Easily remove sweat and sunscreen stains from clothes using 1 item

With summer now in full swing, most people will be — and certainly should be — applying suncream whenever they venture outdoors. However, this, combined with the perspiration that often accompanies soaring temperatures, can frequently cause unsightly staining on clothing, particularly on lighter-coloured items.

Yellow stains around the underarms of shirts and t-shirts from sweat are a common complaint, while sunscreen can leave marks virtually anywhere. Not only are these stains incredibly frustrating to discover, they can also prove rather stubborn to get rid of.

Fortunately, one cleaner has revealed how a single everyday product could banish these stains for good, restoring white clothing to a pristine condition.

Taking to TikTok, one woman voiced her exasperation to her followers upon discovering yet another stain on a white shirt, admitting she was at a loss as to what to do.

“But I can’t be the only one who is like losing white tank tops […] on a daily basis to like sun cream marks and sweat, sweat stains,” the woman said in her video, as she showed off her stained white top. “How are you getting rid of them? I can’t. I can’t throw away another.”

To help, self-employed cleaner and self-described ‘middle class English old bag’ went on to share her top tips for removing any stubborn sunscreen or sweat stains from white clothes – and it’s easier than you may think.

How to remove sweat stains from white clothes

Making a video for her three million TikTok followers, Ann responded to the woman’s video by urging her and others facing the same issue to invest in some Oxy Bleach.

Oxygen bleach is a safe, colour-safe, and eco-friendly alternative to chlorine bleach, commonly powered by sodium percarbonate or hydrogen peroxide. It breaks down into water, oxygen, and natural soda ash, making it biodegradable and gentle on both fabrics and skin.

She explained that while stain removers before washing your clothes could sometimes work, some stains require something stronger.”

She explained that while stain removers applied before washing can occasionally do the trick, certain stubborn stains demand something considerably more powerful.

“But for particularly persistent stains, the best way to have white white is to have lots of white [clothes] because what you do is you take a lot of that,” she said, referring to the oxy bleach powder.

“They give you a scoop and it’s nowhere near enough. You want lots. I mean that’s a small cup, half a mug, third of a mug in a bucket or your sink or a bowl,” Ann explained.

Once the bleach powder has been added, she advises pouring in warm water that is ‘as hot as you and the clothes can manage’, which is typically around 60C. Give everything a thorough stir before submerging your white garments — though be sure to keep any woollen items well clear.

“Stir it round, put your tops in, give them a stir and it will fizz up,” Ann said. “Then put a plate on top to hold them all under the water and leave them overnight.”

The following day, simply pour away the water and place the damp clothes into the washing machine, laundering them as you would normally.

Once complete, Ann said: “They should be absolutely perfect.”

In addition to this, Ann advises always washing white garments alongside other white items, which will help to preserve their whiteness.

“I now separate our whites into whites that have got dog hair on, which is my stuff, and whites which nobody wants dog hair on, which is the towels,” Ann said.