There Is No Such Thing as One Sunscreen Stain

Sometimes the mark is yellow, sometimes orange, sometimes white. It may be around the collar of a shirt, across the straps of a swimming costume or down the front of a linen dress. The natural assumption is that sunscreen has marked the fabric and the only remaining question is which stain remover will take it out.

The trouble is that sunscreen stain is a very broad description for something that may have several quite different causes.

A few years ago, I would probably have assumed we were dealing with an oily cream and reached for a Marseille Stain Bar. Quite often that would have worked. Today, after many summers of customer questions, photographs and conversations, I am much less inclined to make that assumption without knowing which sunscreen was used, what fabric has been marked and whether the stain appeared before or after washing.

Sunscreen has changed. We now have rich creams, invisible sprays, facial fluids, sport formulations, waterproof products, mineral sunscreens, children’s sunscreens and moisturisers containing SPF. They all protect the skin from ultraviolet light, but they do not necessarily leave the same thing behind on our clothes.

That is why one customer may remove a mark immediately with soap while another finds citric acid more successful. A third may need an oxygen-based treatment, while somebody else gets the best result from a little washing-up liquid.

They are not necessarily contradicting one another. They may simply be treating completely different stains.

What has the sunscreen stain become?

This is the question I now find much more useful. By the time clothing reaches the washing machine, the sunscreen may have mixed with natural skin oils, perspiration, deodorant or body lotion. There may be salt from the sea, chlorine from a swimming pool or minerals from the water used to wash it. The garment may have spent several warm days in a suitcase or laundry basket, giving oily residues time to begin oxidising before anybody notices a mark.

What started with sunscreen may therefore have become a mixture of oil, minerals, perspiration and changing colour compounds within the fabric. It may still be called a sunscreen stain, but that does not mean it is still simply sunscreen.

Mineral sunscreens 

The first useful distinction is between mineral sunscreens and those usually described as chemical sunscreens. I am not especially fond of the term chemical sunscreen, because minerals are chemicals too, but it remains the language most commonly used on packaging and in conversation.

Mineral sunscreens generally use zinc oxide, titanium dioxide or both as their ultraviolet filters. These are naturally white mineral powders, which explains the pale cast that some mineral products leave on the skin and the chalky-looking marks they can transfer onto dark fabrics. Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are both recognised sunscreen filters, although the permitted ingredients and concentrations vary between regulatory markets.

When a mineral sunscreen leaves a pale or white mark, part of the problem may simply be particles sitting on or between the fibres, usually held there by the oils and waxes in the formulation. In that situation, we are often dealing with both a mineral residue and a greasy base.

Traditional Marseille soap can be very useful here because it helps lift the oily material holding those particles in the fabric. Our Marseille Stain Bars allow the soap to be worked directly into the affected area before the garment is washed, rather than adding more product to the entire load.

A small amount of washing-up liquid may also help with a fresh, oily deposit on a robust washable fabric. Washing-up liquid is formulated to disperse grease, so there are times when it is a perfectly sensible first response, particularly if the sunscreen has only just been transferred. I would not treat it as a universal laundry product, nor would I use it casually on silk, wool or an unknown fabric, but it does have a useful place.

Citric acid would not usually be my first choice for an ordinary white mineral residue because citric acid does not remove grease. The oily part needs dealing with first.

Organic UV filters may not leave a mark until later

Most non-mineral sunscreens use one or more organic UV filters. These filters absorb ultraviolet radiation and are generally combined with oils, emulsifiers, film-formers and stabilising ingredients to produce a product that spreads evenly and remains on the skin.

Unlike zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, the UV filters themselves are not normally visible as a white powder on the fabric. This is why the garment may appear fine when it is taken off, only for a yellow or orange stain to become obvious after washing.

One ingredient frequently associated with this type of staining is avobenzone, listed in an ingredients declaration as Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane. Avobenzone is an oil-soluble UVA filter used in sunscreen formulations.

It is often said online that avobenzone simply “causes rust stains”. The fuller explanation is that certain sunscreen residues can interact with iron present in water, producing yellow, orange or brown discolouration that resembles rust. Hard water itself is mainly defined by calcium and magnesium, but some domestic water supplies, private supplies and plumbing systems can also introduce small amounts of iron.

So a mineral-related orange stain is not primarily a grease problem. Therefore repeatedly adding more soap may remove some of the oily formulation while leaving the coloured mineral deposit largely untouched.

This is where citric acid may become useful. Citric acid can bind with and help loosen certain mineral deposits, so it is doing a completely different job from Marseille soap. The soap deals with oils; the acid deals with mineral involvement.

They should not be mixed together in the same treatment, because an acid will neutralise soap and prevent it working as intended. One treatment should be rinsed away thoroughly before the next is considered.

Sunscreen filters

A sunscreen may combine several organic UV filters, or use mineral filters alongside organic ones. It will also contain the ingredients needed to make the product spreadable, stable, water-resistant and pleasant to wear. The visible stain may therefore come from the carrier oils, the UV filters, mineral particles, colour changes caused by oxidation, or some combination of them all. Reading the ingredients list can help, particularly if it contains zinc oxide, titanium dioxide or Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, but the name of the filter will not tell us everything because the complete formulation, the fabric, the water and the length of time before washing all matter.

