I’ll never forget the morning I first noticed it — a bright, almost neon orange blotch glaring up at me from my favorite gray towel. The color was so vivid and unnatural, as if someone had carelessly swiped the fabric with a glowing marker. It caught me completely off guard. At first, I thought it was just a random spill or maybe some kind of rust stain, the kind you sometimes get from old metal fixtures or pipes. I wasn’t too worried. I simply brushed it off, thinking it was a one-time thing that would come out in the wash. I tossed the towel into the washing machine with an extra dose of detergent and even added some stain remover, fully expecting the mark to disappear.
But when I pulled the towel out after the cycle, the orange blotch was still there — bright, bold, and utterly stubborn. That’s when I started to realize this was going to be a bigger problem than I initially thought. Over the next few weeks, the orange marks began to spread. Towels that I rarely used suddenly started showing the same strange, glaring orange stains. Pillowcases and even a couple of my favorite shirts weren’t spared. My bathroom and laundry room started to look like they had been sprinkled with orange confetti—random, blotchy patches that didn’t make any sense. It was confusing and frustrating.
I couldn’t understand how the same kind of marks kept appearing, no matter how often I washed the items or how carefully I treated them. Determined to find a solution, I dove into research, scouring forums, talking to friends, and reading every article I could find on fabric discoloration and mysterious stains. What I discovered was surprising and completely changed how I cared for my clothes and linens. The biggest revelation was that these orange marks were not stains in the traditional sense. The primary culprit, I learned, was benzoyl peroxide — a powerful ingredient found in many acne treatments and skincare products.
This chemical doesn’t stain fabric by adding color. Instead, it acts as a bleaching agent, breaking down the dye in the fabric’s fibers and leaving behind permanent orange or yellowish patches. So, rather than adding something new to the fabric, it actually strips color away, creating a discoloration that can’t be washed out. This explained why my attempts to clean the towels with detergent and stain removers were completely ineffective. It also made me realize how important it was to be cautious when using skincare products containing benzoyl peroxide around towels, pillowcases, or any fabric.