Q. I have four blouses with varying cotton to spandex combinations. They are in various "shades of white,” and I would like to rejuvenate them for additional wearing life. Instructions call for a cold water wash. Can you help?

A. I'm not quite sure from your description if the "various shades of white" were original color or something that has developed over time from your wearing and laundering. Spandex-containing items are known for holding odors and being hard to clean. Generally, the usual methods of cleaning normal blouses should work here with a couple of “watch outs.”
The key properties we are trying to preserve here are the stretch and appearance. To preserve stretch, you cannot be aggressive with laundering and drying. Thus, one avoids hot water washing and either air-dries the item on a flat surface or tumbles it on a low setting in the dryer. For best appearance, make sure you wash it in the warmest water recommended on the care labels. Also, use a good detergent at the recommended amount, and I also recommend adding Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster. Another option might be to add a presoak using the Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster before the wash to help get a cleaning boost.

Also, it is not recommended to use liquid bleach on Spandex items. The higher the Spandex content, the more likely some yellowing may occur with repeated washings.

Q: Is there a way to remove flower pollen stains from whites (yellow powder dust from Star Gazer Lillies)?

A: The best advice I've seen is to cut out the stamens before bringing the flowers into the house. Or, try using scotch tape to remove the pollen while dry. Any liquid/treatment only tends to make it worse. Direct sunlight also is reported to "bleach" out the spot.

Since it is white, I assume it's OK to use bleach. If so, try either washing in hot water with detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach. Or, pretreat with Clorox® Bleach Pen Gel before washing. Sometimes this doesn't solve the problem and all you are left with is a trip to the dry cleaners to ask if they can get it out. Hope this helps!

Greetings Stainers, Dr. Laundry here with a question for you. When was the last time you used bleach in the laundry? If it’s been a while, there’s a good chance your washing machine is emitting a musty or stale odor, especially if you have a High-Efficiency machine.

As many of you may have already experienced, a common problem with some HE machines is the build-up of odor-causing residues, which can leave your laundry smelling much less than fresh. After a few wash cycles, water that has not completely drained out of your HE machine can be left behind, resulting in an ideal location for creating bad (not-so-pleasant) odors.

One simple solution – do one white load a week with Clorox® Plus™ High Efficiency Bleach, which is specially formulated for HE machines and is effective in helping eliminate those bad odors. Think of it as mouthwash for your HE washing machine. You'll like the extra thickness that makes it easy to pour into those small HE dispensers plus it has special ingredients to give you the whitest whites and it helps protect the internal metal parts of your expensive HE washer from further damage. WOW!! That's a lot of great reasons for you to start using Clorox® Plus™ High Efficiency Bleach.

Detergent Dye Stains?

Q: My daughter used a purple dye-based laundry detergent. I don't know the brand. She washed a red sweatshirt, which was 60% cotton, 40% polyester, and the purple dye from the detergent transferred to the sleeve of the sweatshirt. She dried it in the dryer. Is there any way to get this dye out?

A: Wow this is really unusual. Most manufacturers always test the dyes in there laundry products to make sure they will not create these type of problems. For that reason, all are very water soluble and should not stain.

Did your daughter pretreat and leave the detergent on long enough to dry out? That’s about the only explanation I can come up with. It also could create a brightener spot that would appear as a purplish tint on a red colored item.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure if the sweatshirt can tolerate a mild bleach contact. To check, use our modified Bleachability Test:

• Apply a drop of Clorox2® ColorSafe Bleach on a hidden color section area like inside seam, hemline or cuff;


• Wait 2-3 minutes, rinse and then blot with towel.


• If there is no color change, it means it is safe to use the product on the item.


• Then try a quick pretreatment on the area – apply; rub in gently; wait 5-10 minutes.


• Then wash in the warmest water recommended on the care label with detergent + Clorox2® ColorSafe Bleach.

Check for success as it may require another treatment.

Q: A bottle of bourbon spilled in the trunk of our car. How can we remove stain and smell?

A: I definitely feel your pain! The key is to remove as much liquid as possible ASAP. Some squeegee/chamois cloths are always a great start. Then, remove the interior carpet (if possible) to insure that any adhesive and insulation material doesn't get much of a chance to absorb the liquid. Also, the heat will actually evaporate a lot of the liquid, but may also drive the color and flavors further into these materials.

At a minimum, a good carpet/upholstery cleaner should be used on the trunk carpet. I would strongly consider using a very good steam cleaner. More than one cleaning will probably be required. Short of these being successful, you may need to consult a professional detailer.

Q: How do I remove perspiration stains from cotton and mixed blend shirts?

A: I hear this question a lot – how do I get rid of the dreaded "pit" stains. The stain is simply a 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 complicated by the choice of antiperspirant. Aluminum-based ones are usually reported as the worst for changing colors, and there also seems to be some impact of diet in 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 (probably should 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.

This should work for both the cotton and mixed blend shirts.

Or the easy solution is simply cut out the affected area and he has a new set of muscle shirts (just kidding!)

