As promised, today marks part two of our DIY Fall Fashion series! Below are some instructions on how you can create your dip-dyed t-shirt. Be sure to let us know how your pair turns out in the comments section and feel free to link to a picture of your results!

Materials:

• Clorox^® Regular Bleach


• 3% hydrogen peroxide (2 quarts)


• 3 plastic dishpans (12 quart size)


• Plastic hanger


• Measuring cups


• Plastic gloves


• Old, white, full-size towels

1. Set up two dishpans on the side of a sink; put a third dishpan in the sink.

2. In the first dishpan, add 1 1/2 cups Clorox^® Regular-Bleach to 1 gallon of water; stir with a plastic spoon.

3. In the second dishpan, pour in 2 quarts hydrogen peroxide.

4. Rinse the entire tee-shirt in plain water and squeeze excess moisture out so the shirt is slightly damp.

5. Put on your gloves and put the tee-shirt on the hanger.

6. Immerse the bottom portion of the tee-shirt (the part you want to lighten) into the bleach solution (first dishpan).

7. Keeping the tee on the hanger, lift the shirt out of the bleach solution.

8. Watch the shirt carefully—when the bottom looks lighter than the top half (and you are satisfied with the difference in color) drop the entire shirt into the peroxide to stop the bleaching action. (Note that depending on the color of the shirt, results may vary.)

9. Rinse the shirt very thoroughly in cool water in the third dishpan in the sink.

10. Squeeze excess moisture out into the towels, and air dry.

I can’t seem to keep my son’s socks clean. I use Clorox bleach, but it still doesn’t get them clean. Any ideas what else I can do?

Socks can be quite a problem (my son's socks are pretty challenging, too), and I do have some suggestions for you to try.

1. Be sure you are washing in hot water and using ¾ of a cup of Clorox^® bleach in each load.

2. Pre-soak the socks for 5 minutes in a solution of ¼ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach diluted in 1 gallon cool water. Then wash in hot water with detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach.

3. Pre-treat the socks using Clorox^® Ultimate Care Bleach: This product is a thickened bleach product with a lower hypochlorite active level so it is safe to apply directly to bleachable fabric (something you should NEVER do with undiluted bleach!) It works exceptionally well on socks. I like to work with it in a dish pan—I lay the socks out, apply a small amount to saturate the stains, and then I transfer the treated items right into the washer from the dish pan. Then wash immediately in hot water and detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach.

I like using the dish pan because I don’t accidentally leave any spilled product around, and I can just stack the socks on top of each other as I treat them. Be sure to rinse out the dish pan when you are finished. Hopefully this will do the trick!

It doesn’t matter whether a crayon melted in the pocket of a sweatshirt left in the hot car or accidentally went through a hot dryer—you have quite a problem to deal with. Crayons have a waxy component that doesn't break up in a detergent and water solution--that's why these stains are such a pain. Below are some tips for getting out wax stains which should hopefully help you:

1.  Scrape away as much of the wax as possible with a dull knife.

2.  Cut open a brown paper grocery (light weight) or lunch bag. Be sure the bag does NOT have any wax coating on it!

3.  Place the bag over the wax spot, and then gently press with a dry iron on its lowest setting.  You should see dark brown splotches appear on the bag as the wax is absorbed.

4.  Reposition a fresh part of the bag over the wax spot and gently press again with the iron. Repeat until no more wax absorbs onto the bag.

5.  Finally, pretreat any remaining stain before washing.  For white items, apply Clorox^® Bleach Pen Gel directly to the stain and rub in, and then wash immediately in the hottest water recommended on the care label with detergent + ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach. For colored items (or white items that contain spandex) apply Clorox2^® Stain Fighter and Color Booster directly to the stain. Wait 5 minutes, and then wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label with detergent and more Clorox2^®.  Air dry and check for success—repeat if necessary.

A few more thoughts on wax removal:  brown paper bags are nice to work with here because it is very easy to see the wax absorb onto the bag. It’s also important to work with the iron on its lowest heat setting so you don’t melt the wax too quickly and cause it to absorb into the fabric, or melt the fabric if it is synthetic. You can check your progress and possibly increase the temperature depending on how hot your iron is--they do vary.

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.

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.

How would I go about whitening washcloths that were grayed by liquid body wash soap?  I have washed these cloths several times in my (HE) washer using normal laundry detergent and have had no success in getting the washcloths back to white.

