I suspect that what you are dealing with is two separate problems here. The yellowy stains on your clothes that didn't go near the pool could have developed them for two reasons and it depends on where they are. If they are around the edges, eg the edge of the neck, the around the armholes then it could be that the suncream is the culprit. Alternatively, given that you were in Mexico where it would have been hot and humid while you were there, is it in areas where you will have sweated a lot? Anti-perspirants can only cope with so much and they'll never stop you from sweating entirely, so it the stains are under the arms, around the waist etc then sweat is the liekly cause of the staining.

How you deal with them depends on the type of fabric and what you done so far - if you 've washed and tumble dried them then I'm afraid you've probably 'set' the stains, especially if they're synthetic fabrics. It's one of the reasons I always take mainly white linen clothes with me to Cuba and my technique for dealing with such stains is to soak them in a strong soluion of bio detergent for 24 hrs if they are particularly bad (you need to weigh the clothes down that that are kept under the water completely)and to then wash them on the standard 40C setting with something like vanish added to a good bio detergent and then leave them to dry naturally. If there is some staining still present I then wash them again on the hottest setting with a non-bio detergent. This is because the enzymes in bios are killed off at high temperatures and bio detergents are next to useless on temps higher than 50C. If that fails then I soak them overnight in a strong bleach solution and re-wash. Generally nothing survives that. But of course you couldn't expect coloured or synthetic clothes to survive that sort of treatment. The one time this didn't work, because the linen was good quality and cost oo much to just dump, I machined dyed the dress a dark blue and it literally looked as good as new :-)

However, with regards to the swimwear problem what you have there from the sound of it is the result of a chemical reaction that is comparable to the way blondes sometimes find their hair turns green as a result of the action of the chlorine in the swimming pool. But there is nothing the hotel can do about it unless they can stop guests from peeing in the water! Some time ago I remarked to the Pool Manager at the college where I worked that the pool didn't smell as strongly of chlorine as some public pools did and his response was that this was because firstly, the pool wasn't used by as many people as the local public pool and, secondly, it was used almost entirely by adults who didn't pee in the water! He explained that 'Chlorine' swimming pools don't have pure chlorine added to them - it is added in the form of a compound that doesn't smell strongly of chlorine gas at all - the chlorine is released when the compound reacts to 'sterilise' the urine and certain other substances which then makes the pool water increasingly acidic the more urine gets added to the mix. According to him, pools that smell strongly of chlorine are actually the most contaminated as opposed to the most disinfected. this could well be why the hotel reception staff looked 'blank' - imagine the reaction they'd get if they openly admitted that it was the rsult of too many people being too lazy to get out of the pool and go to use the loos! He did mention that it was possible to add to the water a harmless and initially colourless dye, that turned purple on contact with urine and which hence enabled lifeguards to easily identify the culprits by the stream of coloured water that would be emanating from them! Perhaps hotel pools used by lots of kids should investigate this!

Either way, if this is discoloration than runs throughout the garment, then blame the pool or more properly the people who have been using it. If the staining is localised to only certain parts of the garment then the either the suncream or possibly your own sweat is the culprit. I generally find that suncream stains do wash out fairly easily (I use Soltaon too) but that underarm sweat staining can be more stubborn if it doesn't respond to the first washing in bio detergent.

SM

Went to Ibiza in July with my daughter and grandchildren the sun protector she used discoloured quite a number of there clothes.Not sure but i think it was a Nivea product ,will check and make sure as she also used a boots own brand.It made all there good clothes go yellow and that couldn't have been sweat.

Piz Buin definitely stains.

I have used many different kinds of sun lotion over the years and most of them stain. I always make sure my sun lotion is soaked in properly before putting white tops on now as they always go yellow and there is nothing you can do to get the yellow off them - its a nightmare!

I did notice last year though that the spray-type sunscreen doesnt stain as badly as the rub on cream-type, but that may just have been a coincidence. Also noticed last year that the spray-type can get permanent black marker off some surfaces....but thats another story

Hi,
thanks for your replies. I hadn't thought of sweat being the culprit. The stains were around the middle of the white vest so it's quite possible it could have been sweat as it was very hot and humid.
The bikinis were mainly green inside the top part of the cups and I'm convinced it was the pool to blame as this discolouration didn't happen to the swimwear we wore in the sea or in our neighbouring hotel.
As for suncreams I used Soltan, nivea and Piz Buin. the first two, I've never used before so can't vouch for them, but I use Piz Buin every year and I@ve never had problems. Be interesting to hear more views.

