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| Best Stain Remover |
If you own any white shirt you know those awful disgusting yellow armpit stains that develop over time. Especially on T-shirts.
Well, we have some of those shirts in our house. Eventually, they get too disgusting and must be used for something else. I had just accepted that this was part of the life cycle of a white T-shirt. Until now….
I saw a post in Glamour magazine for “The Only Sport Remover You’ll Ever Need” so I decided give it a go. The original post calls for 1 part Dawn dish washing liquid and 2 parts hydrogen peroxide. I altered it slightly as this original recipe didn't seem to work as well as claimed. Based on another bloggers experience, I added baking soda to the mix.
1 part Dawn Dishwashing liquid
2 parts hydrogen peroxide
½ part baking soda
- Mix everything together. I wasn't too scientific on the quantities, I eyeballed it.
- Using a brush (an old toothbrush works great) brush the mixture on the stains.
- Then let it sit. I had intended on checking every half hour or so to figure out how long it took, but I got busy and forgot! Somewhere between 1 and 3 hours does the trick. Probably depends on the stain.
Note: You should mix this recipe fresh each time you use it. Hydrogen Peroxide looses some of it's power when exposed to light. Guess you could trying storing it in an opaque container...
OMG! It works. Why am I not surprised that baking soda boosted the cleaning power! This stuff is awesome.
These pictures do NOT do it justice. Please take my word for it!
I also tried some other random stains. It worked! Ring around the collar – gone! I have only tried white shirts so far, but based on both sources above it should work on colored fabrics as well.
For the first test, I specifically bought Dawn. I couldn't find just plain old Dawn rated in Good Guide so I don’t know what the health score is. But I was happy to see that some of the other Dawn products had a score of 8 out of a possible 10.
Still I would rather use something a little more natural. I had some Kirkland Environmentally Friendly Dish Soap that I am trying out. Honestly, I have no real clue as to how environmentally friendly this really is. The claims on the bottle seem nice, but may not mean anything. I’m still researching how “green” it is. But for now, I just wanted to see if you REALLY needed Dawn. The results: I don’t think so. It seemed to work just as well with my Kirkland dish soap.
So, armed with dish soap, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and a toothbrush you can rid some of those stubborn stains. I'd be really interested to see how this works on baby spit up!
Update 4/23/12: Many people have tried this and commented on how well it has worked. Here are a few examples:
Update 4/23/12: Many people have tried this and commented on how well it has worked. Here are a few examples:
- cooking oil from a cotton, lavender sweatshirt
- chocolate milk from a cream colored, cotton, blouse
- some pretty nasty ring around the collar from a yellow, cotton t-shirt.
- white carpet freshly stained with V8 strawberry/banana juice
What are your favorite stain removers?
This post is part of Frugal Ways Sustainable Days, Your Green Resource, Healthy 2Day Wednesday.
This post is part of Frugal Ways Sustainable Days, Your Green Resource, Healthy 2Day Wednesday.
LOVE the title of this post! You are so funny! I have to admit that some of the natural cleaners don't get stains out very well. Thanks for the recipe.
ReplyDeleteGood tip. I'll have to try it, but will try using Dr. Bronner's instead of the Dawn. Dr. Bronner's is wonderful, and it's organic and fair trade too.
ReplyDeletePeace. ;)
Wow ... what a great tip! I love natural laundry detergents but have to say that they don't always get the stains out. I'm trying this. I hope you'll post with an update on how other dish liquids work ... I have some tropical traditions that I might give a try.
ReplyDeleteBy the way ... don't know if you've been by yet but ... you are this week's featured blog at Reduce Footprints' Meet & Greet. WhooHoo! :-)
Yeah! Yes I just saw that I'm featured this morning. Thanks!!!!
DeleteLet me know if you try this stain remover and how it works. I need to update the post to say that you need to mix it up fresh - hydrogen peroxide tends to loose it's power when exposed to light.
I thought that title would grab some attention ;) I don't like that the more natural cleaners don't seem to do a great job always. I wonder what my grandma used. Let me know if you try this out and how it works for you.
ReplyDeleteMichelle - I didn't even hink to use my Dr. Bronner's! Let me know if you try it.
ReplyDeleteThe title is catchy! Instead of dawn, do you think any type of soap would work in its place? My daughter drinks a shake every morning for breakfast and she gets it all over her clothing. I need to get those stains out! :) :)
ReplyDeleteHi Good Girl - I would try whatever you have on hand at first, as far as detergent goes. I had luck with the other detergent I used. Let me know if you have any luck.
ReplyDeleteI am going to use this on my husband's shirts! I wonder though what would work on silk. I was a bit shocked after using a regular deodorant (not anti-perpirant) that I had yellow stains on my new silk blouse and really don't want to take it to the cleaners. Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteI have so many recipes on The Organic Blonde but this one escapes me!
Silk is a tough one. I have only tried this recipe on cotton. I'll keep my eye out for one that works for silk.
ReplyDeleteThis is great! Does it also get white deoderant stains out of dark shirts?
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried it on deodorant stains. I have heard that you can remove deodorant stains using pantyhose, you "scrub" it off. Never tried it though. Let me know if it works!
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteOver the weekend I gathered up a few previously washed and dried, yet still stained garments. This worked great! It did not work on a white, ribbed, synthetic shirt stained with chocolate milk. (At least, I think it was chocolate milk!) The stain remover took out cooking oil from a cotton, lavender sweatshirt, chocolate milk from a cream colored, cotton, blouse and some pretty nasty ring around the collar from a yellow, cotton t-shirt. Quite impressive!
