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:  My son washed his new work uniform in warm water, which consists of black pants (80% poly / 20% cotton) and a white shirt (85% poly / 15% cotton) with a blue embroidery logo. Now the shirt has dye stains all over it from the pants and is less than white. Are there any options for getting the stains out and whitening? The embroidery is colorfast. The label does say "Do Not Bleach."

A:  It is good the shirt is a polyester/cotton blend, because this fabric is generally safe for bleaching.  To restore the shirt, I would try a bleach pre-soak:  dilute ¼ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in 1 gallon of water.  Fully submerge the shirt for up to 5 minutes.  You may notice the color coming off immediately, or it may take the full amount of time.  Next, drain and thoroughly rinse the shirt, allowing the shirt to air dry.  Hopefully this will work, but if it does not, try RIT color remover, which you can find at most drug stores.  Just be sure to follow the package instructions carefully.

I would expect that the logo is embroidered with polyester thread, and should not be altered by either of these treatments.  That said, there is still the possibility that there could be a color change.  However, I think it is worth taking the chance to restore the shirt given that the alternative is to throw the shirt away - and I am sure your son has other plans for the money he is earning!  Of course, the silver lining is that he now has firsthand experience with the importance of sorting laundry into like-color groups for washing.

Have your kids had any laundry mishaps?

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:   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?

Q:  My children occasionally come home from daycare with discoloration on their clothing.  To disinfect the toys, changing table, etc the daycare uses a gallon jug to 1/4 cup of Clorox® Regular Bleach.  I have questioned the daycare on how they are mixing the solution as it clearly causes a problem.  They tell me the ratio to use is 1/4 cup of Clorox® Regular Bleach to 1 gallon of water, however, they are mixing it in a gallon jug, so technically it is 1/4 cup of Clorox® Regular Bleach to 1 gallon minus 1/4 of water. 

Could this be causing the discoloration problem or do you think something else must be going on to cause this problem?

A:  It is good your daycare is using bleach for disinfecting, and now you can pass along some information to help them use it correctly!  The ¼ cup per gallon dilution they use is more standard as a bleach pre-soak for bleachable fabrics that are heavily soiled or for fabrics that need to be disinfected.  It is actually not strong enough to disinfect hard surfaces.  Instead, to disinfect furniture and hard, non-porous toys, the correct dilution is ¾ Clorox® Regular-Bleach per gallon of water.  You are also correct to note that they should be measuring a full gallon of water that the ¾ cup is then added to, a 1:21 dilution.  Items need to have contact with this disinfecting solution for 5 minutes, and then should be rinsed thoroughly and allowed to air dry.

Done correctly, there should not be any fabric damage on your children’s clothing, which makes me wonder why this is happening.  Perhaps they are not rinsing thoroughly after applying the disinfecting solution; and what is left behind is damaging non-bleachfast fabrics.  Ideally they would use a 1 gallon pail or bucket to mix the solution in.  These work well because they have a nice wide opening for the sponge and you can put the bucket right next to the items you’re disinfecting (changing table, etc) to reduce the chance of stray drips.  Also, in an ideal world, they would apply the disinfecting solution after the kids have gone home for the day.  This allows everything to air dry more conveniently.  However, in our less-than-perfect world, kids throw up while at daycare and the staff cannot wait until the end of the day when it is convenient.  Hopefully, if they need to disinfect an area during the day, they keep the kids out while they disinfect.  The look of the bleach spots may also give clues to how they are happening.  Small dots would be from a drop or two splashing on to the clothes.  A large color-loss area on the rear could be if your child sat in a chair that was not rinsed. 

Readers, have you asked how your daycare disinfects, or experienced similar spots?

Q. I melted some shredded cheese in a tortilla for a snack. When I started eating it, some of the oil from the cheese oozed out the side of the tortilla and down my cotton (light green) shirt and onto my blue jeans. Do you have any suggestions for how I should treat the stains?

A. Since it is an oily stain, do not wet it before proceeding. The best option for this probably is to pretreat with a good liquid detergent (Liquid Tide) or dishwasher detergent (Dawn). Try applying; rubbing into oil stain; waiting 5-10 minutes; then washing in the warmest water recommended for the item. Always check for success before drying, or consider air drying so you don't "set" the stain if it's not completely removed. If not completely removed, repeat the procedure.

Q: My daughter's roommate used her iron but didn't clean it after she finished. My daughter went to iron her cotton top and the iron got black marks all over it. Do you know how to get this out? We have tried everything!

