Q: I have a white 100 % cotton sheet that has been water damaged leaving brownish spots in several places. I'm hoping bleach will remove stains such as this, but what concentration of bleach and should I soak for a length of time? The sheet is fairly new and I want it pure white, but don't want to ruin it.




A: You have a couple of options for bleaching the water spot.

You can do....

• The recommended presoak procedure (1/4 cup Clorox® Regular- Bleach in gallon of warm water for 5-10 minutes before laundering).

or

• If you have our Clorox® BleachPen™Gel, apply the product, use the scrubber end to rub the product into the stain; wait 3-5 minutes then wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label with detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular- Bleach
  


Give either of these a try and let me know how it turns out.

Q: How do I remove a stain on a shirt that was put in the dryer and is quite faint, but my husband noticed it and wont wear it now? Help!



A: I am not quite sure what the original stain was, what the shirt color and composition are and what if any extra treatments you had done to remove the original stain.


You are right to note that after drying this may have "set" the stain especially if it was greasy/oily which makes it much more difficult to remove.


A couple of guesses:

• If it is residual grease/oil, then pretreating with liquid detergent or stain remover (apply; rub in; wait 3-5 minutes; then wash in hottest water recommended on care label) might to the trick.


• If it is residual colored portion of a stain, just do the simple Bleachability Test on any colored portion in a hidden part of the shirt (2 tsp liquid Clorox® Regular- Bleach in 1/4 cup water; apply a drop on a hidden color section area like 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)


• If you have our Clorox® BleachPen™Gel, apply the product, use the scrubber end to rub the product into the stain; wait 3-5 minutes then wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label with detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular- Bleach


• If the colors are not bleachable, then I would pretreat the spots with Liquid Clorox2® for Colors Color Safe Bleach (Apply; rub in; wait 5 minutes; then wash immediately with detergent and recommended amount of Liquid Clorox2® for Colors Color Safe Bleach
  Check for success and retreat if needed BEFORE drying again.

Q: I have a new pair of shorts for golfing. First day out I purchased a permanent marker for marking my golf ball and didn’t put the lid on tight. Now I have turquoise permanent ink all over the pocket of the shorts. Is there an easy way to remove this? They are a cotton washable material -- very light beige.

A: You didn't indicate if the new shorts were colored or white. Here's how I would proceed:

• If the shirt can be bleached, then dampen the stained area with cool water


• First, we want to find out if the shorts are bleachable. Just do the simple Bleachability Test on any colored portion in a hidden part of the shorts (2 tspn liquid Clorox® Regular- Bleach in 1/4 cup water; apply a drop on a hidden color section area like 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)


• If you have our Clorox® BleachPen™Gel, apply the product, use the scrubber end to rub the product into the stain; wait 3-5 minutes then wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label with detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular- Bleach


• If the colors are not bleachable, then I would pretreat the dampened spots with Liquid Clorox2® for Colors Color Safe Bleach (Apply; rub in; wait ~ 5 minutes; then wash immediately with detergent and recommended amount of Liquid Clorox2® for Colors Color Safe Bleach


• Check for success and retreat if needed BEFORE drying

The bad news is you said PERMANENT marker. I'm not sure if any of these approaches will be successful. It's quite possible that anything you try will not completely remove the turquoise marks.

Q: My husband spilled red wine down the front of a pastel blue golf shirt. Unfortunately we didn’t pretreat the stain. The wine stain stayed there for a few hours. Later we tried to pretreat the stain and wash it, but it didn’t work. The stain was still noticeable. My sister said to use bleach, but I am afraid the stain part will turn white. Do you have any suggestions? This is my husband’s favorite shirt. Help!

A: Your instincts were right; pretreat the stain ASAP, especially with red wine. Next time, try some club soda poured from the back of the stain and absorbed onto a towel. This keeps the stain from being driven into the fabric and helps “bubble” it off the shirt.

