My brown towels get orange spots. I thought it was just me until I read here about it happening to lots of people. It seems the culprit has been identified as benzole peroxide.

It your white towels are gettng orange spots it could be make-up stains especially from self tanner or iron in the water.

Be sure that the washing machine drum has not rusted too.

Yep, try as I may, I can't keep from getting (orange) spots on dark towels and (white) ones on light colored towels. It's the benzole peroxide. Tan towels...yellow spots.
Monica

Benzoyl peroxide is used as an acne treatment, for improving flour, for bleaching hair and teeth, for polymerising polyester and many other uses.

Oh my gosh, thank you all! I recently started seeing spots on my towels that look like bleach spots. Since I don't use bleach I was baffled and it was driving me nuts. My son started using proactive and I did not correlate the two. Looks like he'll be getting the junk towels for washing his face from now on!

I used white towels for my son. No problems with spots.

I bought new towels and rinsed them in cold water with no detergent before using them for the first time. They are covered with spots. They are dark gray and have brown areas all over them. So it is not face wash, non mixed detergent, oxy, bleach (I never use bleach), or any of the other suggestions I have seen on the web. This sucks.

Yellow towels instead of white

I don't even wash the towels yet, just wiped our hands on Grey towels from Walmart and Target Room Essentials so how can this happen on brand new towels?

Could there be glycolic or alpha-hydroxy acids in any of your skin lotions?

No, & if you wash your hands & rince thoroughly, it shouldn't mater

Hydrogen Peroxide used in toothpaste I think does it. Do you wipe your mouth on a towel after you brush your teeth? I've switched to buying brands without it and don't have a problem now.

It is only my whitewash clothes and they are made in Pakistan.they start immediately on getting wet with nothing ,the old ones start with black spots then they start turning red and each time they are washed they get redder. I have new ones made in Pakistan from penny's and only wet the first with nothing and the black spots are already coming out.100percent cotton and bleach will not take it out .they get really ugly.and is very disgusting that bleaching want whiten them maybe it's something in Pakistan.

So what did you do to stop your brown towels from turning rust

is there anyway to get this out? Should I bleach my brand new gray towels that have huge orange stains?

I use Barbasol shaving cream. My white towels have turned orange, and my wife who does not use it, her towels have remained white.

Try soaking towels with spots in strong OxyClean mixed with hot water. Leave soaking overnight and see if takes stains out. Use on colored or white towels. This may salvage the towels but isn't solving the problem. Do not use washing machine to soak towels over night, too risky of water seeping through tub seals and getting into transmission. That happened to me years ago, learned the hard way.

I read elsewhere that Benzoyl Peroxide is added to some medicated shaving creams and acne medicines to reduce skin irritation and bacteria, but could not find it as a listed ingredient on the label. Notice orange towel on left. It is the whole towel, not just spots. I will try the OxyClean when I can get to the store again to buy some. thx

I bought a new set of Pottery Barn towels. Within a few washes, a bunch of them had weird whitish/yellowish/orangish spots, but none of my other colored towels do. My son does use BP products but he wasn't the only one using these towels and why wouldn't the others get the spots?

This happens to my black pants and I do not wash them with the towels. I do not wipe anything on my pants and cannot figure out why the color comes out. My towels are a mess too. Help.

I've had the same problems and it's driving me crazy. We're outfitting a new cabin for a rental in the Yellowstone area and don't want renters to have the same problems. I've tried five or six different brands in the last couple of months. My towels stain like yours, Hiliary I, after my towel dries you can see exactly where I wipe may face and have dried my body. My older towels don't have this problem. I'm thinking it's the way they're being processed when made and possibly the materials other than cotton that are the culprit. I just bought some new 100% cotton towels from Target they're eco friendly and I've not seen any staining. The only think I'm doing different is taking a prescription for my bones once a week and you'd think it'd effect all towels. Otherwise nothing has changed and I'm thinking it has to be the materials. I have noticed the ones that have stained had some polyester, 10%, and wonder if that's the problem.

So strange! I am having the same exact problem! Even with the eco friendly ones. Not as evident but instill have the spots. It is SO frustrating I told husband tonight I want a new washer. He cleaned washed cleaned lines etc. So I don't know? Wr have had our unit since 2010 so maybe it s old?

