Just wanted to call everyone's attention to the two NEW videos that I just posted.

In our continuing desire to make information more easily available and educational, our new topics are:

"Using Bleach in HE machines" - I show you how to use liquid bleach in these new machines, why the phrase "Mouthwash for your HE machine" is something you should become very familiar with and why it's even more important to wash those white loads with Clorox Bleach.

AND

"Spring Cleaning and More with Bleach" - Our "Miracle in a Bottle" was first sold in 1913 and has been a trusted, economical best friend to at least seven generations of American consumers. It's not just for laundry! Check out the wide range of uses that this versatile around -the-home product can do for you.

Then, write and let me know if I missed any of your favorites. You can reach me at dr.laundry@clorox.com.

Q. We recently had to pet sit a cat for a family member. A few weeks after that, we discovered the cat had used a goose down comforter as its main place to relieve itself. What would you recommend for cleaning? Treat the individual spots (there are four or five, over a foot wide), or just wash the entire load with bleach?

A. Don't you love it when a good deed goes bad....To effectively remove the multiple cat "spots," I would recommend a thorough whole item wash.

Since you weren't specific about the comforter, I would like 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 would likely occur if you proceed with the liquid bleach usage. You can see a demo on my blog (http://www.drlaundryblog.com) in the instructional video, Laundry 101.

Want to proceed? I would do a quick liquid bleach soak (1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in a gallon of cool water for 5 minutes), then wash immediately in hot water using detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach. Check before drying to insure complete removal. It might require multiple treatments to get the desired result.

If you can't bleach the comforter, then try several washes in the hottest water recommended on the care labels using detergent and an oxygen bleach like our Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster, or even a short 1/2 hour presoak in the oxygen bleach before the wash. Again, check for success before drying. Especially here, it might require multiple treatments to get the desired result.

Top of the morning, and happy St. Patrick’s Day to all! Hopefully you have plenty of fun plans for the day ahead – don’t forget to wear green! However, even with the luck of the Irish on your side, remember that stains can still happen, which is why I’ve included in my post today some tips for removing common St. Patrick’s Day stains.

“Green Beer” and other colorful and flavorful adult beverages are always part of the celebration.

If you spill it or someone spills it on you, the following are proper steps to help remove these stains:
• A cool water rinse from the back will help remove some of the evidence and make the stain easier to pretreat when you get home.

• Pretreat before washing:
If the item is white or bleachable, pretreat with Clorox® Bleach Pen™ Gel (rub in, wait 3-5 minutes, then wash).
If the item is colored, pretreat with Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster (rub in, wait 3-5 minutes, then wash).
• Wash in the warmest water recommended on the fabric care label using detergent and the recommended amount of:
Clorox® Regular-Bleach, if it’s a white or bleachable item
Or, Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster, if it’s a colored item.

• Check for success before drying. Retreat item if needed.

There are always greasy spots that can result from your favorite eat-out foods like corned beef, buffalo wings, meatballs and other fried fare.

Here are the steps to successful removal:
• NEVER rinse with water after discovering the spot. Gently blot away any excess.
• As soon as possible after you get home, pretreat the spot(s) with liquid laundry or dishwashing detergent (rub it in and wait 3-5 minutes).
• Wash in the hottest water recommended on the fabric care label using detergent and the recommended amount of:
Clorox® Regular-Bleach, if it’s a white or bleachable item
Or, Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster, if it’s a colored item.
• Check for success before drying. Retreat item if needed.

Hope it's a good one, and you find a pot of gold at the end of your rainbow.

Q. I live in Hawaii, and use a cup of Clorox® Regular-Bleach, 1/2 cup of baking soda and hot water when washing whites (it’s usually a large wash load). It looks whiter and brighter. Is laundry soap necessary? Recently, my friend told me that cold water and Clorox works better. Is this true?

A. Interesting concoction that you've created. I like the hot water (best cleaning), Clorox® Regular-Bleach (for it's whitening, stain/soil removal and disinfecting), and maybe the baking soda adds a little alkalinity. For good cleaning properties, I would like to see some surfactants, which are a key component of detergents. These are needed to help solubilize the grease/oil from stains and help keep the dirt/stains suspended in the wash water, preventing them from re-depositing back onto the cleaned clothes. So I guess I would weigh-in on the side for using some laundry detergent. Also, you might be able to cut back to the 3/4 cup recommended usage for Clorox® Regular-Bleach, which might help save a little money.

