The weather in the UK has definitely been improving after a cold, wet spell. Although it’s not always as hot as the likes of Spain or France, that doesn’t mean you should skip putting on suncream to stay safe.
The sun tends to be strongest between the hours of 11am until 3pm, so wearing a high enough factor is key if you want to avoid getting burnt. And while it’s great for many reasons, one of the downsides of suncream is how easily it can stain clothes, especially white ones. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be difficult to get rid of those pesky yellow and pink stains.
Nicola Barker, Head of Buying at Suit Direct, has sounded the alarm about using bleach to get rid of suncream stains.
Although this powerful product can help to keep your whites gleaming, using it for this specific stain is not a good idea.
Suncreams contain UV-filtering ingredients which can react with whitening agents or bleach and cause rust-like staining.
First, wash your clothes as normal and while they are still damp, either hang up or lay your clothes out flat in direct sunlight.
You will need to leave your clothes at for at least a few hours, if not over the space of a couple of days, and the UV rays from the sun will help to break down the chemical bonds in the stains and they will gradually lift.
This will work best if this staining is fresh and hasn’t been set with heat from tumble drying.
But if your clothes are already stained, the first port of call is to rinse thoroughly with cold water to remove any excess oils or ingredients that can react to different laundry detergents and cause staining.
If you have some yellow staining on your whites from suncream, avoid bleach or whitening powders which can worsen the stains and cause pink and red stains to develop.
For tough stains, you can pre-treat the yellow stain with a bit of washing up liquid and cool water, gently dab it into the stain and let it sit for at least half an hour to break down the oils in the suncream.
For tougher stains, you can dab the area with white vinegar or fresh lemon juice and leave for half an hour, rinsing thoroughly after to help lift the staining.
After using these pre-treatments, pop your whites in a cool or warm cycle using your regular detergent, avoiding whitening powders.
Instead of tumble drying, air dry your clothes in an area with good sunlight exposure – the UV rays will act as a natural bleaching agent and help fade any remaining yellow marks.