Laundry question ... gross, but confusing :)

[MariesMama]

I wear white cotton/poly shirts to work as part of my uniform.  They eventually get yellow stains under the arm and I either replace them or use Soft Scrub to get them out.  Well, lately the yellow stains have tiny brown speckles in them, almost like dirt, and I just pulled one out of the wash and the brown spots have multiplied.  Super gross.

What could this be?  A reaction between my deodorant and the detergent?  I recently switched to homemade laundry soap (after the spots started), and I am using the same deodorant that I've been using for years. 

And more importantly, what do I do to get rid of it?  I'm going to get new deodorant tonight and see if that helps.

[treegardner]

Are the spots anywhere else or on other clothing? This happened to my mom but it was on a lot of different clothes. I think it was from rust in their dryer. They eventually had to replace the dryer. 

 

[MariesMama]

No, only on the shirts and only on the underarms.  :(

[eirual]

1) since nixing anti-persperant those yellow stains have disappeared for me....are you using anti-persperant vs. deodorant?

2) I found homemade laundry soap just didn't get things clean with our hard water....do you have hard water?

[MariesMama]

We do have hard water.  I was discussing the homemade laundry soap with my stepmom this weekend - my dad heard me talking about our socks not getting clean and said "They put phosphates in there for a reason."   I'm not completely happy with it but I think I may use a different bar of soap in the next batch.

The stains have got to be just my sweat.  I just got another load out of the dryer and found the same kind of stains in different places.  This past week was quite a bit warmer and I was sweating a little more.  The stains were right where I was sweating.  I think I might need to discuss this with a doctor! 

[stormborn]

If you're not opposed to it oxyclean works great on yellow sweat stains. Dh's sweat leaves stains like that and he doesn't even wear deo.

[Jenni1894]

Another vote for oxyclean.

I can get spaghetti out of my kids whites and grass and mud out of my son's baseball uniform.   I actually also have gotten blood out of DH's pants with it. 

[MariesMama]

The oxy is one variable I didn't catch!  I used to use it all the time, but ran out a month or two ago and haven't bought more.  Thanks!