I have had great luck witht the Tide Release liquid, just pour it strait on the stain, then launder with your usual detergant. You could also use clorox II in the wash. If you just want to freshen the smell in you laundry, I use twenty mule team borax, but that won't get out your stain.

Tami

I have one older cotton nightie. It's white, with some colored embroidery. It's *dingy*. I generally wash it along with other whites (like towels, DH's underwear) with bleach added. Can I do something to brighten it?

When I owned a hair salon, we always did our white towels by filling the washer and adding bleach only, let it sit there for 3 hours, then rinse and go back to the settings and start a new wash, add soap and go through the whole cycle. Every single dye and rinse stain would be gone. I do the same thing at home.

There is an Oxy-Clean laundry additive (blue plastic jug with orange top) that I use ...because it's non-scented and safer for fabrics. My white bed linens and towels come out white.

Tossed bleach out of the house completely, 2 years ago. Use either an Oxy-clean product or white vinegar on everything.

I like Biz...use it in every load. I used to use one cup of
Cascade dish detergent and one cup of bleach...agitate and then put the clothes in. It was great for taking out hard to remove stains or really dirty clothes, like when my husband would be rebuilding an engine. I'd try an extra helping of Biz and see if that won't whiten your towels.

I like Oxy Clean to help remove stains, but dependin on the stain, I may use Peroxide to get a stain out. It works wonders on Blood stains. But to get a whiter white, I run my whites through a final rinse with some of Mrs. Stewarts Bluing. Their website has a stain removal guide as well. It is great stuff and really helps to keep white things crystal white.. I love it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Where to find Mrs. Stewarts bluing

Sunscreen can leave orange stains, too, so maybe that's what is on your towel and bath mat. I'd use regular stain removers on them if you think it could be sunscreen since sunscreen is usually oily and thick. I had weird orange sunscreen stains on our guest room pillow cases and with several stain-sprays and washings, they faded and are not noticeable unless you know what to look for.

I'd wondered about trying blueing. I remember my mother had that on the shelf in the laundry.

BIZ reminds me of Little League days -- brilliant idea to give little boys WHITE uniform pants!

I'll try the Oxi-Clean additive first.

I set my washer to rinse twice, with a bit of Calgon in the rinse to kill any remaining soap. Maybe I'll give the vinegar a try!

Thanks, all!

I don't have any suggestions other than what has already been given.someone mentioned awhile back that they used peroxide in their whites when they start looking dingy.Haven't tried that.
folkvictorian-My daughter introduced me to glass cleaner as a stain remover.She has been using it for every day stains on clothes and it works! She got the hint from the guy that they buy snow cones from.He said he had tried everything to get the snow cone syrup stains out of his clothes and nothing worked.He decided to try glass cleaner on a whim and said he has been using it ever since.We bought the cheap brand of glass cleaner from Wal-mart in the spray bottle.I tried it on the "ultimate" stain,little Rowdy's clothes,and it worked great.

Lilliepad, I put some window cleaner on a couple stains, and they're still there. Did you let it sit a long time----overnite, or a few days?

Lillie, thanks for the idea! I just came across a highlighter stain on DH's light tan work pants. I'm going to give it a try!

I had a white cotton sweatshirt that I loved! I spilled yellow mustard on it. I washed it several times with bleach and the stain did fade but would not leave completely. In desperation I pretreated and washed it with Dawn dish detergent. The stain is completely gone and the sweat shirt is nice and white! I swear by this stuff for tough to clean fabrics. Use it alone with no other detergent, fabric softener or bleach. It works!!!

I think the reason why whites get dingy is because the detergent hasn't been rinsed completely out of them. I use Tide or Gain (half the amount called for) in the wash cycle and then run them through the rinse cycle once again. I hate dingy-ness, and this seems to work great. I double rinse almost everything.

My Mother always said that direct sunlight is the best natural stain remover. She was right. And it's not as harmful on your towels/clothing.

I'm trying to think when I got my white towels, .. and I'll bet they are at least 15 years old. They still look pretty good. I never use fabric softener as they are always nice and soft.

I also use Dawn for stains, as a pretreat. Works great.

To keep whites white (and colors bright) I add 1/2 cup Borax to each load of laundry.

Pammyfay, do you have well water? If you do, those orange stains could be from iron in the water. There's a product called Iron Out (I think that's the name), that sure helped when we had a well.

Patti's post reminded me of a number of years ago, I had rust on my whites.

Believe it or not, Cream of Tartar too the rust out!

Mush and Bluejeans: The Dawn dish liquid WORKED GREAT! No more stains on the towels! Thanks!

(Patti--nope, don't have well water. I'm still trying to think what might have made those stains--another possibility is a colored T-shirt that might have been left atop damp towels on the floor? I've seen the bathroom before when a young relative was done showering. Yeah, I have had guests who don't have a very good idea about what to do in someone else's home.)

Dish detergents contain de-greasers. Chances are that those stains were from an oily substance.