I go through a lot of T shirts while gardening, it's a dirty hobby. The shirts collect a lot of dust which is easily washed away. It's the oily grime around the collar that poses a problem.
Remember the old TV commercial about ring around the collar? 'You tried rubbing them out. You tried scrubbing them out'? Then the ad goes on to pitch a product named something stupid like 'Shout', telling you to shout it out.
Well, I'm not buying anything special just for ring around the collar. I keep a spray bottle of ammonia and use it for so many things. Turns out it's perfect for removing collar grime.
Just spray some on before washing the garment. Works instantly and is very effective. And no 'Shout' bottles in the land fill.
Oh! And should you get just a faint whiff of the ammonia while spraying it (I did say 'faint'), don't come unglued, enjoy it. You may not know that ammonia is a CNS, (central nervous system) stimulant. Maybe it should be called the 'quicker picker upper' instead of Dr Pepper.
Yes, the tiny whiff can stimulate you, if only very slightly and for a very brief time. Probably no longer legal, there was a time when you could walk into most any drug store, go to the soda fountain and order a Coke with ammonia.
You read that right. Back then, you could buy medicinal grade ammonia in small, 2oz(?) bottles. The soda jerk kept this handy. A Coke with ammonia was just that, a fountain Coke to which had been added 1-2 drops ammonia.
When a person felt a bit tired, blasé, or whatever, they'd have a Coke with ammonia, and then continue with their shopping or whatever.
And then there was Dope a Coke, the real picker upper! Just anybody couldn't order one of these. And you had to know the soda jerk really well. You paid him under the table for this elixir.
You read right, again. In the 20s and 30s, you could go to the right drug store, speak to the right soda jerk and get a hit of cocaine in your Coke.
Ready for more? The original Coca Cola formula contained cocaine and was peddled around on a horse drawn cart making neighborhood rounds. Lot a happy (laid out) folks back then! The government put a stop to the addition of cocaine to the formula. It still contains a non addictive flavoring agent derived from the coca leaf.
It all started in my grand old state of North Carolina, very near my home town.
Was this supposed to be a cleaning tip or a history lesson? Time to get back to you laundry, Doug.
This page contains the following solutions.
To remove ring-around-the-collar stains on dress shirts or polo/golf shirts, scrub a dab of shampoo into each stain with an old toothbrush before you run your laundry.
Clean ring-around-the-collar. Mark the stain heavily with white Crayola chalk. The chalk will absorb the sebum oil that holds in the dirt. By chrystalkay
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
How do I remove yellowing and ring around the collar from white cotton dress shirts?
Ron from Bronx, New York
To remove a stain it is important to understand what it is made up of. Collar stains are caused mostly by natural oils from the skin and hair. Shampoo works most of the time, because it removes grease from hair.
Why dont you try an ordinary shampoo, or a shampoo specific to greasy or oily hair. The Shampoo you are using may be a little too hightech and the ingredients in the shampoo may be different. :) hope this helps.
is it true that it is impossible to remove the stain after drying as stated by one of the posters
Editor's Note: Some stains are "set" after drying so are much harder to remove. This isn't always the case but it's best not to dry (in an automatic dryer) before the stain is removed if possible. If it's already been dried, might as well keep trying to remove the stain. With ring around the collar, I don't think drying would make much difference.
IS there ANY way to prevent ring around the collar??
I scrub my neck with a wash clothe and soae almost every day!
try putting a cheap (like AquaNet) hairspray on the shirt right before you toss it into the washer.... works for me. I had been in the USN and my wife would put it on the neck of my dress white uniform shirts...
I have tried, Wisk, Tide, OxyClean and about every "spray stain remover" on the store shelves with only minimal results. My mom suggested Fels-Naptha bar soap and a small scrub brush. So far, that has worked the best. But, I will still try a few others posted here.
The dry cleaner told me that ring is from your hair products mixing with your natural oils (i.e. shampoo, conditioner, hair gel, hair spray, etc) I once heard to put baking soda in a pot of hot water on the stove and boil socks to get the stains and smell out..
My boyfriend is a Physician Assistant at an ER. He has has to wear the white lab coats over the scrubs. I recently moved in and he showed me the ring around the collar on these 2 coats. I made a paste of Baking soda and vinegar, brushed it on, let it sit for a couple minutes and then scrubbed with a little nail brush. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was already working! FYI: He's been at this job for approx. 8 months and hasn't really treated the ring around the collar until now. Baking Soda and Vinegar got it all off! Mom kept telling me Baking soda but this website confirmed it for me.