A lot of colors can be safely bleached. You want to be sure do the simple Bleachability Test on the colored shirt in a hidden part of the item (2 tspn liquid Clorox® Regular- Bleach in 1/4 cup water; apply a drop on a hidden color section area like 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)

• If the shirt can be bleached, then dampen the stained area with cool water


• If you have our Clorox® BleachPen™Gel, apply the product, use the scrubber end to rub the product into the stain; wait 3-5 minutes then wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label with detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular- Bleach


• If the color is not bleachable, then I would pretreat the dampened spots with Liquid Clorox2® for Colors Color Safe Bleach (Apply; rub in; wait ~ 5 minutes; then wash immediately with detergent and recommended amount of Liquid Clorox2® for Colors Color Safe Bleach


• Check for success and retreat if needed BEFORE drying

Q: Recently I watered a plant that was sitting on a rattan rug. I over watered it and did not realize this until the next day. Now there is a brown spot on the rug from my stupid mistake. What can I use to erase this stain from the rug.....and my memory.....it is my boss's rug, not mine.....Please help!

A: I’m not too knowledgeable about these items. Usually with these natural items, it's good to blot up as much liquid as possible. Any leftover moisture should be dried using some form of heat (low setting hairdryer, etc). If there is a stain it's probably from the dirt/soil and water, kind of like a mild mud stain. Need to be careful here if you choose to use some type of product. Definitely no bleach; I would probably try some type of colorless cleaner maybe a liquid dishwashing detergent; not too concentrated and sponge on spot. Make sure you rinse with cool water and then blot dry.

Q: I get tan stains on my pillowcases, whether from hair or skin oils. The pillowcases are 100% cotton and colored. These stains do not come out in my laundering them in frontloading machines, and an oily residue seems to remain. (I live in a high-rise apartment building where a basement laundry room is used by all.) Although I use Clorox liquid bleach in my white laundry, I am reluctant to use it where it may alter the colors. Any advice, please?

A: I believe the tan stains are probably residual body soil/oils. Check the blog for a couple of earlier posts on this subject.

Some good news and some bad news:

Bad news: If you have seen this for a while, then the oils are probably pretty well set in the sheets from incomplete removal and drying (driving the oils into the fibers) and aren't to likely to come out completely. You may try pretreating with liquid detergent (apply; run; wait 3-5 minutes) and washing in hottest water recommended on the care label.

Good news: Even though the sheets are colored, they may be bleachable. To be sure, you can do the simple Bleachability Test on the colored sheets in a hidden part of the seem (2 tspn liquid Clorox® Regular- Bleach in 1/4 cup water; apply a drop on a hidden section area like inside seam/hemline; wait 1 minute and then blot with towel;; no color change means it is safe to use bleach on the item). Try this and if they are bleachable, then wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label with detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular- Bleach. This may slowly remove some oils over time and /or give you a headstart with the new pillowcases you buy in the future.

Another tip, always wash all the bedding (sheets and pillowcases) together each time to minimize any chance of slight color fading/bleeding.

Q: I am a massage therapist. I launder my own sheets. My sheets (some white, some colored) are normal cotton sheets and are exposed to massage oils. Not only are the oil stains a visual problem, they feel waxy and have an odor. I am already washing them in the hottest water possible and use bleach on the white sheets. As I wash 30-50 sheets a week and the oil stains cover a large portion of the sheet, pre-treating oil spots is not an option. Do you have any suggestions to remove more of the oil from my sheets? Please help! Buying new sheets every couple of months is killing me

A: Not sure what your massage oils are made of but know that the extra herbs, etc. can definitely leave a lasting odor.

You are already doing the best you can without the pretreating and that's a LOT of sheets to wash. If you are seeing residual oils and smells, then you need to be solubilizing the oils before they are exposed to wash water. If you can't pretreat them, the only other suggestion might be a professional laundry. Discuss it with them and see if they believe they can deal with you situation. Give it a test run and see. I'm thinking something like dry cleaning where you have a high solvent content that dissolves the oils might do the trick.

Q: I am currently utilizing Portland cement in my job, and my crew and I are getting small amounts of the cement on our work clothing. Sometimes…not so small. We are all familiar with the hazards associated with Portland cement on bare skin…however, we are not faring so well with the Portland on our clothing! I was wondering what you might recommend to remove Portland Cement from cotton (shirts) and denim (jeans) clothing?

