What Is Your Pre-Treater?

[dirtybuck]

I've been using Shout and this liquid by Oxi-Clean Laundry in the spray bottle. Damn, that stuff is horrible! I sprayed it on some very simple stains and even did an overnight soak, and the stains STILL didn't come out! I was NOT impressed (this has happened with Shout too).

I'm inclined to resume using liquid detergent (and out of all the liquids, which one is the best for pre-treating?) again. I've heard some of you give feedback on Tide Stain Release. Is it really worth the money, and will it get out set in dryer stains?

Thanks for your help. Have a good weekend.

 

[appnut]

I simply add Biz to my wash loads. Has been effective enough and simplified my life.

 

[joelippard]

I actually learned this from here...

I bought a bar of Fels-Naptha at my local Ace hardware, shaved it onto a piece of paper using a grater, made the paper into a funnel and poured the shavings in to a sprayer bottle that was filled with hot water, put the sprayer on, shook it up really good, and it's the best pre-treater I've ever used!

 

[maytagbear]

I use varying things in my war against stains.

I still like Spray N' Wash stick. On some loads, I use genuine Oxi. I use chlorine bleach, rarely, in the later part of the wash.

Wrinkles do not freak me out nearly as much as stains do. I've been known to rewash a garment at least three times before giving up on a stain. However, Sears Ultra Plus gets out many stains without pretreating. I am a big fan of soaking (but not longer than about 30 minutes,) and of the automatic prewash setting on my Dependable Care.

Proper water temperature makes a huge improvement as well. Of course, we know that, but these cold water only people.....well, they get the generally lousy results they deserve.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[cleanteamofny]

Drop all the other stuff folks and use something that works on all fabrics without color damages.

Ink pen stains washed and machine dried by accident.
What got it out? Clorox 2
Used motor oil on white polyester/nylon shirt.
What got it out? Clorox 2

I do love Lestoil, but man-oh-man, this liquid gold is AWESOME!
Poured directly on stains, roll garment into a ball to keep from drying out and wash within 30-60 minuets after application.
Stains are lifted like a bully kicking a punk in the butt!

 

[pushtorelease]

Gal Friday Laundry Miracle. It is! Smells like 1960's drycleaning fluid but get's any and every stain out.

 

[toggleswitch]

For 90% of stains, ordinary bar soap or liquid laundry detergent appplied direclty to the stain will do just fine.

If one must buy yet another product, ZOUT comes highly recommended by nurses whose unifoorms are soiled by all kinds of interesting biologicals and inorganics.

Lets us not forget that Spray-n-Wwash will remove the color from your washer's backsplash/control panel and other metal panels. USE CAREFULLY! [this post was last edited: 5/29/2010-23:03]

 

[mysteryclock]

I used to use blue Dawn for my pre-treater and it worked pretty well but oil-on-cotton (and concentrated tomato) stains would have to sit, treated, basically overnight to dissolve enough to be washed out without using excessive detergent.

I switched over to using Persil Color Gel as my pre-treater, ironically in my little emptied Dawn bottle, and it works great!! It obviously has loads of surfactants as well as a full compliment of enzymes while lacking any bleaching agents and it always gets everything out with just a 30-60 minute treatment time, max. I've used it on everything from pure whites to jet black items of all kinds of fabric and never had it fade or leave any trace spots. For comparison, I can't say that for the ONE time I used Oxiclean Maxforce, when it left giant faded spots on some sheets that I pretreated...ugh.

 

[yogitunes]

ALL FABRIC BLEACH....by any manufacturer, I was using Biz, Clorox 2, or even Purex......now I get the one from Dollar Tree...

I have kids clothes with anything from ketchup, mustard, and kool-aid.........soak in cold water first, for about an hour, and then drain, a re-wash in warm water, using detergent and all fabric bleach both times

on greasy stains, rub with any liquid detergent, roll up and put in a ziplock bag overnight, wash the next morning....

just watch for colorfast materials, and temperature safe for the garment

 

[bugsyjones]

I actually don't get very good results from Clorox 2.

As much as I dislike Tide products, I found their Tide Stain Release works much better. For me, at least. I rarely add it as an in-wash booster, because the Ariel I use does a good enough job by itself. I use it almost exclusively as a pre-treat.

It can get expensive though, so I usually wait to buy it till a good coupon comes along. Since Tide is so popular, I don't have to wait long.

When it comes to whites, I always use chlorine bleach with great results.

~Tim

 

[strongenough78]

MaytagBear......

You beat me to it lol! The Stain Stick works wonders, and the best part is, you can put it on at anytime and wait a week before washing. It won't fade or stain clothes. I also liked Spray N Wash Dual Power, that stuff was awesome, but that you only want to put on right before you launder, I found that out the hard way and it will slightly bleach out the area you apply it to if it's left on any longer than an hour. However, as I am typing this, I just found out that it's been discontinued. I wonder why, I thought it worked great.