My boyfriend gets ring around the collar on his work button down shirts. I used Murphy's oil soap and scrubbed the collar against itself to get it cleaned. I'm so happy it works. Less $ buying new shirts all the time.
I suffer from hyperhydrosis (excess sweating). My ring around the collar is BAD. SHOUT GEL is a miracle worker. I had to use it a couple of times to get the stain completely. Now I treat all my collars before I wash them. Not only does it get the stain out, but it prevents them from forming in the first place.
GO Murphy's oil soap. You saved my shirts! Thank you for the suggestion. It really worked.
I wanted to know if I can use the Shout Concentrated gel to remove stains and not be worried that it will fade my clothes. Can anyone please comment on this? Thanks
I always do my dress shirts in their own load. I use Woolite and one of those "knuckle scrubber" brushes to do the collars.
Pour a thin line of Woolite directly onto the collar and scrub with a wet brush. I usually do this while waiting for the washing machine to fill. Do this every time you do laundry, and after about three washings your shirt collars will look brand new.
--And, you don't need to add any detergent because there'll be enough Woolite in the machine to take care of the shirts.
I found a product that prevents ring around the collar all together. They are simple peel and stick strips called sweat strips I used them in 90 degree + heat and no ring around the collar. I don't have to throw anymore shirts away. Thank goodness. Check it out. ww.sweatstrips.org
This will work all the time: Wet collar. Apply a mild soap
Use a degreaser dish washing soap. Tap lightly and rinse
For whites use oxi clean or similar, rinse twice to remove all chemicals
wash shirt with a fabric softener. If all else fails I will take it to the cleaners
no worries no pressing and i have time for my kids.
I just finished my laundry -- and no more ring around the collar on most of the shirts!! Thanks to everyone here whose advice informed my strategy.
Here's what I did:
It's true that AGITATION of the dirt seems to be the main thing. I used an ordinary toothbrush i had lying around (one I saved and cleaned thoroughly before using) to apply a good natural cleaner to the stain. I used FAST ORANGE hand cleaner by Permatex, which I bought at an auto repair store. It's marketed as a natural hand cleaner for tough grease stains. This stuff takes engine oil and other car grease right off of your hands in seconds. It says on the bottle it can be used on laundry stains, too. If I didnt have this I would have tried Murphy's Oil Soap, which I've had good experience with in other uses.
So I diluted about a tablespoon of FAST ORANGE -- it's powerful stuff -- in a little bit of water and applied it to the collars with the brush. Just about 10 seconds of scrubbing all along the edge.
Then I dropped the five shirts (all patterned whites or light blues) into the washer on a cold, gentle setting (Permanent Press on my machine). I added about three tablespoons of Arm and Hammer Essentials laundry detergent (a concentrated detergent).
Once they came out, I hung the five wet shirts in the hot Florida sun UPSIDE DOWN, so that the collars got full sun exposure. About two hours later, the shirts were all dry, brilliant in color, and only one of them had a small trace of the ring stain! (previous to doing this on my own, I had been laundering them at dry cleaners for a long time).
I am thrilled I was able to achieve this without exposing my nice dress shirts to the cost and toxicity of a dry cleaners!!
For anyone looking for the ultimate solution to this problem, here it is. I'll explain my story.
A friend of mine borrowed a $300 dress shirt (yes, i know that's an expensive shirt, it's for rare occasions) without my knowledge and wore it for several weeks with a tie. Needless to say, the guy has very poor hygeine and the shirt ended up with the worst most nasty collar grease and yellow stains you could possibly imagine. Imagine the stain you're dealing with times 1,000. Anyhow, this happened 3 years ago and I've held onto the shirt because it's expensive and I was upset about it and didn't want to throw it away.
I tried several times to take it to the cleaners to get the collar stains removed to no avail. So, as you can imagine, he wore the shirt many times without washing it, plus it's been to the cleaners several times, plus I've tried to get the stains out myself before, so we're talking about the worst collar stains plus the fact that they are completely set in at this point.
The other night, I was going out with some friends and I saw the shirt there and once again realized how mad I was that it had these nasty collar stains, so I started doing some research which is when I stumbled across this forum. I tried everything listed here, literally, everything.
I finally removed the collar stain and it was with a solution that is not listed here yet. Here is my recommended course of action:
1.) Use GoJo or Fast Orange (or even a grease removing dish liquid) several time, each time rinsing the collar thoroughly to break apart the agitated grease. This will remove most of the grease and will leave you with the yellow collar stain.
2.) This is the trick that does the heavy lifting! Buy yourself a bottle of this stuff called K2r Spotlifter (www.k2rbrands.com/
I hope that helps some one in the future. Good luck! Make sure to remove the grease before using the K2r.