My towels are doing the same thing, getting orangish spots. It happens on bath and hand towels. Doesn't matter where I buy them. My husband and I don't use any products containing BP and the spots appear after they've been laundered. I do use Arm and Hammer detergent so maybe that's my culprit.

Darcy Miller It's toothpaste with hydrogen peroxide that does it. You wipe your mouth after rinsing and the peroxide gets on the towels and bleaches them.

I get this all the time. I bought a new grey towel solely for drying my dogs. After the first wash it had bleach spots on it! There are no benzol or hydrogen peroxide products anywhere near it!

I cannot figure this out. My light towels have bright orange stains. BUT I may have a hunch for yall commenters about the dark towels with light stains. When you wash them, do you use hot or warm water cycle? If so, your machine may be rinsing out the remaining bleach (from previous loads) into your new load of towels. Id recommend running a hot water cycle to flush bleach residue from the machine before washing your towels. The photos of dark towels look like bleach splatter deposits. This happened to my sheets once.

Hey! Recently I was cooking my favorite dish, and accidentally got my favorite sweater dirty, they advised me a degreaser for mechanics of clothes from the store https://cleaningproductslab.com/degreaser-for-mechanic-clothes/, and it helped surprisingly. So, if anything, use it.

I have never had towels with these stains. But I never use bleach! Maybe that is why.

is anyone using a metal towel rail here? and noticing these spots?

I think it is the toothpaste whitener. It’s happened to my son’s towels, but not to ours.

Maybe it's the dye coming out of the towels when the towels are washed?

We are having the same problem, All new Gray towels and bath rug and orange spots! I don’t know if it’s tthe water or what, but it is driving me crazy! Help!!!

I read somewhere it's face wash or our soap. I'm also thinking it might be the way towels are made. Idk, the manufacuturing process? It only happens to my towel and not my husbands.

This is the same horrible thing we are experiecing . toweare from pottery barn, many are ruined. Towels are from pottery barn. i will be contacting them you should to.

We got got brand new towels from Wayfair, 100% cotton. I did not wash them, took a shower using body wash, shampoo and conditioner - NO bleach or peroxide. I dried myself off and the spots appeared. Wayfair will take no responsibility and I am stuck with brand new towels that look disgusting.

It must be something in one of those three products. Can you do a spot test and see if one of them is the culprit. What brands were you using?

I did do that and nothing happened. Thanks

I bought Ugg grey towels and washcloths. I do not use bleach in the wash or anything other than clothes soap with no Oxiclean no downy no acne products used and I still get large orange bleach spots on them. I think it is cheap dye on the towels that does not last?

Or could it be the chorine level in the water ?

Yes, they are usually caused by make-up, acne medicine, sunscreen, or self-tanners, especially on beach towels.

We had a coloured towel for years with no problems. Left it at a friend's place that has a pool and got it back with these types of stains. I don't believe it would be the quality of the towel...some culprits I'm seeing are sunscreen, disinfectant spray (apparently reacts) or chlorine?

Same stains at our house. I have finally discovered that Hydro Acids found in sunscreens, face washes, and serums are the culprit.

Jim.

Same problem with my hand towels in the bathroom. Dont use any acne/benzoyl peroxide stuff. Figured out it's the antibacterial hand soap. These days it has benzalkonium chloride which is bleaching the fabric. Apparently you think your rinsing it off but theres still just enough residue to leave those orange bleached spots. They switched from triclosan to benzalkonium chloride some years back because of toxicity issues. Ive since done a good bit more research and it seems we've been sold a load of bullshit using the age old fear tactic.

Solution? Dont use antibacterial handsoap.

This just recently started happening with my Pottery Barn towels also, and I also do not use bleach, but I don't blame the manufacturer, it is most likely a chemical reaction from some products we are using. I gathered all of my products and my son's and realize there may be a chemical theme; benzoyl peroxide, glycolic and salicylic acid, hydrogen peroxide, all sorts of culprits! I would suggest taking a towel that you don't care about any longer and testing the products on it. Make a spot for each product and label it, try using a sharpie to label, leave it sit for a day or two, then wash it alone to determine which product may be the culprit.