Washing help - what am I doing wrong?

Thanks Ladies - I have read that thread, that's one of the reasons I switched to Bold initially - and I have no problems with my nappies - only minor staining which the sun normally sorts, and they come up clean and fresh. It's DH's black t-shirts for work that are sweat/deoderant stained under the arms, with little holes in, and all his white ones seem to have some kind of sauce dropped down the front

Quite a few of my nice work tops are getting white patches under the arms too. I use roll on and always try to let it dry before I get dressed as I thought maybe that was making it worse. Some of my long sleeve tops have now got that zig zag pattern all down the sides - I guess it must be from taking them off over my head and rubbing the deoderant all down the sides? they have been washed and washed though, including using vanish and it's not even fading - I'm gutted as some of them are quite new and I haven't got that much that fits me at the moment.

I saw something on the internet about white vinegar in the rinse but I don't know how to put stuff into the rinse - I'm not normally around when the machine gets to that point in the cycle as it's run overnight or while I'm at work. The softener dispenser doesn't really work either.

I don't notice other people having this problem so I don't know if it's the machine (it's quite old, we inherited it with the house) or the way I wash. Don't want to splash out on a new machine if it won't make any difference, but if it does sort it it would be worth it.

I normally wash at 40c but have tried washing at 60 - maybe I'll try getting some different powder - I was thinking about dying all his black t-shirts with dylon to try and restore the colour - some of them are very grey at the moment...

Maybe a friend is willing to let you wash some clothes in her machine to see if it gives a different result?

We use excel gel it's fab only use half a dose on clothes we got a six month free supplybwhen we bought our new washing machine nothing else works as well for us,
Don't use it on nappies tho

The small holes could be caused by your bra hooks, it has taken me years to figure that one out. As for the discolouring that sounds like a sweat issue tbh xx

The small holes could be caused by your bra hooks, it has taken me years to figure that one out. As for the discolouring that sounds like a sweat issue tbh xx

interesting idea Kirsty, but I handwash my bras

I can only assume it's deoderant stains, as otherwise I don't know what it could be - the only other thing I thought was undissolved washing powder, but surely that would clear if I did a wash with Eco balls, and it hasn't.

I'll try and get a pic later so you can see what I mean.

Thanks for all the suggestions ladies, I'll try some of them and see if anything works.

Humm are the under arms a bit hard? My sister used to get this and it was a combination of sweat and deodorant.

Maybe a friend is willing to let you wash some clothes in her machine to see if it gives a different result?

I did wash some nappies at my friends house in Nottingham , and then gave them a 10 minute tumble afterwards - they were so much softer afterwards it made me realise how bad my water is

I've tried at my Mum's house where they have a water softener and they are a little better, but nothing like they were in Nottingham, I haven't tried the stained stuff though as I don't tend to wear it when I'm in company

Humm are the under arms a bit hard? My sister used to get this and it was a combination of sweat and deodorant.

yes - exactly that, it's almost like they are 'crusty' even when they are clean - they don't smell or anything, they just look rubbish did your sis find a way of getting it out?

i used to get exactly what you're describing - white deodorant stains, and often the zig-zaggy bits where you've pulled it over your head. I only got it when i was in Australia, haven't had it since i moved here. i think it's definitely worse when mixed with sweat.

The things i did were:
always wear a top under my top. - that way, at least if it's getting marked, it's only the under top (but these days my under tops don't get stained either, but still wear them out of habbit).
use roll-on deodorant (not the mark-free one, that was worse)... i use michum now and it seems good.
always leave 5 mins between putting deodorant on and under top, then another 5 minutes before putting normal top on.

i don't think personally that washing actually helps - deodorant is a b*gger ... once its on your clothes, i don't think it comes out. in UK i have washed with ecover liquid, simply powder, bold powder, ariel powder... and i've not had deodorant stains at all, so it's not that i'm using a particular powder to make it better. we also have terribly bad hard water. i use only about 50ml of washing stuff (recommended on pack is more like 165ml), i don't add anything else to soften the water. i only wash at 35 degrees.

i'm not sure which of the things i did actually helped, or maybe it was everything to a small degree.

My DH has this problem with his t-shirts/shirts and I tried a few things a while ago to try and fix them without much success. I think I tried a paste of bicarb and also soaking in vinegar. One of those helped a little bit (can't remember which ) but it wasn't enough to get rid of it properly. I've only ever had this problem with really old tops that have been worn loads of times, but DH gets it really quickly (he's quite sweaty tho).

I've just done a bit of Googling and found this product called Deo-Go which I might get to try out.

I can also recommend the Pit-Rok Crystal deodorant - I started using it at Christmas and I'm a total convert. No white stains and it's going to last AGES

Not sure if she did, she is a nervous sweater and got a prescription deodorant. I have had that with a couple of tops but not in years now, we do have soft water though so I am guessing that is where the difference is.
What a pain to getting your clothes ruined