Black Turf Stains On White Pants

Pressure washer

I hear ya TerribleBPThrower!  In addition to Iron Out and Fels Naptha, I've also tried bleach, non-beach whitener, and that Greased Lightening product folks have recommended here in the past.  They all did nothing.  I don't have a pressure washer, so I guess my kid's white pants are just going to keep getting dingier and dingier!

Black Pants....

@BishopLeftiesDad posted:

Black Pants....

This is for baseball, not softball

Fels naptha and a scrubbing brush, I think that worked (had my son do it).  Didn't do much for the texture of the cloth, but his pants usually ended up with holes anyway. 

Death, taxes, never ending rants about COVID-19 and permanent stains on baseball pants.

Ah, take the C-word out of this thread!  It was such a relief to have normality for a change.

My son's pants just got dirtier and dirtier, but the black stuff did fade over time.  I always used to hope that reflected on me, and not on him, although we did have a coach who sternly told us that we should make our sons clean their own pants.  Was he right? 

I always thought it was eye black...never thought about it being the turf. I have a 17 year who likes to slide so I gave up at least 4 years ago.  This weekend he one-upped stains and slid holes into a pair of pants, a sock, his hip and his outer knee (two different slides). Socks (for one slide) and pants for the other were both black so I consider it a solid win even if he's in pain. LOL

OUT White Brite works great for us. Shove up to 4 pr pants in Home Depot bucket, dump in a cup of the powder, fill to easily covering, then mix it all up and make sure all stains are underwater. Soak for at least 18 hours, then dump it all in the washer and wash like you would any other whites.

it’s always worked perfect for us on anything he can get in them (catcher, so he’s filthy). Good luck!  

Lol.  I was just thinking about this problem.  My kid got black stains and I was wtf after Fel Naptha did not work! First time ever that it did not get out a baseball stain.  My kid likes the sweet, smooth hops of turf but I'm gonna make him wear the same pants when he plays on turf fields. 

Iron Out always worked if you leave it long enough and stir frequently.  The ultimate answer is have a PO and you never have to wash pants from turf fields.  Wear the same pair all summer. 

I've tried the Iron Out on the black stains and so far it only makes it lighter. I just ordered the Iron Out spray and will try that next. 

I wonder why Iron Out fades the logos on Rawlings and Easton pants, but does not fade the logo on New Balance pants. 

At what age should we make the boys scrub their own pants?

So there are 3 ages:

(a) when they're young enough to think it's fun

(b) a middle period, when they don't think it's fun, and don't care if the pants are dirty

(c) when they reach the age you can persuade them that having clean pants will affect playing time, college recruiting, etc.

Aim for (a) or (c).

@PitchingFan posted:

Iron Out always worked if you leave it long enough and stir frequently.  The ultimate answer is have a PO and you never have to wash pants from turf fields.  Wear the same pair all summer. 

I have a base-stealer, so I am doomed to scrub, and scrub, and scrub, just to have gray streaks all over the right leg and hip. 

If I put my foot down and made him do all the soaking and scrubbing, he would just throw them in the washing machine and be done with it.  It's me that wants them white.  Sigh.

Mine was never a PO but I resented the kids who were and never had to clean their pants.  I did like the days that he pitched over the days he hit and played the field.  Never scrubbed with Iron Out but I would rather soak longer and put more in than scrub.  I found that the longer I leave it and agitate it the better it did.  Would get up in the middle of the night at times to run the washer for a few minutes.

I feel sorry for the managers of the college teams that have to clean the white pants.  That is miserable.

@PitchingFan posted:

I feel sorry for the managers of the college teams that have to clean the white pants.  That is miserable.

Yes, but what is their secret?  High school too, for that matter, their pants were always very clean.  Why do we have no managers on this site, to provide the official answer?

@Senna posted:

OUT White Brite works great for us. Shove up to 4 pr pants in Home Depot bucket, dump in a cup of the powder, fill to easily covering, then mix it all up and make sure all stains are underwater. Soak for at least 18 hours, then dump it all in the washer and wash like you would any other whites.

it’s always worked perfect for us on anything he can get in them (catcher, so he’s filthy). Good luck!  

Senna I know your kid plays in Georgia, are you not finding LakePoint's black smears are harder than ever to get out?  My husband speculates that they have changed the formula of those petroleum based pellets they use.  I used to be able to get them out with some effort, usually a combination of soaking overnight with Iron Out and then scrubbing with Fels Naptha and spraying with Shout before washing in the washing machine, but now nothing seems to work.

