Whether under the mistletoe, at midnight or just after a big kiss from Grandma, lipstick marks are a frequent holiday stain! Lipstick is a combination stain of a greasy/oil part and dye, and you have to treat the oil portion of the stain first. To start, pre-treat the stain with liquid dish washing detergent on a damp cloth. From the back of the item, push the liquid through the stain to help separate it from the fabric. Remember to dab, not rub, as rubbing can force the stain into the fibers. While pushing the stain from the back of the fabric, put a dry cloth under the front of the item and continue to blot the lipstick away from the fabric. Keep changing to a clean part of dry towel to prevent re-staining the item

From here, if your stained item is WHITE:

• Wash immediately after in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular Bleach (or ½ cup Concentrated Clorox^® Regular Bleach)

If your stained item has COLOR/PATTERN:

• Apply Clorox 2^® Stain Fighter & Color Booster and rub into stain. Wash immediately in the warmest water recommended on the care label using detergent and Clorox 2^®.

Finally, inspect the item. If any stain remains, repeat the steps above prior to drying the item

How do I remove colored cake icing?

Frosting usually contains butter or shortening, or some mixture of the two; and so you do NOT want to rinse the stain first before treating it. Instead, start by gently scraping away as much stain as you can (plastic knives work well for this) to minimize the amount of stain you need to actually treat. Next, pretreat with liquid dishwashing detergent—a good liquid laundry detergent will also work well—to solubilize (break down) the concentrated butter/oil. To do his, apply a little directly to the stain and rub in. Wait 3-5 minutes and then rinse in warm water.

Now you can launder the item. For white, bleachable items (always avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex) wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label using your favorite detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach (or ½ cup Concentrated Clorox^® Regular Bleach). For colored items, wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent and Clorox2^® Stain Fighter and Color Booster. Allow the item to air dry and then check for success. This is important because residual oily stains can be hidden on a wet or damp item, and you’ll want to keep it out of a hot dryer to avoid heat setting a stubborn stain that might otherwise come out with a second treatment.

Christmas wasn’t meant to be stressful, but with so much to do—get the shopping done (find the lowest price!), plan the menu, deliver beautifully wrapped homemade gifts, write and send a family greeting, and hurry!!—it often ends up that way.  And now it’s finally here!  Hopefully you can relax a little and enjoy the day.  Everyone has different traditions for how to spend Christmas--whether you find yourself surrounded by a crowd of little cousins running around bursting with excitement, curled up by the fire watching “White Christmas”, or going out for a winter’s hike or bike ride, I hope this day finds you happy and healthy, with many blessings to count!

And if you have found your way to the blog because Uncle Bill just knocked over a glass of red wine and you need some stain removal advice right away, expert help is as close as your phone.  You can either call the Clorox Holiday Stain Hotline at (800) Stain-411 for tips on how to remove a variety of common holiday stains, including red wine.  Or, smart phone users can download the free Clorox MyStain App for both at-home and on-the-go stain removal advice.  That way you can get back to the party, or the movie, or thinking of new lyrics for “White Christmas”, or whatever you were doing, and not have to worry about getting that stain out.

Speaking of “White Christmas”, it’s always hard to update a classic, but changing the ending to “And may all your bleachables be white” would be quite an improvement, if you ask me!  Merry Christmas, everyone!

During the winter I walk through that messy mixture of slush, mud, salt and road sand that leaves your clothes covered with splash spots. I just cannot get the stains out of my beige and khaki pants, no matter what stain treating products I use or how much I bleach them. What is there that I can use to get the stains out?

Since I haven't had to deal with this problem in California, I'll give you some suggestions to try based on similar problems:

It would seem that the removal difficulty should be tied to the type of fiber/color and composition of the slush. My guess is that all the salt should wash out and any remaining problem is probably due to the dirt, mud, and sand. These generally are small, fine particles that can "seep" into porous fibers like cotton and when dried become very difficult to extract. Synthetic fibers like polyester tend to be easier to clean since they are round and don't have open spaces for the particles to get trapped. The lighter the garment color, the more obvious any remaining soil/stain becomes.

So a couple of things you may want to try;

• After exposure and before they dry out, try a presoak using a good powder detergent (add 1/3 cup to a couple of gallons of warm water—and make sure to get all the powder dissolved before adding the clothes. Soak the items for 30 minutes to 1 hour, then wash in the warmest water recommended on the care label). Powder detergents have ingredients called builders that are useful in softening water and can help "pull" small particles out of the fibers, thus keeping them suspended so they don't redeposit back onto the clothes. You might also make a paste of the powder and water and rub it into the soiled spot(s) before soaking. Always check a hidden area like cuff or seam with the paste before using to insure it won't damage the color (apply paste; let sit 2-3 minutes; rinse and look for any change in appearance).


