I am washing a nylon American flag (Yes, washing the flag is OK!). The white stripes are a bit gray.  Is it safe to use Clorox2^® for this? Also, should I wash in hot, warm or cold water?

What an interesting project! Yes, you can use Clorox2^® to whiten the stripes on your flag—an important consideration is to prevent the red (or blue, as well) from bleeding onto the white stripes and stars while the flag is washing or soaking and drying. Here’s how I would proceed:

1.   Wash the flag using a gentle cycle with warm water and detergent + Clorox2^® Stain Fighter and Color Booster.

2.   Periodically check during the wash cycle to see if the red stripes are discharging color into the wash cycle. This can happen pretty easily when colored fabric is sewn onto white fabric and the dye wasn’t properly fixed.  If the water is turning red, immediately stop the wash cycle and rinse the flag.

3.   Air dry the flag—just be sure it can dry quickly. That’s because your damp flag may still be at risk of the colored sections bleeding into the white parts.  It's hard to predict--nylon shouldn't have this problem but it's good to be cautious.

If the stripes don’t whiten as much as you’d like, you could try a little more aggressive approach with hotter water. Keep in mind that this is more likely to cause the colored stripes to bleed--if you saw any color coming off with the warm water wash then don't increase the water temperature. But if your flag doesn’t bleed, then you could try presoaking with Clorox2^®—add a capful to 2 gallons of hot water and fully submerge the flag for 1 hour. Drain the soaking solution, and then wash as described above using hot water. I would actually recommend against pretreating the stripes with undiluted product because you need to limit the contact time to 3-5 minutes, and with such a large area to treat there is a good chance the product will stay on the fabric too long, leaving behind a permanent blue spot.

Clorox2^® caused a blue stain on several of my family's garments. How do I get this blue tinge out?

This sounds like the liquid Clorox2^® was applied directly to stains on the garments (which is good for improved stain removal), but stayed on the fabric too long before being washed. We typically recommend allowing only 5 minutes of contact time (depends on the type of stain and its severity) for pre-treating before washing an item. This allows enough time for the surfactants and hydrogen peroxide a chance to work in concentrated form, but not so much time that the colorant and brighteners permanently dye the area where the stain was treated. The product should never be allowed to dry on the fabric since the stain left behind (a combination of blue colorant and brighteners) is nearly impossible to remove.

There’s a chance you might be able to remove the blue colorant by soaking the garments (if they are white and bleachable--avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex) in a solution of ¼ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach per gallon of water for up to 5 minutes before thoroughly rinsing. Any residual blue color left after this is actually concentrated brightener that reflects light off the fabric in the blue spectrum. How successful you will be depends on how long the liquid Clorox2^® was on the fabric in the first place. I hope this helps--unfortunately it is very difficult to remove blue stains from prolonged contact, and I'm sorry I don't have more encouraging advice.

How can I treat a gasoline spill on my black cotton and spandex yoga pants?

This is such an interesting question, and the answer needs to address more than just cleaning—there's a safety issue, too. Clothes washer and dryer manufacturers don’t want oil or gasoline soaked items going into their appliances for cleaning because of the risk of spontaneous combustion, and they put a warning on the appliances and in the user’s guide to that effect. Throwing away oil-saturated clothes is the safest course of action—check with your garbage service provider to see what they recommend for safe disposal before tossing any items away.

This isn’t very helpful, I realize, and that frustrates me—I also know that presoaking or pretreating with a stronger degreaser (like Goo Gone or DeSolveIt, available at hardware stores) could be effective at removing residual gasoline. You would need to test a hidden part of the pants for colorfastness first, and then follow the manufacturer’s directions. If you know how the gasoline got onto the pants, and how much of it there was originally, that would also be helpful in deciding how to proceed.

Even so, not knowing enough about your specific situation makes recommending discarding the pants necessary from a safety standpoint.

I just bought new dark towels and they turned blotchy and orange after the first wash. I only used detergent and fabric softener. What could have happened?

What an unfortunate situation! I can’t be sure what went wrong, but I’d like to address a few possibilities and tips about washing towels to make sure this does not happen in the future.

First, it's important to note that towels should not be washed with fabric softener. The thin coating that softener leaves behind to impart a softer hand feel also makes the yarn loops on towels less absorbent.  It's hard to say whether or not softener would also negatively interact with the dye on the towels—I actually wouldn't expect that, but it is always possible.

Second, I am curious about your clothes washer. Does your machine use dispensers to add the laundry products? And does it use a spray rinse? The splotches you describe could make sense if softener was sprayed onto the fabric. You could always test a little softener on the undamaged section of the towels to see if it causes discoloration. You may also want to test the detergent, especially if it is a powdered formulation that includes a bleach activator (check the label) and the clothes washer has a spray wash feature.

One other possibility is that the bleach dispenser on the clothes washer could have malfunctioned and dispensed left over bleach from the previous cycle into your dark load. You can check this too by applying a drop of a solution of 2 teaspoons bleach added to 1/4 cup water and see what type of color change you get. If that's the case, you may need to have a technician look at the clothes washer to be sure it is functioning properly.

I wouldn't let the towel manufacturer off the hook, either—it could be the towels were actually mistakes—that is, the original production color was not what the manufacturer wanted—and they were subsequently overdyed a darker color that is not very color fast. Since the towels are brand new, hopefully you can return them or exchange them.

