Bleach Stains from Face Wash

[James2566]

I'm curious what other hosts would do in this situation.

We have a guest staying two months and we send in our cleaner to handle refreshing of all bedding and towels once weekly, we leave ample to last the week. First week, cleaner puts fresh linen and towels and takes away the used and notices back at our laundry, prior to washing during her inspection that the towels are full of pink bleach stains. We don't leave bleach for guests to use (learned that lesson long ago). Could not figure out what it was, decided to caution the guest this had happened (with photos that show pretty shocking bleach stains), and to keep an eye out and help us figure out what's causing it. She claimed to have no idea and perhaps it was like that when she arrived (luckily we have a tight pre-arrival video inventory now so no, they were in mint condition). Well it happened again with the next round of towels and she realized it's her face wash which has some type of acid in it. I've asked my cleaner to wash and set aside these damaged towels for this specific guest in this villa and to stop putting in anything else. I suggested the guest should purchase cheap towels locally to use with this product to avoid further damage to ours and that I'd get back to her about whether this is covered or not. My gut says to charge but let her keep the new, stained towels. 

If I was the guest I would totally offer to cover the damage before being asked, wouldn't you? This is beyond regular wear and tear, in my opinion. If the mystery stains were caused by some disinfectant I leave for the guests to use, maybe. But are we expected to swallow the loss for damage due to products brought in by guests!? 

[James2566]

Wow, that’s way too many! 

What we placed in her bathroom per week (which we now reduced to your numbers), was:

4 bath towels

2 hand towels

2 wash cloths

And we replaced them once so in total she damaged 16 towels. 

These peroxide stains never happened before so it makes sense that it’s from some sort of medicated cream. 

I was having really great results with charcoal grey until this massive mess.

With whites I have to donate them after each stay, damaged or discoloured beyond recognition. The sand, sunscreen, heavy evening makeup and bronzers some people wear on holiday, I’d have to donate at least one set of white sheets and one set of white towels per stay. Even the fresh hair dye from people getting their colours done right before holiday makes whites impossible for us. 

We always wonder what chemicals hotels use to get past this but definitely treating used towels daily before stains set in would help. My guests don’t want the price point that comes with daily housekeeping.

So many expensive lessons to learn as hosts.

[Sarah977]

@James2566  Apparently acne medication leaves those impossible to remove bleached looking stains.

Unfortunately many guests are environmentally unconscious, feel entitled because they paid to stay, and will just use a bath towel once after showering ( it's still clean, right? I use a bath towel for a week or two myself- if you hang it up, it dries, duh), and toss it on the floor if a nice big stack is available. I bet they don't do that at home unless Mommy does their laundry.

There are washcloths available online that are black and embroidered with the word "Makeup". Many hosts have had success having a basket of these on the bathroom counter, along with disposable make-up wipes. A small sign next to it, requesting guests not to use good towels to remove make-up and to throw make-up wipes in the garbage, not the toilet, might help cut down on ruined towels.

[Anonymous]

@James2566   Charcoal grey? Easy. https://www.amazon.com/Rit-Dye-Charcoal-Grey-Liquid/dp/B06WLKRVP1

[James2566]

I went out and bought exactly this today!  It’s a messy process but I was determined. It took me one hour to treat two towels which turned out better but not acceptable for next guests. My housekeeper and I concluded if a towel had two or three small spots this would work well to mask (not remove). But these towels from this guest have dozens if not hundreds of spots so they didn’t come out right, they’re beyond dyeing. As well, it doesn’t work for large bleach marks. Overall I was glad to learn that we can spot treat minor spots, but that these specific towel stains are beyond repair. I have grey finger nails but I learned something. 

[Anonymous]

@James2566  Oh wow, good on ya for trying - hopefully that experiment comes in handy in the future. In cases like these, I've had better luck using a darker shade than with trying to recreate the original. But usually I start with a cycle of pigment remover to reduce the degree of contrast between the original color and the stain. 

I recognize this is all a bit of hobby work and not scalable to large amounts of stained and discolored laundry. All the processes involved cost money, time, and labor in themselves, and it would be wildly inefficient to do that kind of stuff in a normal changeover. But in the interest of sustainability, I like to make a distinction between blemished (less attractive but still functional) and damaged (impossible to use again for the intended purpose). Even if they're not up to the standard you want to provide your guests, I'm sure those imperfectly dyed towels won't have to go in the garbage! 

Surprisingly, the best thing to get the grey out of your fingers turns out to be toothpaste.  

[James2566]

Thanks for the tip! 

Never garbage, when I say damaged I mean beyond repair that would make them acceptable for use with future guests. There are so many uses for damaged towels. We grade them at our house and use “level two stained towels” for ourselves and our relatives. Levels 3-5 are kept for floods, dogs, cut into painter’s rags, etc. 

[Sarah977]

@James2566  Here's something I've done with items that have bleach spots- lay it out on a surface that won't get ruined, and use a brush dipped in bleach to create an all over abstract design or even some flower or other design. I.e. using the bleach like dye or paint. So the towel or whatever it is becomes two-toned and looks purposely so.

I also think there is nothing wrong with having a stack of towels in a listing which are obviously clean, not worn or tattered, but no longer perfect, and tell guests to please use those if they have bronzer, hair dye, creams or lotions on themselves that could stain. In other words, good towels are for freshly washed bodies, hands and faces, not to spread out on the lounger to lay on covered in sunscreen or oil.

[Lorna170]

@James2566   Because the guest has already ruined two complete sets of towels with her makeup or body products, I would let the guest know that she will be using the same towels for the remainder of her stay, with a statement that they have been properly washed and sanitized.  I would also provide her with a note as to the cost of the replacement towels -- not necessarily an invoice, but put her on notice as to what the staining will cost you.

I do agree that this goes beyond normal wear and tear; the occasional washcloth or towel that has stains that won't come out are the cost of doing business.  But two complete sets used by one guest is damage.  Hopefully she will offer to reimburse you for the damaged towels, but I'm guessing not, so when she leaves, put them aside for rags or for use by housekeeping (my housekeeper distributes perfectly good but marked towels to her family).   While I love that you provided colored towels,  you may want to switch to white as your island environment may lead to more product damage.

[Inna31]

I have been getting bleached towels time to time,  tired of it, never charged for it to avoid bad reviews, I am gradually replacing them with patterned ones, swirly-white-beige, all different now, will see how it will work. To go totally white -it will be long washing cycle  with bleach, which is less desirable. I personally like choice of different towels when I am a guest, and don’t mind different texture size and pattern.  I have so huge pile of ruined perfectly nice towels that I probably try to dye them like one of responders suggested. Maybe, tie-dye ? Could be fun in our coastal city!