# Yellow stains on white dress shirt - Oxiclean residue?



## cvac (Aug 6, 2006)

I treated some tough dark stains on a white dress shirt with Oxiclean and laundry detergent. It got out the dark stains but after washing the shirt several times (without soap) to make sure I got all the soap and Oxiclean residue out, I think there may be some residue from oxidized peroxide (hydrogen peroxide is one of main ingredients in Oxiclean) in the cloth and that is what is causing the yellow stains.

I noticed the stains on the bottom edge and back of the collar while trying to iron the shirt. Anyway, I tried washing the shirt again in hot/warm water three times with standard liquid laundry detergent and while the yellow stains have faded a little bit, they aren't out yet. Any suggestions on how to get rid of these stains? I thought about trying color safe bleach but I'm not sure if that is a good idea because the care instructions say "no bleach".

I only wore the shirt once so I don't want to resign it to the "beater" shirt category. Should I take it to a dry cleaners and see what they can do? Any help on this is appreciated.

Thanks.


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## tkteo (Feb 12, 2008)

cvac said:


> I noticed the stains on the bottom edge and back of the collar while trying to iron the shirt. Anyway, I tried washing the shirt again in hot/warm water three times with standard liquid laundry detergent and while the yellow stains have faded a little bit, they aren't out yet. Any suggestions on how to get rid of these stains? I thought about trying color safe bleach but I'm not sure if that is a good idea because the care instructions say "no bleach".


I, too, have faced the problem of yellowish stains on the collar, cuff, etc. of my white shirts. Contrary to your conjecture that it is due to using a product such as Oxiclean, I thought the stains were due to the buildup of sweat and dirt in those areas of the shirt after several wearings. I did not think it was due to Oxiclean, because I had never heard of such a product till recently.

In fact, upon discovering Oxiclean (or its local equivalent), I mixed a bit of laundry detergent powder with Oxiclean and water, then used a toothbrush to brush and pretreat the stains before washing. And that did a lot to remove the yellowish stains.


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## cvac (Aug 6, 2006)

I am fairly certain the stains aren't due to normal ring around the collar because:

1. The stains weren't there before soaking in Oxiclean

2. The stains are not in the same place nor do they have the same appearance as normal ring around the collar type stains.

3. The shirt was only worn once, for about 2.5 hours in an air - conditioned climate.


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## brokencycle (Jan 11, 2008)

I would say that you can try the cleaners. 

I have never had any problems with Oxiclean; however, I've only really used it once, and I got permenant marker out of a shirt of mine. I use the spray stuff though, and I alternated between that and h2o2.


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## brokencycle (Jan 11, 2008)

I would say that you can try the cleaners. 

I have never had any problems with Oxiclean; however, I've only really used it once, and I got permenant marker out of a shirt of mine. I use the spray stuff though, and I alternated between that and h2o2.


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## KenR (Jun 22, 2005)

"Hi, Billy Mays here....."


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## medhat (Jan 15, 2006)

I use Oxiclean a lot, and have not seen this problem. I have seen with some food (oily) stains where the initial wash has removed some/most of the stain, leaving a still-noticeable yellow ring. I've assumed this to be some residual oil-based residue, and have had some success pre-treating the yellow stains with Goo-Gone (the kitchen solvent you use to remove price tags from plastic, etc...). As a spot treatment, I don't think it's too harmful to clothes (it's listed on the product's indications), and especially with a white shirt I think it would be worth a shot.


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## Andy (Aug 25, 2002)

cvac:

If you have your copy of the CD-Rom, The Encyclopedia of Men's Clothes, click on the Clothes Stain Removal Chapter and look under Yellow stains:
_Bleach and/or baking soda may set yellow perspiration/deodorant stains on the underarms of shirts._

Use denture cleaning tablets! Fill a basin with water and add one or two tablets. Let the tablets dissolve and then soak the garment until the yellow is gone.

If you don't have your copy yet, no problem!! :icon_smile: See below!


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## Spence (Feb 28, 2006)

We have a jar of some mysterious *********** labeled sodium peborate that I use to remove the yellow collar/underarm stains when they get bad enough. I think this is a common chemical in many oxy products. It works very well...

-spence


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## Bob Loblaw (Mar 9, 2006)

The tears of Billy Mays will remove any stain.


