I-O

Thank you. I don't use Tide but I'm sure I can find some to pretreat this.

Hmm, and to make matters worse Cedric its 100% polyester lol...don't go out and buy another detergent you already have Ariel with phosphates. Ok..I'm going to assume this has already been washed and dried with these stains..which means that most likely the stains are set for life. You can try a pretreater and flushing with cool water before washing and I'd wash it in Ariel. Make sure your spin speed is turned to slow as poly has an uncanny ability of developing permenant wrinkles if spun to fast.

Polyester was introduced as one of the wash and wear fabrics, its anything but. White poly turns dingy easily and stains can be the real dickins to remove.

If you look in the laundry isle at Walmart usually near the bleach you will find a bar of laundry soap Fels-Naptha..its one dollar and the best stain remover on the market IMHO..I'd get one, it will last forever and won't cause fading like most of the stain removers.

However that stain looks oxidized to me which means its not budging, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Some people may recommend automatic dishwasher detergent. .but that's way too alkaline for textiles.

Yeah, the Ariel with Phosphates will likely work better!

The white is definitely dingy enough for me to care. The spots are probably just going to be my "badges of honor". Should I try Ariel or Persil Pearls and go with Whitest Whites or Sanitize with the "Any Stain" setting on my Elux 617 or is that too hot for poly?

BTW mama, I think I'll forever be picking up new detergents. I picked up a box Of Borax because I couldn't resist seeing what my Target carried for laundry.

Polyester just grabs body and other oils and doesn't like to let go..and it repels water, so it's really hard to get a detergent solution in the fibers. I find a hot soak in the sink with some dish detergent works well for stink and oily stains. Other things I've tried and had some success: waterless hand cleaner (something like Goop that mechanics use) Lestoil, and even rubbing alcohol to loosen it up. Organic stains would need something with enzymes: laundry pretreater, or most laundry detergents. Maybe a hot soak in some oxi clean for general whiteness.

You've definitely have a challenge on hand. Good luck and let us know if you have any success

Cedric, Borax is great, I use it in "every" load I do. It's a great water conditioner, fights odors and has a very mild bleaching effect. You might try making a paste of baking soda and peroxide. Using an old toothbrush and scrub the stains, letting them soak in that for a while, say an hour or so, then rinse in the hottest water the fabric can tolerate.

Really hot water might cause cracking and peeling on the numbers on your jersey. Plz don't ask me how I know this. LOL

Cavimums right very hot is going to ruin the lettering.

Do you have a poly cycle? Pretreat the stains and use the poly cycle. Call it a day. LOL

Cedric, I was thinking..proper washing of poly does require hot water and lots of it as poly is, Well Speer says it correctly Poly repels water...its a hydrophobic fabric, meaning it repels water (natural fibers are hydrophilic, meaning it loves water) ...so lots of hot water will do a better job of cleaning poly, as long as the cycle has a proper cool down before a spin, as spinning out hot poly will set the creases permenantly.

Your problem is the red letters, they may or may not handle hot temps.

If you have a perm press cycle I'd try that, but poly needs lots of water so underload the machine when you wash it giving it more room to freely move around.

Stay away from oxygen bleaches because of the red.

Well we'll find out the results this evening. Could be great or could be a disaster. Tossed it in the Elux 617 on Whitest Whites with Sanitize (152 F), Max Soil, Max Spin, Any Stain, Steam, Extra Rinse, with 1.5 Tbsp of Borax in Pre-Wash Cup and half lid of Persil Pearls with some other non-valuable whites cottons. The Elux is set on time delay to start at 2:30 PM EST. Finishing up about as I arrive home from work.

I really don't know what to do, but It looks like these are localized spots, so I would do localized treatments to avoid the lettering. Small pan with water and whatever treating agent you want to try. Sometimes I try everything sequentially. Oxyclean; spray-on enzimes; stain lifters; etc. Good luck.

Any stain on an Ohio State shirt deserves to stay there,

Pat from University of Michigan ^_^

Or, as they say down the street:

"O How I Hate

O hi O State"

Haha@Pat...lol

Cedric...I'd never use max spin on poly or poly blends.

I want mostly cotton in my wash and wear dress shirts. Best are 65% cotton and 35 % poly.

Cedric - How did it turn out?

MRB

Alright, so, first inspection is no change. It's possible it's slightly lighter and would need more cycles to be significant. I'm going to try some additional spot treatments for that specific area, but the jersey overall needs to be whitened. It's that dingy white that hopefully Persil and Ariel over time will correct.

Perhaps a good overnight soak in Biz might do the trick.

MRB

I gotta get some Biz.

Cedric - did the numbers survive? My experience has been that once a white polyester/synthetic fabric has gotten grey/dingy, nothing will really get it white again. I hope you have better luck with your jersey.

Cavimum numbers came out fine, no signs of fading. If it doesn't get any better, I'll just not worry about it.

If you use a detergent with an activated bleaching system or hot water you may end up whiter..but with pink letters.