topic How do I prevent staining on towels? in Home

How do I prevent staining on towels?

Glorimar — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 19:19:56 GMT

When I wash my towels there is sometimes an orange stain left behind on some of them. I don't use any products with benzol peroxide and I don't use bleach in my laundry detergent so I don't know what is causing this. Any solutions for this? TIA ladies!

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

Shelbelle — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 19:21:06 GMT

Buy only dark colored towels and washcloths, that is what I do,

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

Zhills — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 19:27:02 GMT

Lots of good info on the Internet. Too much to copy and pasdt here! Check it out!

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

Foxxee — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 19:29:50 GMT

That shouldn't be happening. How long has this been going on?

Do you have a well or get city water.

Do you see any staining in your sinks and toilet? Look in the tank to see if there is any residue there.

My water company had a problem with rust in the pipes and I experienced staining white towels.

You can buy home tests for detecting iron in your water. Even if you don't have it, you might want to call your water company.

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

tessam — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 19:35:13 GMT

This happens to us all the time!

I researched with no success.

Changed detergant.

Had water tested.

No solution.

I have had many towels ruined and would love to hear if anyone has solved this.

Thanks

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

Trailrun23 — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 02:58:59 GMT

I only buy white bath towels . Every month or so I will wash them and add some Clorox to the wash...only takes a little and it removes stains and brightens the towels. If your towels are different colors then it is hard to know what the fix may be. We have iron in our water and it does show up eventually on my showernfloor tile and some times towels. I have also used OxyClean and add it to the wash along with the detergent. I think it works better than Clorox sometimes.

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

vcvc — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 19:46:43 GMT

I can't help with prevention but use vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. I use a 1:1 ratio and it works well

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

ValuSkr — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 20:00:49 GMT

Do you have well water?

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

Carmie — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 20:01:19 GMT

You could have too much iron in your water. Call someone to check. You might need a water filter made for high iron deposits.

I see this type of water when we travel by RV. Most campgrounds are on well water. I will not wash laundry or my hair in this type of water. I buy bottled water for hair washing and we do have a water filter in our RV.

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

Desert Lily — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 20:04:51 GMT

@Glorimar If the "stains" are happening due to laundering, then it might be the detergent. I used to follow the directions on my last washer and pour liquid detergent in after the clothes were in & before the water filled ... that resulted in my colored cotton towels getting marks (tan/rust colored marks or sometimes faded marks) where the color came out. The same happened with colored cotton t-shirts, & some cotton sheets.

I had an HE top-loading washer then and changed my laundering process: I filled the washer with water, added detergent, let it agitate briefly, and added the laundry last. I never had a problem with those "stains" or marks again.

I have a new front-load washer in my new house. I can't interrupt its cycle. So, I pour the detergent mostly on white towels in light loads and polyester dark pieces in dark loads that I know won't get affected. The washer then covers everything with water, the detergent get mixed, & the wash cycle goes fine.

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

jlkz — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 20:20:10 GMT

This happened to me once when friends lent us their high rise condo in FL. I was mortified the first time I took their beautiful white towels out of the washer.

Must have rehashed those towels several times with bleach to get the orangey-rust marks out !

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

Tshirtgal — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 20:36:51 GMT

This happened to me. I thought the stains occurred in the laundry but in fact, I was getting them from the dryer. Sure enough, the dryer, an older one, was discolored by the heat source and, I learned that if I stuffed too many clothes in the dryer, they did not tumble enough and what ever was right next to the heat source, discolored, similar to when you leave an iron on the ironing board too long. Check your clothes before you dry them.

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

Mindy D — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 21:25:19 GMT

What's the fabric content of the towels? What color are they? Are you washing them with only other towels of the same color? Are you washing in cold, hot or warm water? Are you using well water? Do you self tan? What detergent do you use? You have to ask yourself these questions to get to the bottom of this.

I agree with others, it could be iron from the pipes or even the scenario one poster mentioned about her dryer.

If it is rust you can look up removing rust stains on towels. You usually lay a fabric down and put lemon juice or some use vinegar all over the stain and then lay the item in the sun for hours. Sometimes you can repeat the process. Then you launder as usual.

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

addtothis — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 21:39:54 GMT

@Glorimar wrote:
When I wash my towels there is sometimes an orange stain left behind on some of them. I don't use any products with benzol peroxide and I don't use bleach in my laundry detergent so I don't know what is causing this. Any solutions for this? TIA ladies!

Glorimar, I am no expert at all on this situation but I just know what has worked for my husband and I through the years of owning 4 homes in NJ and now living in SC using city water. For almost 30 years we lived in a home we had built outside the city limits and had well water but for sure my husband had CPVC pipes installed to prevent any rust accumilation and possibly doing such staining that may occur. Our well water was great and we loved how great our water tasted and performed with bathing, laundry and also with our lawn irrigation system. Now we have been here in SC outside of Charleston we have city piped in water so before we moved here we had Culligan System put in and I have to say our water has NO chemicals, no hardness to the water and our bathing and irrigation is just as awsome as when we were in Jersey. Many factors play in with staining but may be your pipes or may be the water ph and/or chemicals and the interaction with the pipes and the material the pipes are made of. Just guessing. I hope you can find a solution but it sounds the posters here gave you some solutions needed. Regards.

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

SilleeMee — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 21:52:22 GMT

I always use ColorCatcher sheets in my wash no matter what colors I'm washing.

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

shelbyshelbyshelby — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 23:40:51 GMT

It may be your washer. I purchased CLR , follow directions , one wash and an additional rinse . It left the washer drum supper clean . Maybe this will help .

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

ECBG — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 18:10:12 GMT

Are you dealing with tomatoes in the kitchen or rust?

In the kitchen, you might enjoy using the Kleenex brand of pop up paper towels. They're softer.

Check the bottom if your water faucets with a white paper towel and see if your problem is there.

If it's your water, toilet bowls and tanks would have buildup.

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

AuntG — Mon, 01 May 2023 00:17:28 GMT

I'm perplexed. Could be rust in the water, but then porcelain fixtures would be stained too. My problem is an unpleasant odor coming from my washer. It's 16 years old and sits in a basement laundry room so while not a big deal, it bugs me.

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

Imaoldhippie — Mon, 01 May 2023 13:21:54 GMT

@Glorimar ..................Do you have a lot of iron in your water? It could be iron stains, but it would also be on all your light and white clothing. Also, if this only happened once could it be blood? If anything with blood on it is washed in hot water it will leave a stain.

I know from experience that some materials towels & washcloths made today will turn a ugly mud, orange brown color. I dont remember what the material is but I bought them at Walmart and they were very cheap. All our washcloths did turn that color but not the towels. I buy only white bath towels and dishcloths so that I can bleach them but the washcloths remained orange/brown.

Re: How do I prevent staining on towels?

Judaline — Wed, 03 May 2023 12:47:52 GMT

@tessam wrote:
This happens to us all the time!
I researched with no success.
Changed detergant.
Had water tested.
No solution.
I have had many towels ruined and would love to hear if anyone has solved this.
Thanks

I'd say buy cheap towels and when it gets too bad, buy new. (cheap towels, lol)