This is why I am wary of advice that starts with “For all sunscreen stains…”

When Marseille Soap is the best starting point

When the mark is fresh, feels oily or appears in the areas where sunscreen has been transferred directly from the skin, soap is usually the most logical starting point.

Dampen the fabric and the Marseille Stain Bar, work the soap carefully into the mark and allow it a little time before washing according to the garment’s care instructions. There is no benefit in scrubbing delicate fibres aggressively or applying such a thick layer that it becomes difficult to rinse away.

Traditional Marseille soap is particularly well suited to oils because soap molecules allow oily material to disperse into the wash water.  It is less likely to solve an established orange mineral mark on its own, and it cannot reverse colour loss if a fabric dye has already been altered.

When washing-up liquid may be more useful

We are sometimes asked whether washing-up liquid should ever be used on clothes, and the honest answer is that it can be very effective in the right circumstances. A fresh sunscreen spill on washable cotton may contain a considerable amount of oil. Washing-up liquid is designed for exactly that sort of grease, and a very small amount worked into the localised mark may help before laundering.

What I would not do is pour it freely into the washing machine, use large quantities or assume it is suitable for every fibre. Hand dishwashing liquids produce far more foam than machine laundry products and often contain fragrances, colourants and other ingredients that are unnecessary in fabric care. Use it as a targeted treatment, not as a replacement laundry liquid.

When citric acid becomes relevant

Citric acid is worth considering when the stain has a yellow, orange or rusty appearance, particularly if it appeared or intensified after washing.

This is quite different from using it because a sunscreen happens to contain minerals. Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are not automatically removed simply because an acid is present, and fabric safety still matters. The reason for considering citric acid is that the stain may involve iron or other mineral deposits within the fibres.

The garment should first be checked for colourfastness and suitability. Acids need particular care around delicate fibres, metal trims, embroidery and unstable dyes. A weak treatment is always preferable to an aggressively concentrated one, and soap should be rinsed away before an acid treatment is used. More citric acid is not necessarily more effective, just as more soap is not necessarily better.

When an oxygen-based treatment may help

By the time a sunscreen mark has been washed repeatedly, dried in heat or left for several months, the oils and other ingredients may have oxidised and formed persistent yellow compounds within the fibres. At that stage, removing grease may not remove the remaining colour.

An oxygen-based laundry whitener can sometimes help break down this discolouration, particularly on white, washable cotton. It is not suitable for every textile, and we would not use sodium percarbonate indiscriminately on wool, silk or other delicate fibres.

It is also important not to confuse oxygen-based products with chlorine bleach. Chlorine bleach can damage fibres, react badly with some stains and permanently remove colour from dyed fabrics. Oxygen-based treatments work differently and are generally the more appropriate option for suitable white laundry.

The sun

Sunshine has been used to brighten washing for far longer than modern laundry whiteners have existed. After the oily or mineral part of a stain has been dealt with and the garment thoroughly rinsed, allowing white cotton or linen to dry outdoors in daylight may help reduce remaining yellow discolouration. Light can gradually break down some coloured compounds, while the damp fabric often responds more noticeably than dry cloth.

It is not an instant cure and it should not be treated as harmless to every textile. Strong sunlight can fade dyed fabric and weaken vulnerable fibres over prolonged periods. For sturdy white cotton and linen, however, it remains a valuable part of traditional laundry care rather than an old wives’ tale that should be dismissed.

What to do first

For a fresh greasy mark, begin with a Marseille Stain Bar or a tiny amount of washing-up liquid, then wash and rinse thoroughly.

For a yellow or orange mark that has appeared after washing, especially in an area with iron in the water, consider whether a carefully diluted citric-acid treatment is more appropriate than adding further soap.

For lingering yellow discolouration on suitable white cotton after the original residue has been removed, an oxygen-based whitener may help.

For white cotton or linen, drying outdoors may support the final brightening process.

What I would avoid is mixing several treatments together in the hope that something will work. Soap, acid and oxygen-based products have different jobs. Used without understanding, they can interfere with one another or make it impossible to know what has helped.

Before we suggest a product...

When customers contact us, these are the details that usually matter most:

• What sunscreen was used, and can you see its ingredients?
• Is the mark white, greasy, yellow, orange or brown?
• Did it appear before washing or only afterwards?
• Is the garment cotton, linen, synthetic, wool or silk?
• Is it white or coloured?
• Has it been tumble dried or ironed?
• Is the local water very hard, or known to contain iron?
• What treatments have already been tried?

There is no miracle sunscreen stain remover

That may not be the neat answer people hope to find, but it is the reason so much online advice appears contradictory.

Marseille soap may work beautifully because one stain is mainly oil. Washing-up liquid may succeed for the same reason. Citric acid may solve another because minerals are involved. An oxygen-based treatment may help a third because the original residue has already oxidised and left colour behind.

So forget

“What is the best product for a sunscreen stain?”

and think about

“What has this stain become?”

then you are well placed to select the best way to treat it.