White Golf Shirts Ruined by Sunscreen

Of course I wear sunscreen on the arms, face and neck. But If the sunscreen even touches any part of a white golf shirt[ cotton, polyester, whatever ], it leaves a cream yellow stain. Is there any way to reverse this discoloration , or do I just have to set aside a large budget for white golf shirts

that sucks. I wan to know the solution too

OK,,so who knows the solution?

I've applied Clorox 2 liquid with a tooth brush directly on the stain, letting it sit for about 15 min before washing. This works for me with poly shirts. I use Bullfrog sunscreen.

Oxyclean spray?

I don't have a solution either, & I suffer from the same problem. Have a really nice white golf shirt that has stains on the collar from sunscreen. Tried bleaching but it only ended up bleaching the stitched in logo on the shirt. I'd like to hear a proven way to prevent or reverse this...

I've only had this problem with spray on sunscreen (mostly Coppertone Sport). I have now switched to sunscreen lotion.

I have seen an internet solution that recommends milk. The proteins somehow work to remove the stains. I have yet to try it.

A little clorox in water for a presoak. Then, sorry but, hand wash and scrub with a strong solution of laundry
soap till the stain is gone.
I use Nivea sunblock. The best sunblock reduced stain combo.

[quote name='joeshmo' timestamp='1344497593' post='5435272']
A little clorox in water for a presoak. Then, sorry but, hand wash and scrub with a strong solution of laundry
soap till the stain is gone.
I use Nivea sunblock. The best sunblock reduced stain combo.
[/quote]
I tried Clorox bleach but it actually made the stain worse. Is it actually a "stain" or does the sunscreen remove the color?

anyone try Tide stick... those things work ridiculously well

I've tried Shout gel which is great for most stains but does nothing for this problem.

Google search found this.
[url="http://www.mamaslaundrytalk.com/2010/06/21/reader-mailbag-removing-sunscreen-stains/"]http://www.mamaslaundrytalk.com/2010/06/21/reader-mailbag-removing-sunscreen-stains/[/url]

[quote name='HackerD ' timestamp='1344514976' post='5435800']
I've tried Shout gel which is great for most stains but does nothing for this problem.

Google search found this.
[url="http://www.mamaslaundrytalk.com/2010/06/21/reader-mailbag-removing-sunscreen-stains/"]http://www.mamaslaun...nscreen-stains/[/url]
[/quote]
Thanks Hacker,,at least there's hope.

Lemon juice in the wash has worked for every other stain I've ever had.

As for prevention, Scotchguard maybe? It works on hats, don't see why shirts would be different.

Same thing happens to one of my white Adidas shirts. Several rounds of Shout Gel has worked in the past but last weekend all I had was the heavy duty Shout spray and it didn't do the job. I also use Bullfrog and it only seems to leave a stain on the ends of the sleeves. Going to try bleach and a toothbrush directly on the problem.

My problem is that the black straps on my carry bag leave dark stains on the shoulders of white shirts...it is at the point where I won't buy white golf shirts anymore. I don't feel like having to do "stain surgery" before washing a shirt each time.

Change sunscreen. Neutrogena dry touch does not stain for me. Your results may vary, but I had the same issue.

I actually use store brand bleach kitchen cleaner (basically the generic version of Lysol bleach kitchen cleaner). Which I'm pretty sure is just bleach and water, more or less. I've had good luck with this on both white golf shirts that have gotten one thing or another on them, and white hats--which get just generally funky. I think the key with bleach is to just not use too concentrated a solution. If you do that, I think your stitching or logos should survive. Mine have, anyway.

Or just find white golf shirts with no logos on them. Then you can bleach away. Those can be more difficult to find, though I know Lands End makes their polos without any logos.

Try looking sunscreens that has little or no zinc oxide. This chemical turns dark when exposed to heat.

This worked for my white microfiber golf shirts, read this tip from a Google search I can't find now.