I have ruined a few nice white garments in Ibiza recently. I used Tesco suncream this time, but I have previously had stains with Piz Buin, Ambre Solaire, Asda; and my son uses a very high factor Soltan kids product and his white t-shirts just end up in the bin. I've tried the soaking, Oxy-ing, hot washing stuff but the stains never really shift. This is why I buy most of our holiday clothes from Primark, but that's another story for another thread...

Boots suncream definatly dis colours your clothes - had evidence from my neighbours when she went away and used it

Boots sunscreens deffo tirn ya clothes a yellowy colour, the higher the fsactor the worse it gets. I buy cheap t-shirts for through the day for this reason now. I use Avon now, and have never had a problem.

So does morrisons suncream..and moisturising after sun. I used it recently in malta as it was the highest factor stuff i could find at really short notice
(i have a tendency to go a delicate shade of crimson just by looking at the sun..even with cream on) and many of my white tops/straps/bra's have been discoloured around the shoulder area. I just chucked the lot away..and to top it all, i still peeled when i got home and am back to my usual lilly white just 2 weeks after getting back!

I get around this very common problem by simply having very cheap clothes for wearing during the day when I have lotion on. Actually all my clothes are very cheap but that's another story.................

If it's one of your favourite outfits or cost quite a bit of money how about dyeing it a darker colour, its then like a brand new set of clothes for your next holiday, lol
sam

av been told that beer line cleaner helps to et all the suntan lotion stains out of cloths but i have never tried this

I think all swimwear eventually discolours and goes 'baggy' (unless it's very expensive I guess). I've taken to buying mine from Matalan and then it doesn't matter if they only last a couple of years.
I wash them all out after each wear when we are away and have been using Johnsons sun cream for years now and have never noticed a problem with stains.

I agree that there has been two problems. The yellow staining will have been caused by sun cream prouducts. I have a rental apartment and I find these stains are pretty much impossible to get off the sheets, even with bleaching. They do need to be tackled before the garment is washed and the stain is set.

The green discolouration is almost certainly due to an incorrectly balanced pool. It should not happen and is entirely the fault of whoever maintains the pool.
I agree that a correctly balanced pool should not smell highly of chlorine. Any pool used by large numbers off people is going to get peed in and this needs to be taken into account.
The chemical balance needs to be checked and adjusted at least once a day. If I had concerns I would either buy a test kit from a pool shop or ask to see the readings at the time the pool is tested, or even take a sample of water to a pool shop and ask if they could test it for you. There are a number of readings that should be taken, not just PH and chlorine.
An incorrectly balanced pool can be a health hazard, so I would advise anyone not to be fobbed off if they have any concerns about a pool. The management should take your concerns seriously.

ambre soliare stains too, as we had a spray sun cream and i sprayed my hubby with it in joke and got some on his shorts, didnt think anything of it until i washed his shorts and he has spray marks on them oops !!!

Ellie one of the chaps I met on holiday had a pair of black shorts. He had at home inadvertently got a bit of bleach on them and didn't like to throw them away but thought that they did look a bit bad.

So what he did was lay his shorts out on a table top. Get some bleach on his hands and press them down onto the shorts.

Now he doesn't just have a bleach stain - he has two strategic hand prints on his bottom.

Hi! I was part of Shirley H party in Mexico. I ruined a new blue & white bikini, a white vest which didn't go anywhere near the pool and a sundress which I wore twice to pop over a bikini. The dress had large white flowers on it and every flower on the back is now light brown, the front is perfect. I'm presuming that I only had cream on my back when I wore it. I used Soltan & Nivea factor 25 & 15. Apparently if you take the garment and the Soltan back to Boots, you will be reimbursed at least the cost of the suncream. I can't guarantee this as I had binned my clothes before I was told - but its worth a try.

s and c good one except he was sitting down when i sprayed him and its over the front of his shorts so dont think 2 hand prints there would apt , be funny though !!!!

Ellie Meg - just had a look at the link on your post. Those apartments look lovely. Have you stayed there. Hope I'm not going off topic!