I noticed that even after washing my white t-shirts twice they still have some lovely yellow pitstains, and the collars on my white shirts won't get clean either.

Can anyone tell me what washing powder/substance I need to get them clean here?

My knowldege of washing machines does not extend much beyond putting powder and softener in, then pressing the 40 button. The washing machine has many other buttons with strange symbols, but I'd rather not mess around with them. So please keep advice simple enough for me to understand.

AFAIK, all my shirts say wash at 40deg (I think I just assume that of all my clothes), I always wash the whites seperately, though it doesn't seem to help.

it's pink and called Vanish.

Vanish! I always associated it with trying to remove a stain from the carpet before my parents got home.

I take it this is the one I need for my purposes?

An oldy but a goody.

I use the pink one for my husband's shirts (white, light blue,checked etc) as I faced similar problem . It really works.

There is vanish in the white container and vanish in the pink. Pink is for colors, white might be a bit stronger for whites. It's hydrogen peroxide or something related.

You could buy some "Eau de Javel" - Americans call it bleach to whiten the shirts
.
For pit stains, soak the offending area in some vinegar.

More hints here:
http://www.ehow.com/list_7195365_lau...-removers.html

Maybe change your deodorant?

I can also recommend it. Works brilliantly!

Denner and Coop are always doing price specials on it.

i remember there was bit of hoo hah a while back that vanish was crap at removing or helping to remove stains and for an average stain it needed about 12 hours soak in a high solution to remove.

vanish company didnt deny it.

That is correct.

Change your shirts each day

Didn't trust myself with bleach, convinced I'd either destroy my clothes or give myself chemical burns.

OTH, Vanish is probably just bleach with a nice brand name. Works for me.

Vanish is "oxygen bleach", rather than chlorine bleach. Oxygen based are gentler.

A possible future solution is to change your antiperspirant. Not sure what your condition is, but a deodourant might be a better solution. Anitperspirants contain chemicals which react with sweat to produce a gel to plug pores. This gel is almost like a glue, and is a likely cause of the stains, sticking dirt particles (yellow) to your shirt. This is very difficult to wash out.

Ah, the memories.

It's not the detergent; it's your cheapo deodorant you need to change.

Never really agreed with antiperspirants anyway, always thought the body needs to sweat and I'm not the sort that sweats profusely when it might be a problem.

Haven't changed brands in years, it's prob because I switched detergents to a colour safe one as I got sick of my clothes fading so fast.

Before you ask, the non colour safe detergent was working better, but still not all that good, it's just easier to notice now.

I have a secret to share: Jubilee Shout



This is a bottle of magic. Coop used to stock it at CHF 3.45 a bottle. You just need a little - squirt straight onto stain or dirt and stick the item of clothing into the machine. 40°C - bingo! Works on all kinds of stains, grass, chocolate, blood and more and, believe me, we have a lot of those. For colours and whites - no problem. (Sounds like an ad, doesn't it )

Unfortunately, they have just kicked it out of their range - I expect the margin was too small - and replaced it with their own brand alongside the high-cost stain removers.

However, you can get it from your friendly local Drogerie. My local will order it especially and sells it for approx. CHF 5.00, which is still a lot less than Vanish and co.

As I have to wear a white blouse for work, Coral White Satin does a good job, smells nice too. Can be bought at coops.
Time to update to liquid form, finito with the tablets and powder stuff.

I don't know why, but the thread title made me smile too.