Q:  Can mold stains be removed?

A:  Yes, but moldy textiles need to be treated right away to help keep the problem from getting worse.  Are your items bleachable?  If you are not sure you can do a quick bleachability test: add 2 teaspoons Clorox® Regular-Bleach to ¼ cup water.  Apply a drop of this solution to a hidden part of the colored item (hems, cuffs, and inside seams work well).  Wait 1 minute, then blot dry.  No color change means the item can be safely bleached.  For these items, the following approaches should work:

• Wash immediately in hot water using detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach


• If the problem is bad, consider doing a Clorox® Regular-Bleach soak (1/4 cup liquid bleach per gallon of cool water and soak for 5-10 minutes).  Then wash in hot water with detergent and liquid bleach

For non-bleachable colors or non-bleachable fabrics (like wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex) it’s problematic to remove mold since the best mold and mildew killers are products with sodium hypochlorite.  Even so, you can try the following:

• Carefully brush off any obvious spores and then wash in the warmest water recommended on the care label with detergent and an oxygen bleach like our Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster


• Try a 1 hour presoak with Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster following label instructions

Readers – how do you handle mold stains on your clothing?

Q: How do you remove wine stains?

A:  Here are two great techniques—you can decide which to use depending on the item you will be washing.

For stained items that are white:

1. Rub the stain gently with Clorox® Bleach Pen® Gel immediately before laundering.


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


3. Air dry and check for success. If residual stain remains, repeat the treatment.


4. Remember to avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex, even if they are white!

For stained items that are colored:

1. Apply Liquid Clorox® 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster and rub into stain.


2. Wait 3-5 minutes, and then wash immediately in hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent and Clorox® 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster.


3. Air dry and check for success. If residual stain remains, repeat the treatment

I hope this helps!

Readers – Have you had any issues with wine stains?  How did you remove the stains?

Q:  We have some Hawaiian Tropic® Sunscreen and it seems to stain all our whites orange when they come in contact with sweat.  Not the whole garment just around the neck or arms or sweat 'zones'.  How do I get these stains out?

A: For sunscreen stains, try pre-treating the stains with either liquid dish soap (like Dawn) or a good liquid detergent to solubilize the oils in the sunscreen—apply, rub in, and wait 3-5 minutes.   After the time is up, wash immediately in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent and ¾ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach for white items or detergent and Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster for colored items.

I hope this is helpful!

Have any readers noticed similar sun screen stains on your clothing?

Q: What is the best way to remove blood from clothing?

A: I recommend presoaking blood stains in cool water using a good detergent that contains enzymes – check the list of ingredients to know for sure.  You need to soak items for at least 30 minutes and ideally as long as 60 minutes. This is because enzymes break down the protein in blood and they need enough time to do it—the “wash” portion of a wash-cycle is usually not long enough, especially for heavily stained items.  Following the presoak, drain the presoaking solution and rinse the items.  Then proceed as follows depending on whether your item is white or colored:

For stained items that are white:

1. Rub the stain gently with Clorox® Bleach Pen® Gel immediately before laundering.


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


3. Air dry and check for success. If residual stain remains, repeat the treatment.


4. Remember to avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex, even if they are white—treat these fabrics as if they were colored.

For stained items that are colored:

1. Apply Liquid Clorox® 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster and rub into the stain.


2. Wait 3-5 minutes, and then wash immediately in hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent and Clorox® 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster.


3. Air dry and check for success. If residual stain remains, repeat the treatment.

I hope this helps!

Readers – How do you remove blood stains?

Q: My wife put Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster in the bleach dispenser.  Will that hurt my washer?  If so, what can I do to fix the problem?

A: No, Clorox2® will not damage your washer if added in the bleach dispenser.  Your wife, however, should not do this on an ongoing basis, depending on the design of your dispenser.  The Clorox2® will not be adequately rinsed into the washer and could plug any tubing between the dispenser and washer drum.  Flushing the bleach dispenser line with very hot tap water several times should remove any residue.  Do this while your washer is empty so you can pour several quarts of hot water through the dispenser, then manually select a rinse/drain option and let the cycle finish. 

Readers – How do you use Clorox2®?

Q: Can Clorox2® remove stains from colored clothes without leaving a bleach stain? I've always been too afraid to try.

A: Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster is a great product to add along with your favorite detergent to boost cleaning, stain removal, brightening, and whitening of virtually all washable garments. That’s because the formula includes hydrogen peroxide, a much gentler color-safe bleach.  It can be added to the wash load along with your detergent, and the liquid formula can be used to pre-treat stains directly.  Be careful to not let the product dry on the fabric – 3-5 minutes of contact time is usually sufficient to remove stains.  You can also test garments or items you are unsure about by applying a drop to a hidden area (like the inside hem).  Wait 3-5 minutes then rinse and blot dry.  No color change?  Then you can safely use Clorox2®!  There is a lot of great information on Clorox2® on the products tab, so be sure to check it out.  I hope you will give it a try!

