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Yellowed white shirt - how to bleach?

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JohansonWanson

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May 27, 2008, 5:56:57 PM5/27/08
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My cool white dress shirt got yellowed by sun screen over a vacation. I
have some chlorine bleach - should I use that? I don't want to set the
stain - any help would be very much appreciated.


Fran

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May 28, 2008, 8:09:15 AM5/28/08
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If it's your most favorite expensive shirt you own then send it to the
cleaners. If you want to take a chance, depending on the fabric of
your shirt, I would add bleach.

clams_casino

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May 28, 2008, 10:34:51 AM5/28/08
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Fran wrote:

Bleach should not set the stain, but may or may not (likely not) remove
the yellowing. Certainly worth the try, not much to lose.

Have you considered Oxyclean? It does a good job on many stains. If
the yellowing is due to an oily substance, a good degreaser such as
orange oil is another possibility.


If the sun screen contained some tanning dyes, I'd say only the oxyclean
has a chance.

Lou

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Jun 2, 2008, 9:08:52 PM6/2/08
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"JohansonWanson" <Jo...@circumference.com> wrote in message
news:483c8389$0$7715$4c36...@roadrunner.com...

> My cool white dress shirt got yellowed by sun screen over a vacation. I
> have some chlorine bleach - should I use that? I don't want to set the
> stain - any help would be very much appreciated.

The use and care label should tell whether or not chlorine bleach is
acceptable. In a general way, chlorine bleach will yellow a white cotton
shirt, and you'll never get it white again.


clams_casino

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Jun 3, 2008, 6:27:08 AM6/3/08
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Lou wrote:

Actually, chorine bleach can be excellent for whitening cotton (unlike
wool, nylon, etc).

It's the optical brighteners that can be adversely affected (degraded /
yellowed) by chlorine.

Another approach might be a non chlorine bleach (peroxide based bleach).

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