<p>DH teaches tennis during the summer months and so is on the court, in full sun, for hours every day. He is religious about using a good spray-on sunscreen but is frustrated because every brand he’s tried seems to turn his white tennis shirts yellow or orange.</p>
<p>What do you use? Is it better??</p>
<p>Has he tried putting it on before he gets dressed & letting it dry?
We use Neutrogena Ultra sheer, but dont usually wear white so I dont know if it stains.
He could try something with a physical barrier like zinc instead of chemical.</p>
<p>Why not wipe-on sunscreen where the primary sunscreen ingredient is zinc oxide?</p>
<p>I like Banana Boat body & scalp (30 spf), which comes in a pump spray. I think all the aerosol spray sunscreens stain.</p>
<p>And while we’re at it, which ones won’t make my eyes water?</p>
<p>Avobenzone aka Parsol 1789 is the likely culprit. It is an oxidizer which reacts with any iron in your wash water, creating the lovely orange rust stains. A laundry detergent or additive that claims to remove rust should get rid of the stains. I’ve also heard that vinegar will help, but I haven’t tried it.</p>
<p>As emeraldkity4 said, letting it dry before getting dressed helps, but you do have to reapply sunscreens during the day.</p>
<p>Snowme, welcome to CC. As you can see, we deal with life’s terrible crises here, like stains from sunscreen. </p>
<p>We’ve already tried bleach, OxyClean, Greased Lightening and a few other products, to no avail. Any other ideas?</p>
<p>My son’s lifeguard shirt from last summer is yellow from spray sunscreen. Given it’s the only sunscreen I know he will use, it’s a small price to pay for sun protection. I stocked up on 10 cans for the summer, using my flex-spend $ before I left my job last month.</p>
<p>PS - Snowme, great first post. Welcome to cc.</p>
<p>Hmmm…well this explains why my favorite white shirt has yellow rings around the edges! I did soak it in bleach for about 30 minutes and it’s better. If there is any poly or spandex in the fabric, this would NOT be a good choice.</p>
<p>Any chance there are inexpensive whites he can wear for tennis? When they get really yucky…toss them!</p>
<p>We switched from spray lotion, (Neutrogena), to Hawaiian Tropic sheer touch lotion. It goes on easily, not sticky or greasy, has a light, pleasant odor. It doesn’t seem to stain clothing but we don’t wear white! I was concerned about what we were breathing from the spray, I used to cough for a few minutes every time I used it.</p>
<p>I think they all stain. Thinking this through out loud. If you go through the ingredients, they need to contain molecules that absorb UV and release lower energy. They have to be bound to other molecules, if only so they don’t break down quickly. You are applying this stuff to your body and sweating. The water leaving your body is going to carry some. I would expect molecules would combine with the body’s natural oils as well. This stuff will end up on your clothes, particularly a natural fiber like cotton that absorbs. It gets into the fibers and thus won’t bleach out. </p>
<p>I used to ride for hours. The clothes always turned color, both bleaching in the sun and developing stains from screens. These clothes are as artificial as you can make.</p>
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<p>Alternatively, they can contain physical blocking or reflecting agents like zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide.</p>
<p>I had this happen to several items when I went on my last tropical vacation. The stains would not come out no matter what internet stain recipe I tried. One of the items badly stained was a Columbia sunscreen blouse I had purchased for my trip.
My dermatologist recommends Neutrogena Pure collection. This formulation contains physical blocking agents as Ubbalumnus mentioned above.</p>
<p>Thanks for the welcome. With 2 Ds, HS soph & junior, I’m just learning about college these days. Sunscreen stains are something I’m too familiar with.</p>
<p>Besides a laundry rust remover, I’ve also used a paste of Bar Keeper’s Friend and CLR.</p>
<p>Less expensive than anything from Neutrogena would be two Coppertone SPF 50 sunscreens (Water Babies Pure and Simple, Sensitive Skin) whose main sunscreen ingredient is 14.5% zinc oxide. They also contain 7.5% octinoxate and 5% octisalate chemical absorbers, but I have not noticed any staining of white clothing with it (although it does say on the label “may stain some fabrics”). They do not contain either avobenzone or oxybenzone. The two sunscreens also list the same other ingredients.</p>