A: This one kind of baffles me. I do not have any direct experience with Portland Cement other than some fence post settings.

As for dealing/ removing it, that would seem very difficult. It probably is pretty abrasive to the clothes and then when it gets wet and dries I imagine it's even more difficult to remove. My best guess would be find a way to deal with it in powder state, and remove as much as possible before it wets and hardens. If it gets to "chunky" state some form of mechanical action is probably best bet for breaking the chunks and getting them to release from the fabric.

Q: When washing cloth diapers, I use a very small amount of bleach to sanitize along with hot water (I own a diaper service). As long as people do what I ask them to do with the diapers, I have no problem removing stains with my organic detergent and this tiny amount of bleach. Now, when people do not follow my instructions and do the worst thing possible, dunk the diapers in their toilet before putting them in a pail, I get a bag full of brown diapers to wash. I don't know why people ignore what I say and do this, but they do, and then I have to soak them in bleach water using the recommended amount, and then wash and rinse them an extra three times on top of what I already do to make sure there is no bleach left in the fabric.

Some people who use cloth diapers believe that if you use bleach at all, you are doing very harmful things to the environment and hurting your baby's skin. Some actually warn against using a diaper service because they use bleach. I always thought that the chlorine in the bleach would wash out in the rinse. I've never had a customer complain of rashes. People that do complain of rashes with cloth use detergents like Dreft that leave a residue. Also, I wouldn't feel comfortable giving people diapers that haven't been sanitized. Bleach and hot water together kill germs.

So, does the chlorine wash out? Am I putting people's children at risk? Am I killing the environment? How many times should I wash and rinse after soaking in bleach water?

A: I battle these bleach myths quite often and I get very agitated about the misinformation floating around out there. Answers to your questions:

• “Does the chlorine wash out?” Yes, sodium hypochlorite active is very reactive and with the "soil" load you are dealing with it will be virtually all reacted and gone in the initial laundering/soak. The extra rinses are good "insurance" and definitely give you peace-of-mind that it has been removed.


• “Am I putting people's children at risk?” No, you are definitely not putting any children at risk. Actually, by doing the thorough cleaning and sanitizing of the diaper, you are helping prevent diaper rash and spreading unremoved germs.


• “Am I killing the environment?” No you are NOT killing the environment. Sodium hypochlorite is made from salt and water and after it reacts with the satins and soils in the laundry, 93-97% of it returns to salt and water again. The remaining 3-7% is easily removed in waste treatment and is biodegradable.


• “How many times should I wash and rinse after soaking in bleach water?” I think 1-2 rinses should be plenty.
  

Q: Recently my husband and I were on our trip-of-a-lifetime to Alaska. While on the bus to the McKinley Express Station the gentleman behind me spilled the dregs of his coffee on my brand new sweatsuit purchased specifically for the 8 hour train ride to Denali National Park. The material is 94% cotton, 6% spandex and the stain has been on the suit for over a week. My husband thinks Oxyclean is the way to go. What do you think?

A: If I had thought ahead, I would have had you wear it on our river rafting trip; that would have washed it away.

If not, here's how I would proceed:

• If there are colored stripes on the sweatsuit, you’ll want to be sure you can do the simple Bleachability Test on the colored stripes in a hidden part of the pants (2 tspn liquid Clorox® Regular- Bleach in 1/4 cup water; apply a drop on a hidden color section area like 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)
  
• Dampen the stained area with cool water.


• If you have our Clorox® BleachPen™Gel, apply the product, use the scrubber end to rub the product into the stain; wait 3-5 minutes then wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label with detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular- Bleach.


• If the colors are not bleachable, then I would pretreat the dampened spots with Liquid Clorox2® for Colors Color Safe Bleach (Apply; rub in; wait ~ 5 minutes; then wash immediately with detergent and recommended amount of Liquid Clorox2® for Colors Color Safe Bleach.


• Check for success and retreat if needed BEFORE drying.

  Again, sorry for the "spots" and hope the rest of your trip didn't include many other spills.