Q: In 1965 I was given a white cotton twill apron from the "A&P Tea Co." meat department. I put my name across the apron with a permanent magic marker. I am trying to remove the name. I put the apron in a bucket and covered it with Clorox bleach. It sat for 2 hours. I rinsed in cold water and washed it in the machine with hot water and Tide. The name is untouched. Can you help?

A: Wow A&P, that's a name I haven't heard in a while. I'm afraid I don't have any good news for you. The operable word in your description is PERMANENT magic marker. This stuff is NOT supposed to come off and in my experience; it doesn't even after several treatments/soaks/washes. Unfortunately you will either have to live with the name or find a way to cover it.

Q: I sprayed two light khaki pants with Clorox Stain Out. They faded in the area that I pretreated. It also got onto other fabrics in the wash and it looks as though I put Clorox Bleach on them. What can be done about this? These were very expensive pants. Thank you for any advice.

A: This is quite baffling. The fading you describe usually is caused by bleach contact and StainOut does NOT contain any bleach. I have also seen this when Clorox2® for Colors is left on the item and dries. This is the result of the brightening agent which helps make the item look brighter, is "set" in that spot. Again, StainOut does NOT contain a brightening agent. It has surfactants to solubilize the stains but nothing that should cause lighter colored spots.

I would try wetting and retreating the area with liquid detergent then rewashing. If it is surfactants, they would be resolubilized and removed. Also check the StainOut bottle to be sure nothing has been added and consider not using it again.

Q: My toddler has an off-white stuffed lambie that she loves to suck on the ears and legs. It begins to stink very bad with her saliva germs from her mouth so I have washed it and disinfected it with Clorox Bleach. After 3 days or so, I have to bleach it again. She also has a colored bunny. My question is: Does Clorox2 for Colors have the same disinfecting ingredient as the Clorox Bleach for whites? I would like to disinfect this bunny too. Thanks for you help.

A: Kids always seem to have those favorite toys/blankets that have to go everywhere with them. The white one might benefit from a short bleach presoak (1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in gallon of warm water for 5-10 minutes) before laundering. Then, launder in hot water using detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach. This might extend the "life cycle."

On the colored one, this is a question that I get a lot. Unfortunately, there currently is NOT a product for disinfecting colored clothes/items. Our Clorox2® for Colors contains hydrogen peroxide as its active ingredient. It is a much weaker bleach than the sodium hypochlorite found in Clorox® Regular- Bleach and is not capable of meeting EPA disinfecting requirements.

As I have written previously, the best way to reduce germ counts in (colored) laundry are:

• Use the hottest wash water recommended on the care label; you might also do more than one wash on these items to further reduce the bacteria count.


• Use the hottest dryer setting recommended on the care label. While the dryer isn't capable of completely killing, it will help lower the germ count.


• Check the items for Bleachability. It's surprising how many things labeled as "Do Not Bleach" are actually OK to use liquid bleach. Do the quick Bleachability/colorfast test on a hidden part of the colored 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 bleach-fast, consider a quick bleach soak (1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in gallon of warm water for 5-10 minutes) before washing in the hottest water recommended on the care label.

Q: My wife has been unable to do the wash for a long time. A friend suggested that I use bleach to wash a pair of her white slacks that has many stains. But how much? Should I soak them first, or can I just add some to the wash machine and how much? The washer is a Calypso Whirpool.

A: I could probably help you more if you had provided the fiber type of the slacks and the types of stains. This would allow me to be sure you should be soaking (e.g., 5-10% Spandex should not be soaked, but cotton and poly/cotton are OK) and whether bleach would work on the stains (great for drink and colored stains, but would use liquid detergent on greasy/oily stain, for instance).

The presoak directions are: 1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in gallon of warm water for 5-10 minutes to be done before laundering in the laundry tub; drain and then, launder in hot water using detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach. Your couple of glugs was probably a little aggressive for a couple of inches of water. The Calypso should have a bleach dispenser that you can use to add the Clorox® Regular-Bleach; fill to the line or use the 3/4 cup recommendation.

Here are some general tips:

• Don't forget to sort by whites and colors


• Check the garment label for laundering instructions


• Don't be shy about pretreating and presoaking to jumpstart your stain removal


• Use the recommended amount of product


• Check for success after you wash and BEFORE you dry it - you may need to repeat the treatment


• Separate lint attractors and spreaders when drying

It's never too late to learn the laundry game. Use my blog for understanding the basics and even specific issues.

Q: My physician just recommended to me that I use regular bleach in my wash to disinfect my whites to kill any bacteria or yeast that may be present. He said that normal detergent doesn't always kill them. My question for you is concerning color safe bleach. Does Clorox 2 color safe bleach have the same disinfection and sanitization capabilities as Regular Clorox bleach?

A: Your doctor is correct that regular detergent washing is not sufficient to control yeast. 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular - Bleach added with your detergent and washed in warm/hot water should provide the result you are looking for.

Unfortunately Clorox2® for Colors has hydrogen peroxide as its active ingredient and this is NOT sufficient to provide any sanitizing or disinfecting benefit.

I also find a lot of garments including colored ones that can be safely bleached. You might want to try the Bleachability Test on a hidden part of these garments (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 item is bleach fast, you can use the instructions for hot water wash in detergent and Clorox® Regular - Bleach mentioned above.

Q: I work at a restaurant sometimes doing dishes. The health department says that the dishes should be washed in hot soapy water, then rinsed in hot water, then rinsed in a cold water solution with 1 tablespoon of bleach per 3 gal water. I’ve heard that too much bleach doesn't serve the purpose and hot water kills the effect of bleach. My employer insists that the rinse with bleach is to be in hot water with a lot of bleach. Is it safe to wipe the dishes? I worked at a college where they insisted that the last rinse be with bleach in cold water. Which is the most effective way to rinse in bleach to kill most germs?

A: Clorox Regular -Bleach is a quick and effective way for a restaurant to insure the completion of the dishwashing process. Here are the instructions from our Master Label:

And this is the picture that was developed to communicate this info:

So to answer your specific questions:

• Always wash in hot soapy water; then rinse with hot water then apply/rinse in bleach solution.


• Better to use 1 tablespoon per gallon of water; this produces the 200ppm concentration recommended/needed for sanitizing these surfaces. One can add more, but only 200ppm is needed for this application.


• Note the water temperature for the bleach solution is recommended to be 75F which would be cool.


• After the 2 minute bleach solution dip, it is recommended to air dry the items. This allows the solution time to complete the germ kill. It is not recommended to wipe the dishes immediately after the rinse. One reason is the towels can have residual germs that may defeat the purpose of the bleach rinse/dry procedure.


• So I would use the materials I provided above to get the best/desired outcome.