There are some factors that affect cleaning, and changing your laundering habits may yield better results.  Here are some suggestions;

• Detergent choice: Make sure you are using an HE detergent — better ones contain brighteners and enzymes in addition to surfactants and builders — that is specially formulated for your washer.  Review the ingredient list, since better detergents often list the purpose of the ingredients.  A good detergent will also help bleach perform better!


• Use the correct amount of detergent:  Underusing detergent will result in poor performance, especially if you wash heavily soiled items or extra-large loads.


• Choose a “hot” wash temperature: The higher the wash temperature, the better the cleaning.


• Don’t overload the washer: Clothes need to circulate/tumble freely through the wash water for optimum cleaning.  It’s better to divide up a large, heavily soiled load into two smaller loads.


• Use the correct amount of bleach: That’s ¾ cup for a regular load, and 1 ¼ cup for an extra-large or heavily soiled load.  If your clothes washer has a bleach dispenser that limits the amount of bleach you can add, experiment with smaller loads, and fill the dispenser to the “max fill” line.

All this will help your results over time so you don’t have a buildup of incomplete soil removal. For the washcloths you have now, pre-soaking them in a solution of ¼ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach per gallon of water will help whiten them. Fully submerge the washcloths for 5 minutes, and then drain the soaking solution. Follow up with a hot water wash using detergent and ¾ cup bleach (or fill the dispenser to the max fill line).

What is the best way to remove marshmallow from clothing?

S’mores are a summer campfire staple, but they sure can be a sticky mess! Fortunately marshmallows are mostly sugar, water, and gelatin, and dissolve rather easily in water. You can also presoak the item in a detergent and water solution prior to washing for an extra cleaning boost. Add a few tablespoons liquid detergent to a gallon of warm water and fully submerge the item for 5-10 minutes. Next, pour off the soaking solution and wash the item in the hottest water recommended on the care label. Air dry the item and check for success--it's always a good idea to keep a stained item you are working on out of a hot dryer until you know the stain is all the way out so you can repeat a treatment if necessary to get a stain all the way out.

How can I remove a sunscreen stain from red and navy cotton t-shirts that remained after washing?

During summer, this is a very common stain! I suspect the oily part of the sunblock formula is what remains on your shirts, and you should be able to get this out as long as the shirts have been kept out of the dryer. Try applying a little liquid dishwashing detergent directly to the stains, and gently rub it in. Wait 5 – 10 minutes (but don’t let it dry on the fabric!) and then wash the shirts in hot water and a good detergent. Air dry the shirts and check for success—this is important to not heat-set stubborn oily stains that would come out all the way with an additional treatment. Also, air drying will help preserve the color of your dark t-shirts.

Is there a way to remove lip balm from clothing that it melted onto in the wash?

Wax can be easily removed from many fabrics by heating it slightly so it will transfer from the fabric and absorb onto a brown paper bag. If the clothing has been through the dryer, the wax has likely worked its way into the fabric so it could be more difficult to remove, but you can still give the following a try.

1.  Scrape away as much of the wax as possible with a dull knife.  Look for wax both inside and outside the pocket, too.

2.  Cut open a brown paper grocery (light weight) or lunch bag.  Be sure the bag does NOT have any wax coating on it!

3.  Place the bag over the wax spot (and inside the pocket if there is wax inside it, too), and then gently press with a dry iron on its LOWEST heat setting.  You should see dark brown splotches appear on the bag as the wax is absorbed.

4.  Reposition a fresh part of the bag over the wax spot (and replace brown paper inserted into the pocket with fresh paper) and gently press again with the iron.  Repeat until no more wax absorbs onto the bag.

5.  Pretreat any remaining stain (this is likely since the balm also contains natural oils) by applying Clorox2^® Stain Fighter and Color Booster directly to the stain.  Wait 3-5 minutes, then wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label with detergent + Clorox2^®.  Air dry and check for success—repeat if necessary.

Brown paper bags are nice to work with to capture wax because it is very easy to see the wax absorb onto the bag. If the fabric is synthetic, it’s also important to work with the iron on its lowest heat setting so you don’t melt the fabric. Iron temperatures vary, so you may be able to slightly raise the heat setting if necessary to melt the wax—just do this carefully so as not to damage/melt the clothing. It’s always good to avoid trading one problem for another.

Did you know that today, June 30, 2012, we get an extra second in our day? Really! Today everyone gets an extra second to do anything they want. Check out the video below for some ideas on how to put the extra second to use. If after watching the video you find yourself inspired to do some laundry, feel free to browse the Dr. Laundry site where you can find the answers to some of your toughest laundry questions 24 hours (and one second!) a day.

Happy Leap Second Day!