White marks on your clothes could be appearing because of a common laundry mistake.
Have you ever washed and dried your clothes, only to find that they’re not entirely clean? Sometimes mysterious stains and marks can appear on your laundry even after you’ve washed them.
These discolourations can be caused by a variety of things, including dyes running from other clothes in the wash, stains from any bleach products you might have added to the load, and even a dirty washing machine transferring grime to your garments.
But if you’ve ruled out all of those possibilities and still find yourself with marks on your laundry, particularly white ones, there could be a simple reason for them – and it’s all to do with how you do your washing.
The key to getting rid of the mysterious marks was shared on Reddit after one person said they’d been “battling with white residue” on their clothes for the past “8-10 months”.
They explained their clothes don’t smell after they’ve been washed, so they don’t believe the marks are mould, and they’ve also cleaned their washing machine to no avail.
They added: “The thing is, it’s not happening to all of the clothes! Clothes will come out of the wash looking clean, and some items will develop this residue, and some will not. The primary victims are jeans, pants, and some dresses (not all). Most of our tops and tees are fine.”
And it turns out the white marks – which often appear after clothes have been hung and dried for a few days – have an origin that’s very easy to fix. The poster was simply using too much washing powder.
Commenters on the post were quick to tell them to use “less detergent”, after they confessed in another comment to be filling “half the tray” with washing liquid every time they put on a load of washing.
One person told them: “This looks like you’re using too much detergent, so the clothes can’t rinse properly, and the detergent can’t dissolve in the amount of water in the wash cycle. Build-up tends to stick and build up on ‘coarser’ fabrics when it doesn’t dissolve well. Just rewash the stained clothes on a normal cycle and go super easy on the detergent.”
Another added: “Use less detergent, only 1-2 tablespoon max per load.”
How much detergent you should add to your laundry depends on the size of your washing machine and how big the load you’re trying to wash is.
According to washing powder brand Ariel, you should aim to use around 35ml of liquid detergent for a 4-5kg washing machine, while a 6-8kg machine will need 55ml and anything over 9kg needs 70ml.
If you’re using powder instead of a liquid, then you need to use slightly more. Ariel recommends 105ml for 4-5kg, 160ml for 6-8kg, and 210ml for 9kg and above.
