I got pen ink on my shirt. What can I do to treat it? Should I try Clorox bleach on it? Or is there some other method I can try?

I have a two-step process for dealing with ink stains that I hope will help you, but first you need to determine the colorfastness of the shirt. Many colored dress shirts can be safely bleached; do a quick bleachability test to be sure. Mix 2 tsp. Clorox^® Regular-Bleach in ¼ cup water, apply a drop to a hidden area (hem, inside cuff) and blot dry. No color change means the shirt can be safely bleached, and you would treat the stain as follows:

Apply alcohol-based hand sanitizer to the stain and let it soak in for a few minutes.

1. Wash in the hottest water allowed (check the care label) with detergent and ¾ cup Clorox Regular-Bleach. Allow the shirt to air dry and check for success.

If the shirt doesn’t pass the bleachability test, then you can use Clorox2^® Stain Fighter & Color Booster:

1. Apply alcohol-based hand sanitizer to the stain and let it soak in for a few minutes.


2. Apply Clorox2^® Stain Fighter & Color Booster directly to the stain, wait five minutes, then wash in the hottest water allowed with detergent + Clorox2^® Stain Fighter & Color Booster. Allow the shirt to air dry and check for success.

The biggest problem with a stain like this is that the ink is super concentrated and may require multiple treatments to get the stain out. Just be sure to continue to air dry the shirt in between treatments until you achieve success.

My baby started eating food and his clothes have some food stains, how do I remove them?

Baby food stains really benefit from pre-treating, but first be sure to scrape away excess stain (think pureed vegetable globs like sweet potatoes), and then rinse the stain with a little cool water. Be careful not to rub the stain further into the fabric. I am sure you have both white and colored items to clean, so here are some good techniques for both:

If the item is white:

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


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

If the item is colored (or made from a fiber on the do not bleach list):

• Apply Clorox2^® Stain Fighter & Color Booster directly to the stain, and rub in.


• Wait 3-5 minutes, but don’t let it dry on the fabric.

Wash immediately in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent and Clorox2^®.

After washing, air dry the items and check for success. This is a general technique that I always advise. Stubborn stains that are partially removed can often be treated again, and you increase your chance of eventual success if you don’t heat-set any residual stain in a hot dryer.

I washed a white sweater with blue letters with darks and now it is a dingy white. How can I get it back to a bright white without discoloring the blue letters?

Normally a bleach soaking solution (1/4 cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach bleach per gallon of water, with a soak time of up to 5 minutes) will strip away dye transfer from fabrics that can be safely bleached--note that you should always avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex. The big challenge on your garment is the blue lettering, which is likely highly visible without any hidden areas. This makes it difficult to test to see if the blue letters could survive the bleach soak without risking a white spot if the fabric fails. Here’s the test for bleachability: Add 2 teaspoons Clorox Regular-Bleach to 1/4 cup water. Apply a drop of this solution to a hidden part of the item and wait 1 minute, then blot dry with a paper towel. No color change means the item can be safely bleached.

Happy Labor Day! It’s bittersweet to see summer coming to an end, but with fall comes hayrides, apple cider, and plenty of holidays to celebrate. I hope everyone was able to celebrate and enjoy a relaxing holiday.

Last week, I provided some tips on how to treat your summer whites before putting them away for the season. Today, I have some instructions on what you can do if you accidentally get dye from another laundry item on bleachable clothing.

You should be able to restore the item that picked up the color with a bleach soaking solution as long as the item is safely bleachable. Even though they are white, you still need to check the care label--don’t use the bleach soaking solution if the clothing contains even a small amount of spandex. You should also avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, and leather--these should also never be bleached.

If the clothing is bleachable, then you can proceed with a bleach soak. Fully submerge the slacks in a solution of ¼ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach added to 1 gallon cool water for up to 5 minutes, then rinse the slacks thoroughly. Air dry and check for success (it’s important to keep the slacks out of the dryer so the heat doesn’t set any remaining dye if it wasn’t removed). Hopefully the fugitive color will be gone, but if it is lighter, then repeat the bleach soak again. However, if the bleach soak leaves the dye transfer color unchanged, you may need to try RIT Color Remover, which can usually be found at drug and hardware stores.

I just bought new white towels that are a Micro Cotton style. The care label says do not bleach. Can they be bleached anyway?

You can absolutely bleach your white Micro Cotton towels with Clorox^® Regular Bleach. If a brand of 100% cotton towels say “Do Not Bleach” for every color, it is likely a way for the towel manufacturer to save money by using the same conservative care label on all of the towels in the product line, regardless of the towel’s colorfastness to either chlorine or oxygen bleach. It’s too bad; this "low-labeling" practice doesn't provide consumers with readily accessible accurate information to help them care for their textiles, the whole purpose of care labels! Anytime you have an item you aren’t sure can be safely bleached, you should do a quick bleachability test: add 2 tsp liquid Clorox^® Regular- Bleach to ¼ cup water; apply a drop on a hidden section area like inside seam, hemline or cuff; wait 1 minute and then blot dry. No color change means it is safe to use bleach on the item.

How can I remove body soils from 100% Egyptian cotton sheets? Will Clorox bleach harm the sheets by aging them faster?