As for the cold water usage, I doubt that it works better than your hot water. Our lab testing shows that cleaning and stain removal performance decreases as we go from hot to warm to cold. I have previously stated that defining exactly cold water is difficult, since it is determined by the incoming water source. In the US, during January or February, that temperature in Chicago may be 40F° or less while in Hawaii it may be 75F°. I know that clothes washed in 40F° will NOT be as clean as those washed in 75F°, and using Clorox® Regular-Bleach can NOT make up for that difference in detergent cleaning. Luckily for you, however, in Hawaii there is much less difference between a cold wash using detergent and Clorox® Regular-Bleach and a hot wash using detergent and Clorox® Regular-Bleach . In some cases with low soil levels, you might not be able to tell the difference. Using Clorox® Regular-Bleach to disinfect will be equally effective.

So overall, I would say consider adding the detergent to replace the baking soda, and try switching to a warm wash and see if you can see a drop in performance. I just can't get myself to use really cold water to wash the items that are likely to contain body soil (like underwear, towels and bedding) since I want them as clean as possible.

Q. Can any of your products help me in saving some clothes that have been in storage, and now have an odor? Some are cotton and some are polyester, knit, and dry clean only.

A. A little more information on the type of clothes, colors and fiber types would have been helpful.

Generally, I recommend that any clothes removed from storage be thoroughly washed in the hottest water listed on the care label using detergent and the appropriate bleach. Odors may be a sign that something wasn't completely removed before the clothes were put away.

I do find that a lot of colored items can be bleached. To find out if these items can safely be bleached, I recommend consumers do the quick Bleachability Test (add 2 tspn Clorox® Regular-Bleach to 1/4 cup water; apply a drop on a hidden area like inside seam, hemline or cuff; wait 1 minute, and then blot with a towel). No color change means it is safe to use bleach on the item. Check out the Laundry 101 video on my blog (http://www.drlaundryblog.com/) for a demonstration of the test.

Want to proceed? I would also consider doing a quick liquid bleach soak (1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in a gallon of cool water for 5 minutes), then wash immediately in the hot water using detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach.

If you can't bleach them, 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 or even a short 1/2 hour presoak in the oxygen bleach before the wash. Always check for success on any visible stains before they go into the dryer. You may need to re-treat them.

Q. Due to the nature of my job and the uniform I wear, the majority of my sock laundry is black. Is there any hope for me to get the same cleaning success you can get with Clorox® Regular-Bleach and whites? What is the best method for laundering black fabrics to ensure that they stay black, get clean, and feel great?

A. The answer depends somewhat on the fiber composition of the black socks. Black cotton dyes are usually not very "colorfast," and will fade over time with normal washing – thus the recommendation to always sort and wash dark colors separately. This prevents bleeding or dye transfer to the remaining items in the wash. Here I would use a liquid detergent and cool water.
If they are synthetic or of a stretchy material, then using a good liquid detergent and our Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster in at least warm water should do the trick.

A couple of other tips:
• Turn the socks inside out when washing
• Consider air drying to minimize further dryer abrasion, which leads to pilling and gives the socks a faded look
• If you have an odor problem, consider doing a presoak prior to washing

Q. I just got a new LG HE front-loading washer (love it)! I am using regular Clorox (love it also)! Should I switch to CloroxPlus™ HE Bleach? I have heard stories (and seen videos online) of terrible over-sudsing when using non-HE detergent (because of the surfactants, I think). Any advice?

A. Congrats on the new HE washer, and thanks for being a loyal Clorox® Regular-Bleach user.

Your fears about over-sudsing from using regular laundry products in the HE machine are very valid. As for converting to CloroxPlus™ HE Bleach, I definitely recommend it. We developed it specifically for the new HE washers. Its benefits include:
• A slightly higher bleach active level to help make up for the reduced volume you can add into HE washers’ bleach dispensers
• A thicker consistency to make it easier to pour into those small and higher up bleach dispensers
• Special ingredients to ensure that you get the whitest whites
There are no sudsy surfactants as well, so that eliminates that concern.

Also if you plan to use our Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster for your colored loads, make sure you add it into the DETERGENT dispenser rather than the bleach dispenser.