The couple of managers I have talked to use Iron Out or there is a commercial version of it.  I will try to find out the name but it is bought only in large quantities and takes longer to work. 

@LuckyCat Haven’t really noticed any difference, to be honest. It may have appeared blacker than before, but it came out the same as above. That said, he hasn’t played there since late June, so if they changed out in the last few weeks, I wouldn’t have noticed it. 

@LuckyCat posted:

Senna I know your kid plays in Georgia, are you not finding LakePoint's black smears are harder than ever to get out?  My husband speculates that they have changed the formula of those petroleum based pellets they use.  I used to be able to get them out with some effort, usually a combination of soaking overnight with Iron Out and then scrubbing with Fels Naptha and spraying with Shout before washing in the washing machine, but now nothing seems to work.

Hah! These are Lakepoint smudges I’m trying to get out

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

Hah! These are Lakepoint smudges I’m trying to get out

If you figure it out, report back here!  I can only fade them, I can't get rid of them.

I have a bottle of White Brite somewhere.  I'll give that a go on the pair I'm about to tackle and see if I can replicate Senna's report.

Here’s a walk around of the last wash yesterday. 3 were red clay, 1 was turf. I zoomed in a bit on the turf one, you can see there is still a bit of black deep in the grain. Could prolly get it out with a scrub before wash. But these are also over a year old and have a lot of wear. 

@Senna posted:

Here’s a walk around of the last wash yesterday. 3 were red clay, 1 was turf. I zoomed in a bit on the turf one, you can see there is still a bit of black deep in the grain. Could prolly get it out with a scrub before wash. But these are also over a year old and have a lot of wear. 

That looks pretty good.  I couldn't find my bottle of White Brite and decided to use a stiff bristle brush with the Fels Naptha.   (Thanks anotherparent for the suggestion!)  That definitely worked better than anything else I've tried.  But, I will probably go grab another bottle of White Brite and give Senna's soaking method a go.

Make your son wield the brush!  What are those muscles for?!

@mjd-dad posted:

At what age should we make the boys scrub their own pants?

When my boys were in 6th and 8th grades, I was starting to hear, when I washed and sorted their clothes on their beds, "This isn't mine!  This isn't my underwear.  These aren't my t-shirts."  I told them calmly, "One day, you will have to wash your own clothes.  And guess what!  Today is the day!"  BEST DECISION EVER!  They were in middle school.

But I ALWAYS washed son's uniforms.  I soaked and scrubbed with Iron Out and felt the trade off of them doing their own clothes was worth it.

Only one travel coach told them to wash their own uniforms.  I think he thought he was doing the parent a favor.  He had no idea son had already been washing his own clothes for 4 years. 

I have read on this sight to run pants through a car wash??  Not sure how you actually accomplish that....

They mean take them to the car wash and hang them up where you can hang floor mats and use pressure washer on them.

I fill sink 1/2 half way with hot water, Dawn dishwashing liquid, 1/2 cup Oxy clean and Fels Naptha. Rub pants with Fels, sprinkle more Oxy on stain and use medium plastic bristle brush.  Then wash as normal. I’m guessing power washing wins hands down. 
I totally missed the boat on kid doing it. 😕

Lots of stain alchemy! We should tick tock this mutha out and post vids of before and after.

The spray on iron out is worthless. Didn’t get the turf stain OR the clay stain. 

I’ve experimented with various household chemicals to see if any work; nail polish remover, rubbing alcohol, etc. No help whatsoever. I tried washing in extra hot water and that seemed to get most of the stains out. Just in time for another turf venue starting tomorrow!

Just a quick update. White Out still working strong on clay. Soaked for 30 hours, no scrubbing. 
4 + games on turf this upcoming weekend, will see if I can get a good sample. 

I tried some type of Oxy Clean spray and scrubbing that got most of the turf stain out. It was in the back of out detergent cabinet and has probably been there for years. 

Yep, that’s the only issue I’ve had with white out. Can’t use it on anything but white only. All the black Nike logos turned tan after the second time. Luckily he doesn’t have piping on his uniforms. 

Iron Out will also fade certain logos and piping. For some reason New Balance is immune to the fade. I remove the logos when that happens.