How can I remove brown pecan stains from clothing that resulted from a squirrel dropping shells on me from a tree?

What a fascinating question! Your pecan shell stains are probably a combination of oil from the nutmeat and colorant from the shell. Treat the oily portion of the stain first:  apply a little liquid dishwashing detergent (like Dawn) or liquid laundry detergent directly to the stain and let it soak in for 5 – 10 minutes—just don’t let it dry on the fabric. Rinse the stain with cool water to check your progress—what you do next depends on the color and fiber content of the item. If the item is white and bleachable (avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex) then pre-treat any remaining stain with Clorox^® Bleach Pen Gel. Apply a little of the gel directly to the stain and gently rub it in with the soft scrubber tip on the pen, and then wash immediately in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent + ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach. If the item is colored, then pre-treat with Clorox2^® Stain Fighter and Color Booster by applying a little directly to the stain and letting it sit for 3-5 minutes. Wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent and more Clorox2^®.  Air dry the item—you’ll want to keep it out of the dryer so the dryer heat doesn’t set the stain—if necessary you can repeat the treatment if the stain is stubborn and only partially removed.

While using an at-home hair dye, I accidentally got some of the hair dye on my bathroom towels. What can I do to remove the stains?

I am really hoping the towels are white—for starters let’s just assume they are. For really concentrated stains like hair dye, you can try a bleach soaking solution of ¼ cup bleach per gallon of water. The towels should be fully submerged--weighting them down with a couple of dishwasher-safe dinner plates on top also helps. Allow the towels to soak for up to 5 minutes and then wash them in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach. Air dry and check for success—hair dye is pretty concentrated so it’s actually pretty likely that you may need to repeat the treatment for complete removal, and keeping the towels out of a hot dryer will increase your chances of getting the stain all the way out. It’s also important to note that rather than go with a stronger bleach solution, it’s better to repeat the soak. There is also another approach you could try with white towels:  pre-treating the stain directly with Clorox^® Bleach Pen Gel—apply a little of the gel directly to the stain and rub it in with the soft scrubber tip, and then wash immediately with detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach. Again, you want to air dry the towels and check your progress.

If your towels are colored, you may still be able to use the bleach soak if the dye used for the towels can be safely bleached. You can check first with a bleachability test: add 2 teaspoons Clorox^® Regular-Bleach to ¼ cup water and apply a drop of this solution to a discreet part of the item; wait 1 minute and then blot dry; no color change means you can safely bleach the item. If the towels don't pass, then you could try pre-treating with Clorox2^® Stain Fighter and Color Booster—apply a little of the liquid directly to the fabric and wait 5-10 minutes before washing with detergent and more Clorox2^®. Note that you don’t want the product to stay on the fabric too long or be allowed to dry on the fabric. It’s better to repeat the treatment when you are working on a super concentrated stain rather than cause damage from prolonged contact.  Finally, remember to keep them out of the dryer until the stain is all the way out!

What is the best way to remove coffee stains?

Hopefully your coffee-stained item is white and made of a fabric that you can safely bleach--you should always avoid bleaching fabrics that are made with wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex.  If your item is not on that list, then, proceed as follows.

1. For localized stains, rub stain gently with Clorox^® Bleach Pen^® Gel just before laundering.


2. Or, for large spills, pre-soak the entire item in a solution of ¼ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach per gallon of water. Submerge the garment and soak for 5 minutes.


3. Wash immediately in the hottest water recommended by the care label using detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach


4. Air dry the item and check for success—larger stains may require an additional treatment for complete removal.

If your item includes any of the fibers on the “avoid bleaching” list, or is colored, then you should treat it as follows:

Apply Liquid Clorox^® 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster and rub into stain.  Wait 3-5 minutes, then wash immediately in the hottest water recommended using detergent and Clorox^® 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster.

1. Air dry the item and check to make sure the stain is completely removed. If stain remains, repeat steps above.

I was walking under a tree today and felt something hit my shoulder. A bird decided to leave me a little parting gift. I heard that is good luck, but my shirt would beg to differ. How can I remove the stain?

Oh my! That sure does not sound like the kind of luck I would like. Luckily, there are a few ways to treat this “stain” based on the color and material.

If your white shirt doesn't contain any spandex or silk (you should always avoid bleaching wool, mohair, or leather as well, but these are not as common), then you can bleach it, so I would proceed as follows:

Pretreat the stain with Clorox^® Bleach Pen^® Gel just before laundering--use the broad scrubber tip to gently rub a little of the gel into the stain.

1. Wash immediately in the hottest water recommended by the care label using detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach.


2. Air dry the shirt and check for success—if any stain remains, you can repeat the treatment with a much better chance of success if any residual stain hasn't been heat set in a dryer.

If your shirt includes any of the fibers on the “avoid bleaching” list, then you should treat it as follows:

Apply Liquid Clorox^® 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster and rub into stain.  Wait 3-5 minutes, then wash immediately in the hottest water recommended using detergent and Clorox^® 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster.

1. Air dry the item and check to make sure the stain is completely removed. If stain remains, repeat the treatment.

This summer, mildew built up all over my sidewalk. How can I use Clorox to remove it?

What a great project to tackle at the end of summer mildew buildup! For mildew removal on concrete (such as a patio), use a dilution of 1 cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach per gallon of water.  Here’s how to proceed:

1. 1. Protect nearby plants and grass by watering area thoroughly before and after product use.


2. 2. Hose patio to remove loose debris.


3. 3. Apply the solution as needed to keep the area wet for 5 minutes. Brush as needed to remove stains.


