I get yellow sunscreen stains on my light-coloured clothing. How do I remove them? Laundering hasn’t worked. (We also get similar stains on our white boat seats.)—Fatima Atkins, North Bay, Ont.
Rob Davis, the owner of EcoEthic, a company that makes environmentally friendly cleaners, knows your frustration. “I have experienced this exact thing,” he says.
Sunscreen doesn’t seem like an obvious stain culprit—not compared to, say, red wine. But many chemical sunscreens (as opposed to physical, mineral-based sunscreens) have a yellow tint to them because of the filters they contain. And sunscreens with a higher SPF contain more filters and are more likely to stain. Unfortunately, when it comes to clothing, laundering can make the stains worse: hot water can cause sunscreen marks to intensify. (Metal ions in hard water—which you may have at the cottage—can also darken the stains.)
We assume that you want to salvage your clothes without using any kind of product that could potentially harm your septic system.
“In the laundry room, there are so many chemicals to avoid,” says Davis. “It’s easier to suggest what to use.” Enzymatic stain removers are okay for the septic, he says. So is borax. (You mix a small amount with water to create a paste to treat the stain.) But his go-to product—for any kind of stains—is Buncha Farmers’ Stain Remover Stick. “You just spot-treat and then launder. It’s amazing.”
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As for your boat seats, you want to take the gentlest approach first, then work your way up to more extreme measures if necessary—while taking extra-special care not to wash any product into the lake. Obviously.
“First, start by trying a simple ‘spray and wipe’; use regular vinyl cleaner,” says Spike DesLoges, the owner of We Beautify Boats, a mobile yacht and boat detailing company. Still stained? Try something harsher. “I like a Magic Eraser. It’ll open up the pores of the fabric and drag out the colour,” he says. Still stained? You can try a lacquer thinner (while wearing the proper PPE—like paint thinner, it’s a solvent). Be warned: “It’s going to strip a layer off the vinyl,” says DesLoges. Make sure to use white terry cloth to apply the product; if not, you risk transferring colour to the seat (which could defeat the purpose of removing a stain).
If removing the stain doesn’t work, you can try covering it up with a dedicated vinyl spray paint, says DesLoges. Hopefully, that won’t be necessary. You’re cleaning up sunscreen residue, not erasing evidence of a crime scene. “But there’s no one-hit wonder with any cleaning,” he says. “You gotta bring out the big guns once in a while.” His 30 years in the boat detailing business have taught him that, especially when it comes to seats. “Stains from wet blue jeans are the worst,” he says. “Wet jeans should not be allowed on boats. Take your jeans off on the dock and sit down in your underwear.” Uh, noted?
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