A couple of queries

[electron800]

Hi all,
I have two things I need to ask so I thought instead of clogging up the board I'd just ask them in one go.

I've recently been noticing that when ironing t-shirts there is a smell of stale sweat coming from under the arms.
It's only a problem with coloured shirts washed in a colourcare detergent at 40. My whites all get bleach containing powder and 60 which seems to remove it no problem. What would be the best way to remove this odour without fading the colours?

My second question is that I am moving to university halls of residence on Friday and although I don't yet know what machines they'll have I have a suspision they will be coin-op Maytag top loaders. Would I be better off using a detergent such as Ariel or Daz handwash and twintub in a top loader? If so, what should I do for colours?

Any help is appreciated.

Matt

 

[danemodsandy]

Matt:

Since you have Oxi Clean over there, I have found it to give very good results with removing odours and deodorant residue from underarm areas. 40 degrees Celsius is pretty lukewarm, but the Oxi Clean should still help. It also helps a great deal with keeping white things white, without high wash temperatures or chlorine bleach. I have not had the whiff of stale sweat when ironing underarms since I began using it.

 

[aquarius1984]

I too have noticed on a few t shirts I have washed for other people that sweat thing.

I dont get it myself on my t shirts but then I dont sweat much and use decent Anti perspirants like Sure orig stick, Mitchum also do a good stick one and Boots do a good one too.

The cure for the sweat thing is to douse the affected area in white vinegar and let it sit for a few hours, wash the t shirts on a 50 deg synthetics cycle with powdered colour detergent and that solves that.

As for the TL powder question I would stick to a regular Automatic powder as top loaders are hardly known to give a decent rinse - you only have to read peoples posts here about 2 or less rinses and TL/TT powders are not that easy to rinse out.

Automatic powders are better rinsers especially those from Lever, id stay away from Ariel Fairy Bold Daz etc due to their poor rinsing ability,

Dosing these powders should be easy, probably better off starting with a regular FL dose and seeing how it cleans, if not then up the dose but keep an eye on the rinsing.
As for whites a TL wont clean these as well as what your used to with the Hoover so id be tempted to soak them overnight in whites powder if you can and then wash them in the TL,

Maybe have some fun and invest in a spin dryer to spin the water out after soaking them?

What do you think?

Rob

 

[perc-o-prince]

I've solved the problem of the stale sweat smell coming from my t-shirts when I iron them.........

I don't iron them (or much else, for that matter!).

Tiny Tee Hee!

Chuck

 

[jeffg]

Matt, you may find your t-shirts no longer even need ironing, once you switch to a top loader. They should come out *much* less wrinkled from the washer compared to most front loaders.

As for the sweat smells, again, this problem should disappear once you move to a decent top loading washer. Most front loaders are royal crap for actually cleaning clothes, although it looks like a lot is going on, it's just tumbling. Utterly useless for hardcore stains compared to the wringing action of top loaders.

 

[electron800]

I have been using washing soda as well

I thought it did the same job as oxi clean but it dosen't really remove odours any more than detergent alone.
As for the deodorant I use Sure extreme protect spray, seems to do the job fairly well, nobody has really had to avoid me lol =P and I change my shirt everyday. That vinegar thing sounds like a good idea but I can't really see myself soaking everything before I wash it, but if I need to I shall.

My mum uses Persil and it leaves things smelling musty. I haven't used surf for a while but from what I remember I prefer the smell of the "sunshine" one to persil. I think I'll give that a go again. Still the problem of a colour detergent though, I know ariel dosen't rinse well but Persil and supermarket brands seem to leave things smelling less than fresh from my experience. I'll certainly be doing whites in HOT and colours in WARM though.

I'd love to get a spin dryer, what fun! I don't plan on using the dryers, I have a large airer and I never use the dryer at home so why bother spending extra money just cos theyre available? That makes a spin dryer even more useful since I know commercial machines have less than perfect extration. I think I'll go see whats on offer on ebay =]

I was also considering getting one of those little camping machines to do small loads and save money on the coin-op washer. With that and a spin dryer it would be just like having a twin tub =D I'd have hours of fun with that lol.