4. 4. Rinse thoroughly and avoid excessive runoff near plants.

Good luck with your clean up!

How do I wash out excess dye from denim so that it doesn't rub off on everything?

It’s always a good idea with new denim to wash the item separately for the first few washes since denim tends to bleed into wash water. Even after several washes, always be sure it is only washed along with other dark items in the future. You can get past the major bleeding stage faster by washing and drying the denim 3-4 times before wearing. The hotter the water, the more the dye will come off—using a little detergent will also help. I don’t know if you typically dry your denim in a hot dryer, but if you don’t have to worry about shrinkage, then the heat from the dryer can also help set the dye somewhat. This is all geared toward preventing dye transfer through the wash water—you mentioned that the color is rubbing off. That’s actually called “crocking.” If after washing the item several times your denim continues to be a problem then you would have a good argument for the manufacturer to refund what you paid given that the item probably doesn’t meet industry standards for resistance to crocking. Note that sometimes hang tags for garments include disclaimers that basically remove the manufacturer from any liability—something like “the beauty of this denim is enhanced by the richness of the dye, which may transfer to other items…” You can probably guess my opinion of such disclaimers!

I am a clothes hound college student that is just now learning I need to take better care of these clothes! I ALWAYS separate my colors; whites, mediums, & darks, but I was wondering should I be dividing my mediums? My medium colors consist of anything and everything that isn't navy blue, black, and dark gray. So all of my brights and bold colors with my soft peachy light grays and baby blues are washed together. Is this a bad habit? I want to keep my clothes from fading and looking like the day I bought them.

It sounds like you are the best-dressed student on campus!  Good for you for paying attention to your laundry habits—you are definitely on the right track since you are already sorting into the three main color groupings. For many people, this is enough of a challenge, but for those willing to take the time to further sort what I call the “mixed light colors” load that’s terrific! This load covers a wide range of items, including white items that can’t be bleached (like white camisoles that are a cotton/spandex blend). When these will be part of your mixed colors load, it’s a good idea to limit the other items in the load to pastels and light beige items, and wash the brighter colors in another load if you can. Red items should go into the dark load, although whenever I have enough red items on hand to wash an “only red and pink” load I’ll do just that. The hardest items to sort are the split personality shirts that have a colored body and white sleeves. For these items, initially I’ll wash them by themselves or with a dark load if they are blue or green, and once I’m confident there’s no chance of bleeding I’ll include them in a mixed colors load.

It sounds like your college experience includes housing with easy access to a clothes washer—many students need to spend as little time and money on laundry as they can, so you are lucky!

How can I get stains out of white polyester?

I don’t know if there is a specific item or stain type that you are interested in cleaning, but here are some general guidelines for using Clorox^® Regular-Bleach for stain removal on white polyester items. For a really dirty item (for example, one with ground-in dirt), you could use a bleach soaking solution to really jump start cleaning. For this, use ¼ cup bleach per gallon of water and fully submerge the item for 5 minutes. Drain the soaking solution and then wash the shirt in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent + ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach. Or, if you have localized stains, you could skip the bleach soak and instead pretreat the stains directly using Clorox^® Bleach Pen Gel—rub a little of the gel into the stains and then immediately wash the item in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent + ¾ Clorox^® Regular-Bleach. Whatever you do, though, never apply full-strength bleach to any fabric or surface! It’s also important to let items with stains you are trying to remove air dry. Depending on how long a stain has been sitting around before being laundered, it can take repeating a treatment to get a stain all the way out. Keeping an item out of a hot dryer prevents any residual stain from being heat-set, increasing your chances of eventual success

I spilled red wine all over my favorite shirt! What can I do to get it out?

Unfortunately for red wine lovers, although the tannins help make great red wines, they also really add difficulty to the removal of wine stains. The first step for you is to quickly blot up excess red wine with a paper towel or cloth, or use Club Soda to help bubble the wine off the fabric; blot away excess

From here, if your stained item is white:

1. Rub stain gently with Clorox^® Bleach Pen^® Gel immediately before laundering


2. Wash immediately in warm water with detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular- Bleach


3. Air dry the item and check to make sure the stain is completely removed. If stain remains, repeat steps above.

If your stained item has color or contains spandex:

1. Again, quickly blot up excess red wine with a paper towel or cloth, or use Club Soda to help bubble the wine off the fabric; blot away excess


2. Then apply Liquid Clorox^® 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster directly to the stain and rub in.  Wait 3-5 minutes, then wash immediately in hottest water recommended using detergent and Clorox^® 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster


3. Air dry the item and check to make sure the stain is completely removed. If stain remains, repeat steps above.

It is officially fall! With the change of seasons come a change of weathers, and a cool weather favorite has always been hot chocolate! Chocolate has fine particles and milk proteins that can make this a difficult stain to remove

1. Soak fabric in cold water and good liquid laundry detergent for about 30 minutes to help loosen the protein part of the stain

From here, if your stained item is white:

1. Rub chocolate stain gently with Clorox^® Bleach Pen^® Gel immediately before laundering


2. Wash immediately in warm water with detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach


3. Air dry the item and check to make sure the stain is completely removed. If stain remains, repeat steps above.

If your stained item is colored or contains spandex:

1. Again, soak fabric in cold water and good liquid laundry detergent for about 30 minutes to help loosen the protein part of the stain


2. Then apply Liquid Clorox^® 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster directly to the stain and rub in.  Wash immediately in warm water using detergent and Clorox^® 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster.


3. Air dry the item and check to make sure the stain is completely removed. If stain remains, repeat steps above.