Readers – I’d love to hear about any stains you’ve treated with Clorox2®.

Q:  Which is better to use for urine soiled white sheets, Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster or Clorox® Regular Bleach?

A:  I am assuming you would like to disinfect the sheets, and that they are a cotton or poly-cotton blend.  Therefore, you need to use Clorox® Regular-Bleach, our EPA-registered disinfectant.  Select a hot water cycle, and wash them with detergent and ¾ cup bleach.  If you have an HE washer, fill the dispenser to the “max fill” line.  Clorox2® includes oxygen bleach that is safe for colored items, but consequently does not disinfect.

Readers – I’d love to hear about some other disinfecting needs!  Leave a comment below and I will gladly respond to any questions out there.

Q:  How do I get the Clorox® Bleach smell out of my blouse which is made of rayon?

A:  To remove a lingering bleach smell from a garment, try a pre-soak with liquid Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster.  Just fill the cap to line 1 and add it to 2 gallons of water.  Fully submerge the shirt for 5 minutes.  This should be enough to allow the hydrogen peroxide in Clorox2® to react with any residual chlorine on the shirt.  Then thoroughly rinse the shirt and allow it to air dry. 

Do you have a favorite Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster scent?  Mine is Lavender!

Q:   My husband and I recently purchased our first washer and dryer.  With them came some tips on stain removal; however the application instructions were vague.  My husband has some shirts that are stained in the armpit area, I believe due to the combination of his deodorant and perspiration.  The tip states to pre-treat with boiling water then equal parts baking soda, hydrogen peroxide & water; rinse and then detergent pre-soak.  How should I apply these items to the shirt (i.e. put the shirt in container with these items or simply pour them over the affected area on the shirt)? This is a new process for me and I am unsure how to apply this valuable tip. 

A:  How nice to have your own washer and dryer; now you will have more time without having to go to and from the launder mat!  It is also great you read the washer’s instruction guide.  I agree that the underarm stain removal tip sounds a little confusing.  These stains are hugely problematic, partly because they are highly variable.  On some t-shirts, it is a crusty buildup of deodorant; others can just have a light transfer of anti-perspirant, and unfortunately with garments like silk tops, it is permanent discoloration.  Light smears usually come off with regular washing.  For the crusty build up, it is better to not let it happen in the first place, so start fresh with your new washer by stocking up on white undershirts for your husband.  Then proceed as follows:

1. Pre-treat the armpits of each white t-shirt with Clorox® Bleach Pen Gel:  use the broad scrubber tip to apply the gel and gently rub it into the stain.  Since you want to prevent build-up, do this every time you wash the shirts, whether or not you see a stain.


2. Wash immediately in hot water with detergent and ¾ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach.


3. Tumble dry with the rest of your white load.

Ideally, the white undershirts will protect your husband’s other colored shirts from getting any underarm stains that cannot be easily bleached away.  But for a colored shirt, you can try pre-treating the armpits each time you wash the shirt (again, to prevent build up) as follows:

1. Apply liquid Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster directly to the armpit area and rub in; wait 3-5 minutes (do not let it dry on the fabric).


2. Wash immediately in the hottest water recommended on the care label with detergent and additional Clorox2® based on your load size.


3. If there were obvious underarm stains that you pre-treated, then be sure to air dry the shirt and check for success; repeat if necessary.

If you would like to attempt using the washer’s user guide recommendation, try this method:

1. Working in a dishpan, pour boiling water slowly through each armpit stain.  This is to “melt” the build-up, which is a combination of deodorant, sweat, body soil, bacteria, etc.  Before you start, it will be helpful to position the shirt in the dishpan so you will not have to touch it once you start since it will be boiling hot!


2. Do not rinse the shirt – just pour off as much of the hot water as you can.  This keeps the build-up in a more “melted” state.  And if you do need to handle the shirt, either use kitchen tongs or wear gloves.


3. Apply the mixture of 1:1:1 parts baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and water directly to the stain.  Sometimes this is referred to as a paste, but it is actually quite watery, so be sure to blend the mixture enough to saturate the stains.


4. Rinse the shirt, and then follow up with a hot water wash with a good enzyme-containing detergent.  (For white t-shirts, be sure to add ¾ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach!)

For ongoing prevention of underarm stains, personally I think this last method is way too much work, and I would start fresh with new t-shirts and stick with the previous treatments. 

Have any of you experienced similar stubborn stains?