The culprit is an active ingredient present in most sunscreens (can't remember the name of it, it may be avobenzone), combined with sweat and aggravated by iron content water and water/dryer heat.

One needs a stain remover with a protease enzyme, which breaks down that stain combo. I used OxiClean MaxForce Gel Stick ( cheap and easy to find, there may be others). Rubbed it in, let it sit for 3 hrs and washed it in cold water. Stains gone!

IMPORTANT: I emphasize not using hot water or throwing them in the dryer, as warm/hot water apparently inhibits the removal process......... and even worse, dryer heat locks in those stains. Use cold water in the wash, let them hang dry after washing.

I saved 6 beautiful white microfiber shirts that way: big honkin' ugly yellowish stains around the sleeves and collar. The above treatment did not get rid of those stains entirely (extremely faint now), but that was because I'd unknowingly used warm water and dryer heat in prior washes. Will try a second iteration to see if the remaining stains can be eradicated

I also read a soak in diswashing liquid works: rub it into the stains, let sit 1-2 hrs, wash in cold water, hang dry. I may try that and see if it gets rid of the remaining faint stains. But I'm thrilled with the OxiClean reuslts as they are (no, I am NOT an OxiClean employee)

Good luck, let me know how you all do!

I have had this problem as well. found a discussion on some other website that said the following:
the culprit is avobenzone (parsol 1789), which is newer agent that blocks UVA (the wavelengths that are predominantly responsible for causing skin cancer). You can buy sunscreens without it, but then you should use one that relies on a physical agent (titanium dioxide, etc) for blocking UVA.
My recent experience: I had a semi-set stain (washed, not heat dried) almost completely in an all white polyester top. This despite pretreatment with spray n wash, which paradoxically seemed to make the stain worse (and it didn't improve with washing). Household bleach diluted ~5:1 also didn't do much. But lemon juice worked pretty much like magic (could have been a commercial - stains disappeared before my eyes. I was pretty skeptical when I first read about it, but it REALLY worked.) I also read that a rust-removing agent like CLR will work (apparently the issue is a reaction between avobenzone and iron in the water that creates rust stains?) but I haven't tried this yet and would do so with caution. The third option is to pretreat affected areas with normal laundry detergent, this has also worked for me though it is a PITA.

I refuse to use any oil based sunscreens. Only ones worth using are neutrogena with helioplex, Laroche Posy and ombrelle. More expensive but more efeective according to my dermatologist.

I ruined a perfectly good under armour shirt because of suncreen stains. No way of washing it out.

Sunscreen wrecked one of my nice Tommy golf shirts. I tried oxiclean and it just made it worse. Luckily it was only a $30 shirt so I wasn't too heart broken. I just say don't use the sunscreen at all..... Wait wrong thought.
Wear non-white golf shirts

Quality sunscreen that wont run when you sweat is the best solution.

I've never found anything that can reverse the stain. However, I have found that submerging the shirt in a bucket of water within a couple hours after playing stopped stains from setting. I've been doing this all summer and I don't have any stains. Plus never put in the dryer

Home and laundry forum??

I use several different kinds of spray-on sunscreens and haven't figured out which one causes this, but I have found a solution that works every time. I take my whites and soak them in a sink full of water and Oxyclean for about an hour. This turns the stains yellow. Then I spray the yellow stains with Shout Advanced, throw them in the wash and they come out nice and white.

had the same problem and someone reccomended Bar keeper, a household cleaner product. Works pretty well. I'm gonna try the lemon juice.

Does anybody know if these treatments work for colored shirts? I have a light blue ralph lauren golf polo that i've worn maybe 4 times and it has orange spots all over the back from sweat.

Murphy's Oil Soap , water, and a toothbrush. Pretreat the shirt then wash without bleach. NO BLEACH! The oil in the Murphy' s Oul Soap breaks down the oil in the lotion.

Great topic. I have several shirts and shorts that I don't wear when I know I'm going to put on sunscreen. I'm going to try some of the ideas from the Mama's Laundry Talk post above. I'll post back with results.