Small black spots in my brand new white bed sheets won't come out

[andrejfavia]

Greetings!!

I have just purchased some 600 thread egyptian cotton sheets for my new bed.

I went to wash them, and for the first time ever, I saw a few spots on some of the articles (1 or 2 pillow cases, 1 or 2 sheets, something like that, it's been a few washes). I washed them again, and they are sort of gone.

The black spots aren't really spots; they're more like these really faded, fussy, pixely-looking filaments (about 1 cm long and 2 mm wide)... or, depending on the spot, they look like a faded smudge. I do not see a way to attach a picture to show you. The spots don't seem to correlate with where they are on the bedding articles.

While some of them sort of came out, some are still in my sheets! In 2 years of using the same washers and driers (at a laundromat even), I've never seen anything like these before, and I can't get them out..

I tried washing them repeatedly. That didn't work.
I tried using a gel/paste that I sometimes apply to clothing. That didn't work.
I tried changing the water temperature (cold to warm). That didn't work.
I tried using Shout spray before wash (in many ways). That didn't work.
I tried washing these over the sink with all combinations of the above. That didn't work.


I do not use bleach whatsoever. I use detergent and fabric softener.

I typed "black spots in my sheets" and various other combinations into a general search engine, but came back with no solutions to my problem.

What's going on?? I've never been driven so insane by bedding like this and I feel like I'm just wasting my time and money at the laundromat.

 

[beaucoup]

Don't let them bother you. Close your eyes & sleep. Sheets will still function the same. Nothing white stays white forever.

Welcome to the DIS. First post?

 

[Gigi22]

OP, do you have a clothesline? Hanging white sheets that have been rinsed with a cup of vinegar in the rinse water and putting them out to dry in the sunlight is supposed to bump up their whiteness.

 

[andrejfavia]

'tis my first post. I don't have a clothesline at the laundromat.

I've been hearing some nice things about white vinegar to wash. How much do you folks recommend?

Like, my fabric softener comes with a cap that you fill and it tells you how much. So, if I go to the supermarket and buy a bottle of diluted white vinegar, then do you folks recommend using about that same amount, or less?

 

[HM]

I have no idea, but I'm with the person who said, just don't worry about it anymore. Just use them. You've gotten them clean. It's not like it's a piece of clothing that other people will see.

 

[LJSquishy]

I would guess grease from the washer/dryer.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

I had small black spots on brand new clothing. It was time to replace our really old dirty washer. The spots looked like the holes in the washer drum. Nothing would get those out of our clothes and I tried everything. No more spots with the new washer.

 

[Bob NC]

Is it organic cotton?

When finishing organic cotton, real strong chemical and bleaches are not used.

The black marks may be remnants of the seeds in the cotton that weren't totally bleached out during the finishing process of the fabric.

This doesn't affect the cleanliness of the material and you most likely don't need to worry about it.

If you DO choose to worry about it, I'd just throw them away, (or give them away), and buy new sheets.

 

[Hannathy]

Is it organic cotton?

When finishing organic cotton, real strong chemical and bleaches are not used.

The black marks may be remnants of the seeds in the cotton that weren't totally bleached out during the finishing process of the fabric.

This doesn't affect the cleanliness of the material and you most likely don't need to worry about it.

If you DO choose to worry about it, I'd just throw them away, (or give them away), and buy new sheets.

I was thinking along the same lines, especially the way she described them. I think it is just the cotton.

Put lower watt light bulbs in your bedroom and you won't see them.

 

[andrejfavia]

I'm not a girl...
Anyways, I finally discovered that the spots came from electrical tape (covering up exposed foam), around the right arm of my office chair, that had been peeling off as a result of contact friction with the right inner corner of my desk, causing electrical tape grease to rub off, contact my fingers/arms, and, by transfer, deposit onto the sheets as smudges. I have since applied more tape to match the chair arm and cover up the spots.

I have also found that repeated thorough rubbing of the smudges (on my sheets) with both the hard gel and the Shout spray will gradually remove the smudges from the sheets.

My fabric softener has a yellow tint to it, so I have also inadvertendly made one of my sheet sets look less than brilliant white. So, would you recommend the white vinegar treatment to make the whites brilliant, or what would you recommend?

 

[rantnnravin]

have you tried making a paste from oxyclean and leaving it on the sheets for several hours then soaking said sheets in warm water with dissolved oxyclean for several more hours?
I agree with the clothesline approach. Do you have nowhere to set up even a makeshift clothesline and use the power of the sun to whiten them back up?

I used to work for a pediatric practice and we had to wear white pants/skirts all the time. After a while, the white would start to become dingy and I would just let them hang in the sun after a washing and they would brighten back up. I never used bleach because it tends to make whites "yellow" after some time.
Hope you get your sheets fixed. 600TC EC must be very comfy