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## cvac (Aug 6, 2006)

Thanks for the suggestions guys, but I don't think they get at the problem I'm having. The shirt was worn once, and the yellowish stain/spot is on the back of the collar and goes through bottom edge of the collar. It is not a ring around the collar type stain.

After a cursory internet search, it seems many people who used Oxiclean on different things were left with yellow streaks and / or spots, especially those who tried it on certain fabrics and carpets. I'm going to try pretreating the shirt with laundry detergent and a throwing a little white vinegar in the wash. If that doesn't work I will try Octagon Borax soap when my order arrives next week. My last ditch option is to send the shirt to Mike Maldonado for collar replacement. 

All I know is, I'm never using Oxiclean again. One thing I really dislike about it is the strong odor it leaves on clothes, even after running an extra rinse cycle.


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## Rossini (Oct 7, 2007)

Andy said:


> cvac:
> 
> If you have your copy of the CD-Rom, *The Encyclopedia of Men's Clothes*, click on the Clothes Stain Removal Chapter and look under Yellow stains:_Bleach and/or baking soda may set yellow perspiration/deodorant stains on the underarms of shirts._
> 
> _Use denture cleaning tablets! Fill a basin with water and add one or two tablets. Let the tablets dissolve and then soak the garment until the yellow is gone._​If you don't have your copy yet, no problem!! :icon_smile: See below!


What is the active chemical ingredient in denture tablets that does it? I suppose it's sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), tartaric or citric acid (lemons), and a few other base cleaning ingredients.

Alternatively for those of us without dentures icon_smile_big, a quick trip to the dry cleaners will do it.


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## shang (May 9, 2008)

Try Tide Cold Water, and wash it 3 or 4 times.. maybe that might help, or soak the entire shirt in White vinegar I presume. I don't know if that works, but you can just dump the white shirt into the washing machine and put bleach in it, if it says NO bleach, then don't put it in. Just soak the shirt in vinegar, then turn it to rinse, then after that put in regular water and then let it wash, spin, rinse and then final rinse. Then you put the soap in. Because first you want to get the vinegar remainents out and using plain water so then the regular vinegar fades away, then the regular soap should do the rest.


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## Guest (Jan 6, 2022)

cvac said:


> Thanks for the suggestions guys, but I don't think they get at the problem I'm having. The shirt was worn once, and the yellowish stain/spot is on the back of the collar and goes through bottom edge of the collar. It is not a ring around the collar type stain.
> 
> After a cursory internet search, it seems many people who used Oxiclean on different things were left with yellow streaks and / or spots, especially those who tried it on certain fabrics and carpets. I'm going to try pretreating the shirt with laundry detergent and a throwing a little white vinegar in the wash. If that doesn't work I will try Octagon Borax soap when my order arrives next week. My last ditch option is to send the shirt to Mike Maldonado for collar replacement.
> 
> All I know is, I'm never using Oxiclean again. One thing I really dislike about it is the strong odor it leaves on clothes, even after running an extra rinse cycle.


The residue you see is residual OxiClean. I use denture cleaner like Efferdent in cold water. Wait until the tablets dissolve then soak the clothing item in it. Allow it to soak for several hours or as much as needed to remove the yellow stain. It works with some patience.


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## drpeter (Nov 21, 2008)

An enzyme-based stain remover might be worth a try. I think there are various brands on the market. I used a heavy-duty enzyme cleaner to remove stains on a carpet once, and it worked well, no residues. I have not used such a product on clothes, so I am not certain it will work.


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## challer (Sep 4, 2008)

I realize this is an old thread renewed. I've been down this path too many times and the technical person in me resulted in some research. 

Oxiclean is remarkable stuff and generally very safe. It ultimately breaks down into water and oxygen. We use it on everything from coffee pots to cloths. It is a consumer version of a long used commercial cleaner sodium percarbonate, which I now use directly. It's cheap and on Amazon. It is considered green. Works great on organic stains, but not on oil or grease based things.

For that you need an enzymatic cleaner. We use Carbona stain wizard. It seems to have all those little bottles in one container. Works well when the stain is fight. Enzymes work wonders. There are lots of flavors out there.

For wine like stains, try an enzyme first. But I've actually revived a ten year old shirt with well washed in and set stains with Wine Away. Active ingredient is methylcyclohexene, it is very different than the other wine stain things.

If you really want to go after something, Xylene is used in the lab to clean your hands after staining slides. 

More than you want to know. But stain remover companies seem to shroud the details in a confuseopoly.


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