• If the items have dried, try re-wetting them with cool water before they are washed. You might try using a soft bristle brush to work in some liquid detergent into the spots before washing. Again the warmer the wash water the better the overall cleaning/removal.


• Consider using the appropriate bleach along with the detergent. I would need to find out if these items can safely be bleached. I recommend consumers do the quick Bleachability Test (2 tspn Clorox^® Regular-Bleach in 1/4 cup water; apply a drop on a hidden area like an inside seam, hemline or cuff; wait 1 minute and then blot with towel); no color change means it is safe to use bleach on the item. Any color change could also show you the amount of change in color that likely will occur if you proceed with the liquid bleach usage. Wash immediately in hot water using detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach (or ½ cup Concentrated Clorox Bleach). Check before drying to insure complete removal. It might require multiple treatments to get the desired result.

If you can't bleach the items, then try washing in the hottest water recommended on the care labels using detergent and an oxygen bleach like our Clorox2^® Stain Fighter and Color Booster. Finally, always check for success before drying. Especially in this case, it might require multiple treatments to get the desired result. Also, a simple procedure and homemade antidote often rids vehicle carpeting of road-salt stains:

1. Brush away snow and slush. Vacuum remaining residue.


2. If stains remain, remove with a carefully applied saltwater solution: 1 cup of table salt to 1 quart of water.


3. Use a soft bristle brush or cloth to work the salt solution into the stained area. Brush outward from the stain's center to avoid leaving a ring in the carpeting.


4. With stain removed, shampoo the stain area and adjacent carpeting.

Can I use your Bleach Pen on cross-stitch ivory aida cloth?

I love the bleach pen—it is definitely a product I can't live without! Because it works so well, there's a good chance it will not only remove whatever stain you have on your ivory colored aida cloth, it will also whiten it as well, and then you will end up with a white spot in the middle of the ivory cloth. That's why use of the bleach pen is generally restricted to white, bleachable fabrics, or craft/DIY projects where white spots are desired. Furthermore, some aida cloth is treated with a finish to stiffen it, and the finish may yellow if the treated area isn't washed immediately after applying the gel from the bleach pen. Another consideration is if any of the gel gets onto the embroidery during rinsing and accidentally lightens the colored stitches. If this is your own project and you have some extra aida cloth to practice on, one thing you could try is testing a sample (not your actual cross-stitch) of aida cloth by applying a little of the bleach pen gel, and then immediately pouring a little 3% hydrogen peroxide directly onto the gel to stop any bleaching (this protects the cross stitch pattern). Rinse the treated area thoroughly, and let the fabric air dry. If the ivory aida cloth hasn't lightened where it was treated, then you could try this technique on your cross-stitch, but only after you have confirmed that it's safe to do so.

How do I get a stubborn sticker off my shirt?

This question reminds me of the time I wore a nice rain jacket to a skating birthday party and the host slapped a sticker on it. When I pulled the sticker off, the finish on the jacket went with it! I would try soaking the shirt with liquid Clorox 2^® Stain Fighter & Color Booster: add a capful to 2 gallons of water, and fully submerge the shirt for up to an hour if it is colored, or overnight if it is white. This should dissolve the adhesive that is holding the sticker. If it is only partially removed, then you may need to try Goo Gone^® or De-Solve-it^®, which you can find at hardware stores. Just be sure to test the shirt for colorfastness.

I am potty training and my children seem to have accidents. It can stink pretty bad and is hard to get the smell out in the laundry. It's not just in the underwear but in the blue jeans or pants they are wearing as well. I don't have an issue bleaching the underwear, but obviously don't want to bleach jeans or colored pants. What can I do to get rid of the smell?

Oh the memories… I noticed from your question that you said you are potty training children, so it sounds like you may have twins—it was a big enough challenge for me training one child at a time! I have some good news for you—more often than not, denim blue jeans can be safely laundered with Clorox^® Regular-Bleach. You can use the bleachability test to check first. Just add 2 teaspoons Clorox^® Regular-Bleach (or if you are using New Concentrated Clorox^® Regular-Bleach use 1 ½ teaspoons bleach) to ¼ cup water and apply a drop of that solution to a hidden part of the blue jeans (like inside the pocket facing, or the inside hem). Wait one minute then blot dry—no color change means you can safely bleach the blue jeans! You may also find that if the jeans fade slightly where the drop of test solution was applied, the color change is minimal and something you can live with. You can also use this test to confirm bleachability of the other colored pants—just don’t bother testing leggings or other pants that have spandex in them (check the care label) since spandex will yellow when bleached. Surprisingly, khaki pants are also often bleachable, just be sure to check first because it varies from brand to brand.

