline. This link says it's to break up fats more easily.
It's used after the wash cycle.
Ok then you should put it in the softener cup instead
K.
Depends. Mine just dumps it in there.
Also, while it's probably rinsed out just fine, I have my reservations about putting acids in containers labeled for bleach.
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