My mother showed us, as girls, how to remove tough stains that are caused by anything fat-soluble or otherwise greasy or grease-based:
Seems counter intuitive, but rub shortening into the stain, really saturate it with shortening, and leave it for a couple of days, to let the fat molecules grab onto the existing stain's fat molecules. Then get out the concentrated detergent or degreaser to remove both the shortening and the dissolved fatty stain. If you want, a bipolar compound that is both fat and water soluble, such as glycerin, can be applied to the shortening before using the detergent, to help make the whole thing more soluble.
It works when degreasers and super detergents alone don't, to remove oily stains.
Since sweat stains are oil-based (sebum is skin grease) this should work.
I like "My Clean Shirt" it gets ring around the collar out, along with all of the other common stains. I am not sure if you can buy it in stores. I know you can buy it directly on the website. http://www.mycleanshirt.com I have used it for a few months and I am very happy with it. When I got it I used it to remove some serious stains that were already "set"; it took two treatments, but the stains came out.
I found a nice gentleman's button up shirt. I don't know the history of the stain other than extremely filthy. I read the comments here and don't have these things on hand so, I used: Peroxide and baking soda. The stain came out with minimal brushing.
In a large bowl, I placed the collar and arm pits of the shirt then poured peroxide along the stain. It seemed to just roll off on some parts so I submerged the shirt until fully wet. I poured some baking soda in my hand and just made a paste on the shirt already dampened with peroxide. I started to scrub but it seemed like the stain was lifting itself off.
There is a slight yellow stain remaining so I will do this again. If this doesn't work the second time, I am going to use denture cleaner.
My Husband wears dress shirts quite regularly throughout the week, and I always take them to the dry cleaners. but the dry cleaner hasn't been able to get out the ring around the collar. Should I expect him to? Is he not doing what is expected of him? Or do I need to use something else to treat the ring around the collar? Most of them are french cuff shirts so I can't wash them myself. So what can I pretreat them with that i won't have to physically wash the whole shirt to get out?
Look in the phone book for a Shaklee sales person. The Shaklee Basic H works wonders on EVERYTHING!!
I have been told to use shampoo on the collar. I use an old toothbrush to rub the shampoo in and then wash as usual.
you can always use avon's bubble bath or avon's skin so soft.....both claim to remove ring around the collar....check out this website....
htttp://bridgett.maddoc.net/sales/sss.html
There is no reason why you can't launder shirts with French cuffs - I did it for years. Of course, they will probably need ironing. Just treat the ring around the collar with spray'n'wash or some other stain remover and I'm sure it will come out.
My drycleaner insists I pretreat all shirt collars with spray & wash. They won't do it without asking and certainly not all collars without charging you extra.The "goop" for laundry also works well, apply some then scrub it into the soiled area. Wonderful stuff for greasy hands and laundry.
Jill
My cleaners use to remove collar,ink and lipstick stains for free but they charge for the service now they tell me that they charge for the extra time spent removing the spots.
They tell me the process is expensive since they have to pay a person to remove the stain and than they have to dry clean the shirt to remove the chemicals used to remove the stains.
For years my husband and son wore dress shirts, sometimes I had 3 a day, 21 per week. I washed them all at home, gave them to each guy in a plastic bag and he would get them laundered or pressed at the dry cleaners at his office building. Cost the same but we knew they were really clean and with no ordors or nasty chemicals to irritate skin
Wash the whole shirt and then send to cleaners, not a big job with today's washing machines. Actually, french cuffs are not hard to iron. Take it slow and easy and after a few efforts you will have it done. I used to calculate 5 mins per shirt. Then teach your men to do it themselves and now you are talking about saving serious money.
My son made a fortune in college pressing clothes for other guys, or he would wait in the laundrette and change their clothes from washer to dryer. He could study while he waited. He is now a human rights lawyer and very self-sufficient when he is posted in Africa or Asia. Mind you, I always say, thank god for T shirts
How do I remove ring around the collar?
Best thing I've found is Dawn dish detergent. Wet the collar then put a little of the Dawn on the ring, give it a good scrub before you put it in the washer. I'd think any type dish detergent would probably work too but I always use Dawn; seems to go farther.
I keep a bottle of cheap shampoo for just this job and it works every time, so I guess it is that or the dawn. Good luck, popet
What will remove old dark collar stains?
Colgate white toothpaste with baking soda or oxi powder mix with touch water rub in and wash
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Got ring around the collar? I've found that since the stain is basically caused by the same body oils that make our hair greasy, why not use shampoo to clean that greasy stain on our collars?