 

[gmmcnair]

I usually use a bar of my homemade laundry soap as a pretreater. I add a little mineral spirits to help grease cutting.

If I'm out of that, I buy Fels Naptha, which is essentially the same thing (thank you Launderess). Both work well.

 

[whirlcool]

We use Shout in the pump bottle. Pre-treat, let the stain sit for 5 minutes and then into the washer it goes.

We have tried Shout in the spray can, doesn't work nearly as good.

Hydrogen Peroxide is also a good stain pre-treater if the stains are organic in nature.

 

[paulinroyton]

Persil

Hi Guys.

I use to buy Persil with the freshness of Comfort, sadly Unilver told me they do not make it any more.

Recently I visited JTF in Warrington, and found Persil with the freshness of comfort, I was well pleased.

Just love the smell of it.

Paul

 

[aquarius1984]

Pre Treating?

Not in my house.

It seems our detergents in the UK are far superior and more advanced that those available over the pond as I personally find no need to use pre treaters or even extra treatment to stains at all. Not even soaking in detergent.

Even though sales of Vanish, Ace, GloWhite yadda yadda are prominent I find none are needed generally to treat or launder any stain out.

I always think that if Vanish powder/liquid was really any good then the likes of Proctor and Gamble or Lever would use those ingredients to reformulate their products.

Sadly they are there to pander to consumers fears that unless you use one your wash is not clean enough.

Sadder is the fact that Mrs Jones thinks nothing of spending £4-5 on a tub that does 20 washes along with a 30 wash box of Ariel for £6 yet insists on using Cold/30/40 degree washes thinking that her electricity bill will reduce and her impact on the environment will lessen.

Fact is she still has dirty clothes especially towels/whites washed at low temperatures and a bigger hole in her purse with the environment suffering the most as it
A - has to make these products using energy
A.1 having built a factory and employing workers whom all use energy
B- Transport them using energy
B.1 sell them using energy. Supermarkets dont heat and light themselves, nor do the workers filling the shelves run on nothing.
C- remove them from the sewage works using yet more energy.

Id challenge anyone to a Whites test whom argues that 40 degrees and below is enough especially those whom use these fairy magic potions and id then laugh them out the door with shame when they see just how minging their stuff looks compared to mine washed at 95 degrees using less than reccommended amounts of powder alone.

I think the detergent companies also need to clarify that Liquids do not clean whites as they dont have the chemical make up to enable them to do so effectively.
More marketing rubbish with Green, Purple and Blue packaging bottles containing mostly the same formulas that are only suitable for coloured items.

 

[danmantn]

I use Fels-Naptha in a unique way...

I just open it up and leave it in the laundry closet as an air freshener...smells great! When the scent fades, I just use a little bit of it to wash something and the scent returns. Click link for soap recipe.

http://lostbuttonstudio.blogspot.com/2008/09/homemade-laundry-soap.html

 

[brisnat81]

I agree in part with Aquarius, I rarely need to use any pretreat or detergent booster. Sometimes I'll add oxygen bleach, but maybe once a month at that. A Half to One scoop of Drive cleans almost anything.

I dont find the need to wash at 95 and I dont have anything that'll Surive a 95deg Wash. I've tried garage towels or heavily soiled Tea towels at 95degC but even if the fabric is 100% cotton the thread or edging isnt and it shrinks disproportionatly and needs to be stretched back into shape.

I do whites at 50degC, 60C if they're really soiled and it all comes out gleaming.

When I used a TL with tap hot, I'd spray the collars and cuffs with a pretreater (Preen) and then fill the machine with hot and let them soak overnight in oxygen Bleach (Nappisan). In the morning, Drain and wash on hot again. With a 60degC fill, going into a belt drive whirlpool, I bet the water was no hotter than 50degC by the time it filled and then would've just gotten colder as it went.

The Aussie/Euro detergents coupled with a sustained high temp seems to be the key to not needing additives.

 

[lavamat_jon]

In-wash additives

To add to Rob's post, Vanish are going a step further now with their advertising - now regular detergent apparently doesn't just leave stains behind, it also leaves load of nasties in your laundry, where the solution is to use Vanish Extra Hygiene. All lovingly illustrated by a mother making her childrens beds, while the camera zooms in onto all the nasties wriggling around in your child's bedding.

But of course, if your bedding and towelling were to be washed in detergent alone at 60 degrees or higher, you wouldn't need stain remover *or* the extra hygiene powder. I will admit to having bought a box of this when it was on introductory offer at £1 or something stupid like that mainly for s**ts and giggles, and it still sits to this day on top of the tumble dryer gathering dust after just one use!

Jon

P.S. On a slightly more humorous note, if a woman dressed in Pink ever suddenly appeared in my utility room as I was doing the washing, I'd take the box of Vanish off her, but instead of adding it to my wash I will kindly show her where to shove it

 

[kenwashesmonday]

For grease based stains, just rub a little Goop hand cleaner on the stain before washing. It removes barbeque sauce too.

Ken D.