I have noticed these spots on my husband's shirts. They are only on my husband's shirts, no one else's. I can wash a load of my clothes with his shirts, and his shirts come out of the dryer with these spots, mine don't.
The spots look like little grease marks. But they are on every single casual shirt he owns...not his dress shirts, only his casual ones, ie polo shirts, cotton sweaters from gap, things of that nature.
I thought at first that it had to be something he was eating or drinking and spilling. But one shirt I purchased for him, he wore for two hours for family pics, did not eat it in, took it off, I washed it, and there is the spot! It looks like a little grease mark in a small circle, like he ate something and dripped it on his shirt, but that is not it. No matter how many times I wash the shirt, the spots remain.
These spots are driving me crazy and ruining his wardrobe. Any ideas what this could be?
Great suggestions so far.....
Answers: no cologne, and sometimes not even deoderant (sounds gross, I know, but he really doesn't need it. He barely sweats and doesn't smell - lucky me!)
Jennifer - I couldn't control my laughter from your post.
I use vinegar as fabric softener usually - but even if I do use regular softener, why do these spots only show up on his shirt out of all the clothes in that load?
Rachel - your post made me laugh out loud. No, no spitting. And I actually contemplated the pee thing. These spots are up way too far on the shirt to be that! I think!! omg!
Does not carry a pen - and these shirts are polos and things with no pockets.
DH is not a slob - hope it doesn't come across that way. He dresses very nicely and is a proper man with great hygiene and manners! I swear.
We get these from time to time too, come to think of it they are usually on my husbands shirt to. They don't have them going into the wash, but do coming out. I don't know what causes them or why they tend to be on his and not mine. Maybe in a fit of male shirt chivalry it throws itself in front of the unknown stain agent to protect the womens shirts from such filth... or maybe I watch to many movies...
I don't know what the spots could be, however, I SWEAR by Oxy Clean spray - it goes those pesky spots out.
My entire family will get those spots on the top of our shirts, mostly from dripping oily foods on the shirt. And the Oxy Clean spray takes it right off.
Even if the spot had already been laundered and dried and you didn't catch it the first time. Just spray it until drenched & rewash. The spot is gone!
Has saved us from throwing out a lot of good clothes!!
Good luck! :)
Does he wear an undershirt under his shirts?
Undershirts protect clothing from pretty much anything that could be a source from under the shirt. Like sweat, deodorant, oily hair/skin.
Does he dress as the absolute last this he does before he goes out the door?
When my son gets shirt spots it's usually from brushing his teeth and it's splashed tooth paste.
Cologne/aftershave, hair gel, (mustache wax?), any oil dripping from his electric razor, splashed mouth wash, (breath spray?)?
Does it happen in the exact same spot or general area every time?
I would think if it were a fabric softener problem the spots could happen on the back or anywhere on the shirt.
If it were a kid I'd almost be willing to try a bib out on him.
It's a puzzling problem.
If you ever do find out what it is, be sure to let us know.
Does he use mouthwash or did something backsplash from the sink? Toothpaste bubbles? Aftershave? Sounds gross, but maybe from when he leans over to flush the toilet? Does he spit when he talks? LOL ;) yeah I don't know...
We get this sometimes too. Does it come back out with a second wash. Ours usually do and if they don't usually a little oxiclean and then a wash does the trick. We use dryer sheets but not liquid softener but even when I line dry things it doesn't seem to matter. We did have some weird stuff happen with his shirts a while back. Every once in a while I would do a load of whites with bleach. Dh's clothes in the next load would end up with small bleach spots sometimes. But only his clothes! The spots looked like they were caused by being pressed against the holes in the sides of the wash basin during the spin cycle - like there was some residual bleach or something. But I don't know why it was only his clothes. I am going to have to watch this question to see what people have to say.
Liquid softener does that sometimes to certain fabrics, are you using it?
OMG! This is exactly what happens at my house too! Mine & my DD clothes are perfectly fine & his looks AWFUL! Discolored spots everywhere! My hubby does wear cologne though & I never thought of that... I'm gonna have to have a talk with him about that cuz until you asked, we had no idea what it was & honestly, never thought to ask! Thank you S.!
i was going to say if you put the liquid laundry soap in last sometimes that can happen, odd that hubby's clothes would always be on top though.
I will say, i get them on my long sleeve t's anything soft like that. And it's not my aftershave, haha.
My husband's shirts do this too, he said it was because of the fabric softner and I did it on purpose to his shirts... I wash all of our shirts together, I wouldn't do that... I was at a lost myself... my husband doesn't wear cologne too much, we use the same soap so I don't know why his does this... Every once in a blue moon one of mine will have these spots but not too often... I even stop using the liquid fabric softners years ago, but they still show up... I'm curious what others may say...
Do you use dryer sheets? I have found that they leave oily/greasy spots on garments with a high polyester content. It shows up worse on darker colors. Also be careful with toothpaste splatter...it acts as a bleach. (think whiter teeth) I don't know why this only happens to your husbands clothes. For occasional grease stains in the laundry, I pretreat with Dawn dish soap. Works great.
We used to get these. For us it turned out to be leftover bleach droplets from running the whites. So now I run the whites last, and run an empty wash to clean the tub after.
M.
Does he carry a pen?
Does he wear cologne? What type of deodorant? Hair gel or hair spray?
Very odd.. It has to be something he does once he has the shirt on.. Is his car parked under a particular tree? What does he do casually he does not do when dressed nicely..
Golf tennis, work on the lawn< does he have a hobby? Does he drive a different vehicle?
Kind of fun to investigate this,,
S.,
It could be the combination of the material of these shirts and the holes in your washer tub or the holes in the Tumbler of the dryer when the shirts are up against either one or the other. Have you tried pre treating the spots with oxyclean and then try putting them in a pillowcaese to wash and then hang dry to see if the spots are still there. My dryer broke awhile back and the same thing happened to my scrubs for work at the laundrymat's dryer. It's worth a try ! C. S.
my cousin use to get these light faded marks on her clothes and towels, but even when we did our wash together (we rented our first apartment together) they only appeared on her clothes. Finally we figured out it was her face wash.