For the future, I would check the brand of antiperspirant and see if you can find one without aluminum active. Also if new t-shirts are purchased, you might try applying the liquid detergent to the pit area when they are first removed or at least before 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: My husband likes to use a white washcloth in the shower on a daily basis. After a few launderings, the washcloth soon turns gray. I periodically bleach the cloths in hot water and Clorox Bleach, but, after a time, this no longer works. What is the best way to keep these washcloths looking clean and bright longer?

A: First off, make sure you’re using a good detergent. If you have hard water, you might consider moving to a powdered detergent. This type of detergent contains ingredients called builders that make the water softer when faced with complex water. Interestingly, better cleaning happens in soft water. Also, you might want to add a little extra detergent to make sure you're in a good cleaning environment. This helps if you have a heavy soil load. It also helps prevent re-deposition of removed soil back onto the "cleaned" cloth.

Here are a few additional suggestions to consider:

• Don't over-pack the washer – too much laundry means the detergent can't get to all the stains/soils to remove them.


• ALWAYS wash whites in HOT water. The hotter the water the better the removal.
  
• I am a strong believer in adding bleach to EVERY white load − Wash EVERY white load in hot water with detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular- Bleach to help finish the job.

Q: I made the mistake of washing a new red shirt with my other shirts with light colors. The red colored shirt bled and the light colored shirts have red stains all over. Could you help me get the stains off?

A: I probably don't have much good news for you. New dark colors are notorious for bleeding for a few washes and should always be washed with similar dark colors. That's why I always recommend sorting at least whites, lights and darks to avoid the problem in the future.

Depending on how extensive the red spots are and the type of fibers (cotton, poly/cotton, etc) of the remaining shirts, I would try the following:

To have a better chance at red dye removal you will need to kick it up a notch on the bleach scale hopefully to liquid bleach like Clorox® Regular-Bleach. So we need to know if the lighter colored items can stand to be bleached.

• Just do the simple Bleachability Test on any colored portion in a hidden part of the shirts (2 tsp 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).


• Then follow the recommended presoak procedure (1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in gallon of warm water for 5-10 minutes before laundering). Wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label with detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach


• If the colors are not bleachable, then I would presoaking/applying Liquid Clorox2® for Colors Color Safe Bleach (Apply; rub in; wait ~ 5 minutes; then wash immediately with detergent and recommended amount of Liquid Clorox2® for Colors Color Safe Bleach


• Check for success and retreat if needed BEFORE drying
  Also remember that washing in hotter water will SLOWLY remove additional dye over time; this will usually be barely perceptible wash-to-wash.

Q: I had a stain on a 100% cotton golf shirt. It had been washed a few times when I finally saw the stain. I took a Q-tip and dipped it into Clorox Bleach and rubbed it on the stain. I have done this before on white clothing and the stain came right out. This time, everywhere I used the bleach on the shirt, it turned yellow. Unless I can get these stains out, it's ruined. Please help!

A: First, I NEVER recommend using Clorox® Regular-Bleach full-strength on any item or surface. It should always be diluted because it is so strong and if unrinsed, can actually cause little holes in the garment. That's what happens when there is accidental liquid bleach spillage while pouring into the machine and someone brushes against the washer. Next time they pick up the garment it either has "bleached out" the colors and/or small holes are present.
I suspect that you have bleached some of the dye out of the shirt and the yellow spots are the result. Unfortunately, this is irreversible.

In the future, if you notice a stain after drying, I would first try pretreating it with liquid detergent (apply; rub in; let set 3-5 minutes before washing) and then immediately wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent and either 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach, if white or Liquid Clorox2® for Colors Color Safe Bleach, if colored. Always check for success after washing and retreat the item if needed before drying.

Q: My sailboat sails are made of Dacron, white in color. I have seen small black specks in certain areas, which I believe to be mildew stains. Could you please tell me how best to remove the black specks and also let me know is Dacron is susceptible to fabric damage from the use of mildew cleaners? Thank you. E.M. Raasch

A: Short answer here is that Dacron™ is a trademark name for polyester. This material is widely used in such things as tires, fire hoses and curtains as well as clothing. It is also widely used in boating for sails, ropes and even combined with fiberglass for the hulls.
One of the reasons this material is used is it can be easily cleaned and bleach is not a problem here.

For the mildew stains I would try:

• Brush the area with a stiff brush to remove as much as possible.


• If the sail has been removed, you can place affected area in a solution of 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach/ gallon of cool water to soak for 5 to 15 minutes. Wash/scrub the area thoroughly and rinse with fresh water. Repeat if necessary. I probably would wear some rubber gloves if prolong contact with the cleaning solution is required.


• Another approach if the sails are not removed, would be to wash/scrub the stains with hot, sudsy water and some Clorox® Regular-Bleach added; then rinse and dry. Repeat if necessary. Again, I probably would wear some rubber gloves if prolong contact with the cleaning solution is required.