For pants that can’t be safely laundered with Clorox Regular-Bleach, unfortunately there isn’t an alternative product that sanitizes any and all colored laundry. To get the pants as clean as possible, first rinse away the solids prior to laundering. Select a hot wash temperature, and be sure to add the recommended amount of a good detergent. Adding Clorox2^® Stain Fighter and Color Booster along with your detergent will further improve cleaning. Finally, consider washing the pants alone to limit germ transfer to other items in the load. You may also want to try presoaking with Clorox2^®—fill the cap to line 1 and add to 2 gallons hot water. After rinsing away any solids, fully submerge the pants in the soaking solution and let soak for 1 hour. Drain the soaking solution, and then wash in hot water using detergent and Clorox2^®.

Of course you can also limit your kids to wearing only bleachable pants until they are potty trained!

How can I remove pine tar from my cotton sweatshirt?

Pitch, tree sap, pine tar—whatever you call it, this is a very challenging stain to get out. Try treating the stain directly with DeSolvIt or Goo Gone, which you can find at hardware stores. You should first test for colorfastness (apply a drop to a hidden part of the garments, rinse, and blot dry) if you want to be sure the product is safe for the sweatshirt. If there is no color change, rub a little into the sap/pitch and then wash with detergent in the hottest water allowed (check the care label). Allow to air dry and then check for success. You may need to repeat the treatment to remove the stain fully, so it's very important to keep the item out of a hot dryer to avoid heat-setting any residual stain that would otherwise come out with a second treatment. If you want to lengthen the time you pre-treat the stains before washing, you may want to check colorfastness again with a longer contact time—just don’t let the product dry on the fabric. Pine tar is difficult to remove but it is worth a shot!

I got gum on my new suede coat. How do I get it off?

This sticky problem actually has a pretty easy remedy: use ice cubes to freeze the gum and then gently scrape away the hardened chunks. The suede material of the jacket complicates things a bit—definitely check the care label first to see what is recommended for cleaning the jacket before you proceed. If the instructions say "dry clean only," play it safe, skip trying to get the gum off with ice and just take it to the cleaners. However, if the care label instructions allow for home laundering, then the ice should be just fine to work with.  Put the ice directly onto the gum—the ice will melt as you hold it on the gum so plan on using multiple ice cubes—enough to harden the gum. Once all the gum is gone, follow up the ice treatment with whatever the care label recommends for home laundering. If you can’t scrape all of it away, then because your item is suede, I would take it to a dry cleaner and show them the gum so they can pretreat what is left with a solvent that is suitable for suede.

The perfect holiday gift—it should be personal, one-of-a-kind, and not outrageously expensive. Oh, and of course you want the recipient to totally LOVE it!  Well, I’ve got a gift suggestion that could be all that: a beautiful striped scarf you customize yourself with my favorite product, Clorox^® Regular-Bleach. It’s so simple to make--an inexpensive scarf (both cotton and rayon work well) is folded into pleats, partially dipped in a bleach solution, and then rinsed with hydrogen peroxide to stop the bleaching action. Ready to try this easy DIY project at home?  Here’s a list of supplies and step-by-step instructions.  Send me a picture of your beautiful creation—no two scarves will turn out the same!

Materials

1. Scarf in a solid color, made of cotton or rayon


2. Clorox^® Regular-Bleach  –or–  New Concentrated Clorox^® Regular-Bleach


3. Large quart-sized glass measuring cup or 6 cup plastic bowl


4. Measuring spoons


5. Rubber bands


6. 3-4 quarts of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide


7. Plastic dishpan for rinsing

Instructions

• Fold the scarf evenly into pleats. Try to make each fold the same size, and if you’d like the ends of the scarf to match, be sure you have an odd number of folds.


• Secure half of the scarf with rubber bands (this helps keep any fringe from falling into the bleach solution.


• Pour the hydrogen peroxide into the dishpan; set aside (but within easy reach).


• Measure 1 quart of water into the large glass measuring cup or plastic bowl, and add 4 tablespoons (¼ cup) Clorox^® Regular-Bleach; stir gently to mix.  (Note:  if you are using New Concentrated Clorox^® Regular-Bleach, use 3 tablespoons bleach per quart of water.)


• Now the fun part: dip the scarf halfway into the bleach solution and hold it there for a few seconds, then gently dip it up and down so the bleach solution reaches all the folds.


• After 15 seconds, lift the scarf out of the bleach solution, carefully holding it over the bleach solution to catch drips.


• Dip the bleached portion of the scarf completely into the dishpan with the hydrogen peroxide and swirl it around for at least 15 seconds.


• Remove the rubber bands and add the entire scarf to the hydrogen peroxide.


• Pour off the hydrogen peroxide and rinse the scarf very thoroughly.


• Air dry.

Other considerations

--The more pleats you fold, the more stripes you will get. A 3% hydrogen peroxide is sold in quarts at larger retailers like Target. You can also find smaller sizes at your local drugstore or pharmacy.

--Always avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex. Don’t try this to refresh an older scarf unless you know for sure it is cotton or rayon!