Happy Black Friday! Between fueling up for midnight shopping and cleaning up Thanksgiving dinner, I bet there were some gravy spills in the last 24 hours. To help you tackle this tricky stain, I wanted to provide my favorite treatment for gravy stains. Gravy is a complex stain with grease, starch and colorant that requires lots of attention. To start. scrape off excess gravy with a dull knife; blot gently with a paper towel or cloth; cover with cornstarch to help absorb the grease; brush off. Blot with cold water and liquid dish detergent then rinse.

FROM HERE, IF YOUR STAINED ITEM IS WHITE:

1. Rub any residual stain gently with Clorox^® Bleach Pen^® Gel prior to laundering


2. Wash immediately in the hottest water recommended using 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:

1. Again, start by scraping off excess gravy with a dull knife; blot gently with a paper towel or cloth; sprinkle with cornstarch to help absorb excess grease, then brush the cornstarch off


2. Next apply liquid dish detergent to the stain, and then rinse


3. Then apply good liquid laundry detergent and rub into stain.  Wash immediately in hottest water recommended using detergent and Clorox^®2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster


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

I just noticed foundation all over my white dress. It has been there for more than a month. Can I still remove it?

Make-up stains typically have both a color and an oily component, and it’s good to work on the oily component first by pretreating stains with a little liquid dishwashing detergent (like Dawn). Apply a little directly to the stain and rub it in. Wait 5 minutes, and then wash the dress depending on the fiber content (check the care label) using one of the following methods:

1. For white bleachable fabric (avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex), wash in hot water with detergent and  ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach. Air dry the dress and check for success—you want to keep the dress out of the dryer so you don’t heat set heavy make-up stains that would come all the way out with a second treatment.


2. If your dress contains any spandex:  wash in hot water with detergent and Clorox2 Stain Fighter and Color Booster. Air dry and check for success—repeat the treatment if necessary for complete removal.

It’s hard to give generic advice without knowing more about the dress. I would hate to find out the white dress you are asking about is a silk wedding dress—for that I would recommend dry cleaning. If this is the case, when you take the dress to the cleaners show them the makeup stain so they can pretreat it.

I have a stain on my white shirt. Since it is just one shirt, how can I use Clorox to take out the stain without having to run a load of laundry?

This is a great question--a lot of times when people have a small stain on a white item, they make the mistake of dabbing a little undiluted bleach directly onto the stain--please don't do this! Bleach should always be diluted first before use, otherwise a permanent yellow stain (and eventually a hole) will be left behind where the full-strength bleach was applied to the fabric. To safely use Clorox^® Regular-Bleach to remove the stain on your shirt, try soaking the shirt in a solution of 1/4 cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach per gallon of water (or if you are using new Concentrated Clorox^® Regular-Bleach, 3 tablespoons bleach per gallon of water). Fully submerge the shirt for 5 minutes, and then rinse and air dry.

Something else to consider is what type of stain you are trying to remove. The bleach soak works great for stains like coffee, ball point pen, and red wine, but for an oily food stain, prior to the bleach soak you should pretreat the stain with a little liquid dishwashing detergent. Apply a little to the stain and rub in, wait 5 minutes, and then rinse the stain. This helps break up the oil, making it easier for the bleach to completely remove the stain.

How do I remove cranberry sauce stains from my clothing?

Cranberries and cranberry sauce are holiday staples. Cranberries are festive fruits, but their juice and sauce stains have an intense color with skins, seeds and sugars to be concerned about. Rinse the stained area with cold water. Do NOT use bar soap as it may set the stain.

FROM HERE, IF YOUR STAINED ITEM IS WHITE:

1. Apply Clorox^® Bleach Pen^® Gel to the stained area immediately before laundering.


2. Wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent and 3/4 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:

1. Again, rinse the stained area with cold water. Do not use bar soap as it may set the stain.


2. Apply Liquid Clorox2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster directly to the stain and rub in.


3. Wait 3-5 minutes, then wash immediately in hottest water recommended using detergent and Clorox2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster.


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

Is there a good way to get rid of underarm yellowing or do I just need to throw the shirt away? Is there any way to prevent that?

Underarm stains are highly individualized. Each person’s body chemistry, combined with her choice of deodorant, make for a truly unique stain. Pre-treating the stain by applying a little liquid laundry detergent directly to the arm pit area every time you wash a shirt is a great way to keep these stains under control. Applying Clorox^® Bleach Pen Gel immediately before washing in detergent + ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach is also a great way to get the stains out. For some men and women, switching to a different brand of antiperspirant and starting over with new t-shirts, may be what it takes to get these stains under control. It really does vary from person to person!

What causes "ring around the collar"? How does one prevent/get rid of it?

Ring around the collar is a combination of sweat and body soil that rubs off the neck and onto the inside collar of a shirt, leaving that telltale dark line. On a white dress shirt, pre-treating is key, and we have a great product that makes this easy and convenient—Clorox^® Bleach Pen Gel. It has the same active as Clorox^® Regular-Bleach, but at a lower level, so it’s safe to apply directly to bleachable white fabrics. Apply a little gel directly to the stain, gently rub it in with the soft scrubber tip, and then wash the shirt immediately in hot water using detergent + ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach. You can prevent the stain from building up by treating it each time you wash the shirt, and it is also good to only wear a shirt once before washing.