I understand some of the reasons this happens but what I want to know is, what goes on inside of my washing machine that only the FRONT side of my shirts get spots on them? It's never on the back or arms,just the front. I can understand having spots anywhere on clothes but only on the front? There are no spots prior to going into the wash but only when they come out. We use Tide detergent and sometimes fabric softeners. It makes me wonder if their are gremlins in there.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: patw, January 20, 2020 01:16 PM

I used to get that with Tide. Switched to Gain and all is well.

Try a few loads without the fabric softener. It might be glopping onto your wash and not dissolving or rinsing well. I water down my fabric softener well, in the softener well.

Ditch the fabric softener and replace with vinegar. Not only is it significantly cheaper, but soap rinses out of clothes better (mild acid dissolves alkalies in detergent), towels actually absorb water better (no fats to ruin water absorption), wicking fabrics don't get that funky smell (fabric softener clogs the fabric and traps molds), and prevents white clothes from yellowing. The #1 question I get asked is the smell, and the answer is that it comes out in the dryer. Only negative is it doesn't have much static cling fighting characteristics.

Another thought is the form factor of your detergent. Is it a pod or are you pouring a measured amount of detergent? If you look at Consumer Reports generally the rating of the liquid outperforms the packs significantly (e.g. Persil liquid is an 80 and the pack is 69, and the best Tide is a 88 and the best pack is a 68). Gain is the only exception where their liquid is poorly rated and their pack is average rated.

The spots occur with almost any detergent we use-Tide, Gain, All,etc.. Liquid detergent only. I don't get it.It drains well and has never been an issue.

On a side note, I was in a cleaning mode today with the machine and figured I would also clean out the dispenser where the fabric softener goes. I pulled it out from the center of the agitator,(top load), and was amazed to see at least a 1mm film of black mold covering the sides of the agitator all they way to the top. I take pride in my house being clean but never saw anything like this before. The machine is only about a year old and I am not sure if something clogged the bottom of the agitator,where the softener comes out but it was bad. I wish I took a picture of it. I scrubbed it with bleach, a brush and some gloves and then sucked out the water with my wet-r-dry vac. I guess the moral is to check them out regularly.

Now this is starting to be a PSA than a funny gripe. But still, only spots on the front of the clothes?

This happens to most of my dark clothing and it drives me insane. White spots all over the place, it's got to be these HF washers that don't actually rise your clothes out, they just get moistened.

I used to use liquid fabric softener... Until I had to clean out about 10 years worth of waxy gunk that had accumulated in an area of the washing machine that wasn't easy to see. Turns out that buildup was leaving nasty marks on my clothes.

I pretty much the "stain-master" at our house, and I do most of the laundry. I'm betting (not much, maybe a buck) that the fabric softener is your culprit.

We've found that Bounce Dryer Sheets is the best softener for us to use since it goes in the dryer.

Bob

^^^See that is the problem, I still wear bibs.

Generally in my case the spots come from the dog. And Aussies have this white hair like Border Collies that seems to immediately adhere permanently to any dark-colored clothing.

I have this one bone-colored pair of trousers where it never fails... If I should dare to put on these pants, the dog will tap my leg with her paw and get mud on them within minutes. I just have them cleaned and leave them hanging.

I've had this problem for a long time. I don't use fabric softener. I attribute it to grease from cooking. I do most of our cooking, only see the spots on shirt fronts, mostly dark shirts. I use the spray on stain remover and that seems to work but I usually forget or don't notice the spots until I'm folding.

I've quit using dryer sheets because I've found that they put what look like oil stains on certain fabrics. It takes a couple of washings in hot water to get rid of those stains.

Gosh, I haven't seen that on any of our clothes but We only use Bounce and usually their Free &
gentle since I hate the perfumed smell on me or my clothes.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by ShouldBFishin:
I used to use liquid fabric softener... (

It is toxic to your health so ditch it.

https://articles.mercola.com/s...abric-softeners.aspx