Q. I treated stains on some vintage formal white linen napkins with bleach, and then washed them alone with some Tide. There are initials embroidered on the napkins in white thread. The white embroidery has turned blue in varying degrees. I have applied straight vinegar with no result. Can I do anything to turn the embroidery back to white?

A. I'm not sure from your description exactly how you treated the napkins and whether the initials were also involved. I suspect that you used a concentrate/full-strength bleach solution and that the initials are of a different fiber type than the linen napkins. If your bleach was too concentrated, then it could react with Fluorescent Whitening Agents that are probably present in the thread. This changes the chemical composition and can result in a blue/purple hue. Unfortunately this is not reversible. Your vinegar post treatment would have been my suggested "fix.”

Q. I live in an eternal summer climate and have trouble keeping my clothes fresh-looking. How can I keep summer whites bright? Does bleach yellow cotton fabrics? And, do you have any suggestions for underarm deodorant stains on clothing?

A. With the very cold winter we have had, I wish I were in an "eternal summer climate," especially if an umbrella drink is involved.

Here are some general tips for improving your cleaning results in your laundry and eliminating dinginess:
• Sort clothing (whites, lights and dark colors) and wash each group separately
• Pretreat or presoak stains, spots and heavily soiled garments before washing
• Use the recommended amount of detergent: too little detergent means less cleaning power, and too much may lead to sudsing and rinsing problems
• Use 3/4 cup of liquid Clorox® Regular-Bleach with your whites and bleachable colors (See Bleachability test for colors)
• Use the warmest water recommended on the care label; the hotter the water, the better the cleaning
• Don't overpack the washer: loosely loaded items get cleaned better in washers since the mechanical energy from the agitator will come into contact with more clothes.

Using liquid bleach should NOT yellow your whites when used as directed. Check out my Laundry 101 video on the blog (http://www.drlaundryblog.com) to learn the proper ways to add bleach.

As for the underarm deodorant stains, these are the most difficult to remove. They can develop stiffness from the build-up of the underarm deodorant/antiperspirant that has not been removed wash, after wash, after wash. It can get almost "crunchy", and that is uncomfortable. This can be further complicated by the choice of antiperspirant – Aluminum-based ones usually are reported as being the worst for changing colors, and diet also seems to be have some impact on producing colored components.

Think about what has happened: you take a solid underarm product and apply it to a warm body where it melts. Now, it can more easily transfer to anything that the underarm touches (T-shirt, etc). Add to this the volume of liquid (sweat) that acts as a collection and transfer agent for anything it has collected from the armpit (deodorant, salt, bacteria, body oil, etc.), and you can better understand how this generates such a problem.

So what can we do? For the current problem, you need to do something to "re-melt" the build-up. I have seen mention of a couple of approaches: one says to use boiling water poured directly over/through the stained area (be careful of spillage). Then, follow with a paste of 1:1:1 baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and water, which is applied after the hot water and rubbed (wear rubber gloves here to protect your hands from the heat) aggressively into the stain. Rinse again with hot water. It may take more than one application, but this definitely should do the trick. It may also require a good pretreatment with a liquid detergent or solvent. Remember to wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label and use 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach to help kill the odor-causing bacteria. Or the easiest solution is to simply cut out the affected area, and you’ll have a new set of muscle shirts (just kidding).

These should work for the cotton items, and probably would work for your poly/Spandex ones too. For the future, I would check the brand of antiperspirant and see if you can find one without Aluminum active ingredients. Also, if new t-shirts are purchased, you might try applying the liquid detergent to the armpit area before the first washing to keep the build-up under control. Of course, ALWAYS wash in hot water with detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach.

Q. I have had a problem with random small spots appearing on red clothes after washing. It doesn’t seem to matter what kind of detergent I use. I always wash my red load in cold water. I never get these spots on any other color of clothing. What could the problem be?

A. This certainly can be a frustrating problem. I'm especially intrigued by why only the red items are affected. It is possible that this problem may be occurring with the other clothing, but just isn't as visible on the other colors.

My best guess is that the problem is caused by either fabric softener spots and/or undissolved powder detergent. To help prevent this, you might try using a little warmer/hot water as you add the powder detergent. Let 3-4 inches of warm water fill your machine, then swish/swirl this solution to help insure all the powder is dissolved. Switch back to cool/cold water, and then add another 3-4 inches of water before adding the red items.