Thank you sooo much for posting this update Gloria! Great to know that it works on other stains and won't harm colored fabric.
ReplyDeleteI have since used it on ring around the collar with great results too.
Fantastic tip and one I can try immediately with several items otherwise destined for the oil cloth bin! Thank you for sharing this on Seasonal Celebration. Enjoy a wonderful weekend! Rebecca @ Natural Mothers Network x
ReplyDeleteThanks. This is proving to be quite the stain buster as you can see from Gloria's comment. I have a stack of things to try too. Sorry I didn't try this last summer before I decided that most of my white T-shirts could only be used as rags.
DeleteDo you think the dish soap is necessary at all? I know peroxide and baking soda will whiten teeth - so maybe it's enough for clothes, too??
ReplyDeleteGood point Joyful. It would be interesting to find out. I did recently try substituting castille soap for the dawn and it didn't work as well.
DeleteSince the peroxide can't be exposed to light.. keep an old peroxide bottle! I normally have like 6 bottles floating around between bathrooms and first aid kits.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea Rachel! I have one with a spray top on it that I use for disinfecting.
DeleteWOW. Absolutely worked!! Amazing!!
ReplyDeleteI know! I used it again recently to get spaghetti sauce out of my daughter's white shirt! Perfect.
DeleteGreat on ranch dressing spill on carpet.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that addition! Good to know.
DeleteLove it!! Love it!! LOVE IT!!
ReplyDeleteI had a pair of jeans sitting in my closet from two years ago that had who knows what stains on them from working at a Christmas Tree Lot carrying trees. The stains I felt were impossible and too much to handle. I figured I'd some day turn the jeans into something special but never got around to it.
Found this through Pinterest and thought I'd give it but originally not for the pair of jeans. After making up the mixture I decided to give it a try on the jeans, which I had happened to come across in the closet again one day.
I'm a believer and plan to use it again on the jeans to get the remaining stains out.
YEAH!! So glad to hear it Krystina! This stuff is awesome!
DeleteUnfortunately this did not work on dog food vomit on my carpet. I think the stain has to be fresh and a certain type of stain.
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad Kimberly. Dog's do some damage! Don't give up. I have successfully used this stain remover on other old (non dog-related) stains.
DeleteYes, it will be good to know if someone tries this with soaps other than Dawn. I don't know what's in Dawn but that blue color makes me suspicious.
ReplyDeleteYes me too! Dawn definitely has something special in it that cuts grease and cleans really well. Depending on the stain, I think other dish soaps would be fine. I did try it with Kirkland (Costco) dish soap and it worked just as well. Castille soap did not work.
DeleteQuestion - do I need to rinse these before I throw them in my washing machine?
ReplyDeleteGood question Jodi. I might have the first few times because I wanted to make sure the stain was gone before I washed the item. But I know other times I just threw them into the washer.
DeleteThis is totally what I need. I'm going out to get Dawn today!
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing! I've tried it with other dish soap too and it still seems to work really well. I think Dawn is a great grease cutter, so if the stain is greasy - you might want the Dawn specifically. Let me know how it goes.
DeleteI added a little bit of bleach to the mixture. We'll see what happens. I had a few stubborn stains on there.
ReplyDeleteI'd caution about using bleach. It's really not good for you or the environment - although I totally understand there are times when it is necessary. Try without the bleach first. I was amazed at how well it worked! The hydrogen peroxide and baking soda combination make a oxygen bleach -safer but still effective.
DeleteSooooo, I was wondering..... Do you think this might work on carpet stains????
ReplyDeleteHi Shannon. I've never tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't. Just make sure to test a small spot. Hydrogen peroxide and baking soda create a bleach-like mixture that couldn't change the color.
DeleteI wouldn't mix bleach with H2O2 or baking soda.
ReplyDeleteAll I have to say is white slipcover down cushion couches ;o)
ReplyDeleteMiracle.
I use this with my homemade laundry detergent and wow I am so pleased!! It got out old pizza sauce stains that have been washed & dried a number of times with no results. Ink, pencil, icepop juice. The only thing it didn't get out was one pinpoint spot of permanent black marker.
Thank you for adding your experience. I have had great results with this as well. My only caution is with carpeting. I used it on my carpet on some stains that had been there for a long time, no idea what they were. It worked a little too well - I have slight bleach stains on the carpet now ;) Good thing the carpet is a light beige to begin with. Oops! Should have spot checked but anything would have been an improvement for this carpet. I also forgot about it and probably left it on way too long. Not sure why the results were different on carpeting. Could just have been because I couldn't thoroughly rinse it out. Anyway, be careful with carpeting.
DeleteI can't believe how well this worked on my baby clothes that had been stored for 4 years and had yellowed spit up stains on them! Most of them look brand new and a few (the really yellowed ones) you could hardly tell! Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteSo happy to hear that onebusymom!!!! I have been wondering how this works on baby spit up. We are past that stage, but boy do I wish I knew about this then. Could have saved up a bundle!!!!! Thank you so much for adding your experience.
DeleteI guess this wouldn't work on a sofa stain, I've had some grease stains I've wanted to get rid of forever.
ReplyDeleteTry it Robin! Others have had good luck on other items besides clothing. Just be careful and test a spot first. I tried it on my carpet and as you can read a few comments up, it bleached it slightly. But again, I may have left it on too long or not rinsed completely. It's not horrible though, since the carpet was light beige to begin with. And now, the some dirt has probably darkened up the bleach spots so it looks fine!
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