It’s a common myth that bleach is hard on fabrics, and I’m happy to debunk the notion. No, laundering with Clorox^® Regular-Bleach will not cause Egyptian cotton textiles to age faster or wear out sooner. Egyptian cotton is special because its fibers are longer than most other cotton fibers, producing stronger yarns and fabrics. In general, cotton fabrics naturally deteriorate just from wearing, washing, and drying; using bleach doesn’t accelerate this effect, regardless of the length of the cotton fiber. We have examined this extensively, evaluating a wide variety of white items commonly bleached: socks, underwear, t-shirts, towels, bed sheets, dress shirts and even baseball pants. Items were washed and dried 50 times, and we found no significant difference in fabric strength between items washed with detergent and those washed in detergent and liquid bleach. It also demonstrates how to use bleach safely as directed on the label, which relates to the first question: what’s the best way to remove body soils from sheets? Assuming they are white, I recommend using the hottest water possible, and adding ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach along with your detergent. However, if they are colored, then I would do a quick bleachability test to confirm the color is bleach fast: add 2 tsp liquid bleach to ¼ cup water, apply a drop to a hidden area (for bed sheets I like to test the hem that gets tucked in at the foot of the bed) and blot dry—no color change means the sheets can be safely bleached. If the sheets don’t pass the bleachability test, then I would add Clorox2^® Stain Fighter and Color Booster along with your detergent, and wash them in the hottest water possible.

Many people don't know, but you may actually be able to use Clorox® Regular-Bleach to safely wash some colored clothes provided they are colorfast to bleach and don’t contain any spandex. To check if clothes can be bleached, we have our "bleachability" test. Test clothes as follows:

• Mix a test solution by diluting 2 tsp Clorox® Regular-Bleach in ¼ cup water.
• Apply a drop to a hidden part of the item such as an inside hem, cuff, or seam. Wait one minute and then blot dry.
• No color change means the item can be safely bleached.

What is the best way to remove stains from a colored football jersey?

It is almost football season and this is a very common problem thanks to two-a-days and preseason games! Treatment really depends on the fiber composition. Dyed cottons are much more prone to bleeding/dye transfer and should always be washed separately according to the garment’s care label (usually in cool water). This makes it much more difficult to get really clean, however. So, scanning items for stains/spots and pretreating before washing is a must for any colored item. For colored synthetics (polyester/nylon), you usually have more flexibility as the dyes are more "permanent" and can take more aggressive treatment and washing. Use the warmest wash recommended on the care label (the hotter the water the better the cleaning/stain removal), the recommended amount of detergent and consider adding the appropriate bleach. A lot of these items can be bleached. To find out which items can safely be bleached, I recommend consumers do the quick Bleachability Test (2 tsp Clorox^® Regular-Bleach in 1/4 cup water; apply a drop on a hidden colored 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. Any color change could also show you the amount of change in color that likely will occur if you proceed with the liquid bleach usage. If you can't bleach the items, wash 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. Check for success before drying. It might require multiple treatments to get the desired result.

What is the best way to remedy sour smelling colored towels?

No one likes a smelly towel, but with the increased use of towels during the summer, it can really stink! I get this question a lot, especially from people with HE washers. Smelly towels usually indicate that there is soil build-up inside the inner workings of your clothes washer that harbors odor-causing bacteria. The odors transfer from the washer to your laundry, and it is particularly noticeable on towels once they get wet. Here are several ways to address the problem:

1. Clean out your washer.  Run an empty washer through a clean-out cycle with hot water and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach (or fill dispenser to the “max fill” line).  Select the extra rinse option if your machine offers this; otherwise run an extra rinse cycle when the first cycle is complete. Depending on how bad the build-up is, it might take running several clean-out cycles with bleach to fully clean the washer. To keep the problem from coming back, run a clean out cycle with bleach once a month.  Washing at least one white load with bleach per week will also help.

2. Check your towels for bleach colorfastness. Some colored towels can be safely bleached — find out if yours can with a quick bleachability test: add 2 teaspoons Clorox^® Regular-Bleach to ¼ cup water; apply a small drop to a hidden part of the towel, such as under the care label; wait 1 minute then blot dry; no color change means you can safely bleach the towel.  If your towels pass, bleaching them regularly will eliminate odor causing bacteria on the towels. You can just add them to your white load along with your other bleachables.

3. Wash in hot water. The hotter the water, the better the cleaning.  This is especially important for towels that can’t be bleached!

4. Dry towels immediately following the wash cycle. Any item that sits around damp is providing the optimum environment for mildew growth. Be sure to select enough drying time so that towels dry completely, too.

What is the best way to remove yellow printer ink from blue jeans?

Ink is an extremely difficult stain to remove given how concentrated printer ink is--but it's still worth giving a little hand sanitizer a try to break up the stain so it will be easier to get it out. Also, a lot of denim can be safely laundered with Clorox^® Regular-Bleach and not lose much color. If the jeans are no longer wearable anyways, it cannot hurt to try! Here's how to proceed:

1. Apply alcohol-based hand sanitizer to the stain and let it soak in for a few minutes.

2. Wash in the hottest water allowed (check the care label) with detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach.

3. Allow the shirt to air dry and check for success.

The biggest problem with a stain like this is that the ink is super concentrated and may require multiple treatments to get the stain out. Therefore, it’s really important to air dry the blue jeans following any repeated washing until the stain is gone. Also, you will know pretty quickly if the hand sanitizer is effective on printer ink, and if not, maybe you have a new pair of pants for painting and yard work.