A: I'm not sure what originally caused the "black marks" on the iron. This might be useful info as this material has been re-melted and is now transferred/stuck to the cotton top.

Usually for regular iron scorchmarks, the recommendation is to rewash in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent and liquid bleach like Clorox® Regular-Bleach. While a single wash may not be enough, usually a couple of these treatments are needed.

If this is a transfer of melted material, then a slightly different tact should be considered. Here you will need to re-warm from the back of the scorched item and transfer it onto another item, like an old towel. Some people say that a damp towel with peroxide is good to use since it helps warm from both sides and provides the bleaching power to help clean-up any residual color.
Simply dampen the towel and add a diluted peroxide solution (1:1 should be OK). Place in contact with the scorched portion, and apply the warming iron. As the scorch material warms it will transfer to the towel. Keep changing the area so a clean portion of the towel is available – this prevents re-deposition of the material back on the original item. You may need more than one application to completely remove.

Q: How would you suggest I remove tough crude oil stains / smells from 100% cotton colored work shirts? Having a real solution to this question would be very beneficial to know for our Crude Oil Drivers & their families.

A: Boy, this a tough question, but one my sister in Texas has asked about before. The key is the crude oil definitely needs a good solubilizer/solvent to dissolve the oil stains, preferably before they are wet from the wash water. The more that's removed, the more the odor problem should be reduced.

The other potential issue is COLORED cotton. This means that any product should be checked for "compatibility" with the dyes and direct application will not cause dye removal/fading in the treated areas. Use our modified Bleachability Test:

• Apply a drop on a hidden color section area like inside seam, hemline or cuff.


• Wait 1 minute, rinse and then blot with towel.


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

Here are some additional suggestions:

• Since grease and water don't mix, consider pretreating first. Apply a good liquid laundry detergent, like Liquid Tide, or even dishwashing detergent, like Dawn, or degreaser, like Stanley or Goo Gone. Rub into the stain and let sit 3-5 minutes. This helps solubilize the grease/oil/fluids and jumpstarts removal. The new 2X liquid detergents are more concentrated and so they probably will work well here. Hopefully, the stains are localized and not too big an area, which make pretreating much more labor intensive.


• Always wash in the HOTTEST water recommended on the care label. The hotter the water the better the removal.


• I would wash these items separate from other laundered items to eliminate the possibility of transfer/re-deposition onto other family member's clothes.


• Use at least the recommended amount of detergent, maybe a little extra. Remember you are trying to "pull" the grease/oil off the fabric and once it's removed you want it to stay in the wash water and NOT redeposit back onto the clothes. This is one of the jobs of the surfactants in these detergents. So don't scrimp!


• I might be tempted to extend the wash cycle time. With a top-loading washer, you can wait 6-8 minutes into the cycle, stop the washer and spin the dial back to start for another full 10-12 minutes.


• Finally, check for success at the end of the washcycle BEFORE the items go into the dryer. If not satisfactorily removed, you can retreat them. Put them in the dryer and you may be driving the oils into the fibers, which makes removal in the future very difficult/impossible.


• If this doesn't work, then the other alternative would be commercial dry cleaner where they use solvents as the basis for there cleaning.

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!

Q: I used Clorox Bleach on some new white men's briefs. They turned yellow. I have never had this to happen before. Do you know what may have caused this?

A: It would have been helpful if you indicated how the bleach was used to narrow down the possibilities for you, and whether the yellowing was spotted or more uniform Here's my best guesses.

First, I NEVER recommend using Clorox® Regular-Bleach full-strength on any item or surface. Hopefully you did not do this treating a specific area/stain. It should always be diluted because it is so strong. If unrinsed, it can actually cause little holes in the garment. That can happen if there is accidental liquid bleach spillage and someone brushes against the washer.

If you touched up a stained area, you could have destroyed the fabric whiteners in that area, which would be seen as a yellow spot. Not much you can do for this problem, but repeated washing may lessen the yellow appearance.

The most likely culprit is poor water quality with metals (iron or manganese) in the water or pipes. Summer is notorious for sudden changes in water quality and is more pronounced in rural or well water areas. These react with the sodium hypochlorite active in Clorox bleach, forming more colored materials that deposit on the clothes. After drying, the clothes are essentially dyed with the colored material. If all the items have a uniform discoloration, then this is the most likely cause.

Also, I assume this product did NOT have polyacrylate to help complex the metals. You may need to start using separate products to treat the wash water supply – here, we use IronOut – as sometimes the hot water heater can also have build-up. For the clothes, a separate product can be used to strip the discoloration away.