Toughest Stains

[frigilux]

OK, so you've all heard me sing rhapsodic about Tide Cold Water. I've finally come to terms with washing everything, even whites, in cold water. In my frontloader, it works better on stains than warm or hot water using Tide HE. I love Tide CW!

However, I find one stain is hardly touched by either Tide HE or Tide CW, and that is Worcestershire sauce. I bought 6 bottles of the Heinz brand when it was on a super sale. The poor cap/dispenser design causes some to run down the outside of the bottle, no matter how careful you are. Consequently, I wipe the bottle off with a dish cloth.

Even though I use bleach, the Worcestershire sauce stains are hardly lightened at all. Who knew?! I'd say it's one of the toughest non oil-based stain to tackle.

What's your experience with stains? Which ones do you find toughest?

 

[michaelman2]

Frigilux..Have you tried spraying the spots with a product called "Greased Lightning"..I have found for many stains this works very well.

 

[peterh770]

Georgia red clay. Nearly impossible to get out without resorting to nuclear power...

 

[frigilux]

Michaelman2---haven't heard of Greased Lightning (except for the song from the musical 'Grease'). I'll have to look for it. I think the stains can be removed with a long soak in a potent brine of Oxi Clean, but I was just surprised at how little either of the Tide products did with this stain. Thanks for the tip, though!

PeterH770---well, seeing as red Georgia clay is rare commodity up here in Minnesota, I'll have to take your word for it, LOL! Sounds like a tough stain, that's for sure.

 

[spiralactivator]

I used to live with an idiot roommate who decided to paint the bathroom. The result was blue water-based paint from one end of the house to the other--including the leg of my yellow bell bottoms. I still haven't found a way to get it out.

 

[veg-o-matic]

Those darn protein stains!

veg

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: Stain Removal:

Hey! Frigilux, I've got something that I would like to share with you, of a great Stain Removal, but I need an E-Mail Address to let you know about. I just tried to write to you on what was listed on your Profile, thinking that it really was your E-Mail Address, but now I know that it isn't.

Please E-Mail me at: [email protected] and I will resend you my info to you.

Peace and Happy Stain Removal, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[kenwashesmonday]

Rub the stain with a little Goop hand cleaner then wash it in warm with detergent.
Goop gets a lot of stains out, not just grease.

Ken D.

 

[launderess]

Tide Cold Water

Is vanishing fast from main supermarkets, but can be found in disount/off price stores. This leads me to believe the product did not sell well and stock is being off loaded by job lots.

Speaking of Tide, did any one else notice the price of Tide products went up several weeks ago. A box of Tide CW and similar sized products used to be $10.50, now is $11.49 in main supermarkets, haven't checked off price stores yet.

Launderess

 

[westyslantfront]

I washed a light gray tee shirt with a coffee stain in regular tide....and some of the stain was left behind....so i re-washed in one of my bags of mexican detergent.....foca is the name....got the stain right out....after being a life long dyed in the wool tide fan, I am switching to mexican detergents....

Ariel
Viva
Foca
Roma

Viva is my favorite....has the nicest scent but they can over suds so I put a little fabric softener in just before wash water drains out

 

[westyslantfront]

Mexican detergents still have phosphates......lousy for ecology...but they sure do clean!!!

 

[frigilux]

Launderess-- I've also noticed that Tide CW is vanishing from store shelves. I'm still finding it at Shopko and a WalMart in Worthington, MN. However, it's not on the shelves at WalMart in Mankato (a much larger town). I have 4 boxes of it and plan to raid Shopko for more. If UniRobert (and others) can use detergent from the 60's without causing explosions or clouds of noxious gases, I guess having a 2 or 3 year supply of Tide CW won't hurt anything...

 

[toggleswitch]

Clean is good. Clean thoughts even better..........

OK Ross, When I come to Tucson, AZ in March/April for your next wash-in, I have got to try that Mexican detergent.

In a top-loader. Two rinses.

Wokring on making the desert a water-park to quote another member.. LOL

 

[kenmore1978]

stains

Protein based stains (egg, blood, meat juice, milk, cream) should be washed in cold water

Paint can be removed with a product called Goof-Off.

 

[jamiel]

To echo that, remember what you're trying to get out...grease..use either a lighter oil or detergent. Protein--use enzymes and cooler water. carbohydrates--enzymes and warmer water. colors/dyes--cooler water and bleach. Bleach won't really touch the non-dye portions of most of these stains, and not every bleach is the same.

As I recall, chlorine bleach is not cool to use on red clay stains (chlorine reacts with the iron to stain more tenaciously--is this correct?)

JL

 

[kenmore1978]

stain removal

"grease..use either a lighter oil or detergent and hottest water safe for the fabric"

As I recall, chlorine bleach is not cool to use on red clay stains (chlorine reacts with the iron to stain more tenaciously--is this correct?)

Yes it is, in which case I'd soak it in color safe bleach