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Dear Dot,
I saw your post about using shaving cream on tomato stains. Does it work for most stains? My grandson threw up on my shirt. I rinsed it out right away, but I was traveling and wasn’t able to wash it for a few days. When I washed it, the stain remained. I would like to find something that is Earth-friendly and non-toxic that I can take with me anywhere and use to effectively pre-treat stains. Do you have ideas?
– Julie
Dear Julie,
The Short Answer: Shaving cream is a nifty stain fighter, but it’s not your only option. Non-toxic and earth-friendly options include pantry staples like white vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice, as well as stain removal products like oxygen bleach and Amodex Ink and Stain Remover. Spot test and choose what works best for you and your clothes!
Dear Julie,
Let’s save your clothes from future sticky situations, whether it’s grandchild vomit, chocolate sauce, pomegranate juice, or spilled coffee. As we shared in the Climate Quick Tip you’re referring to, shaving cream is an affordable and Earth-friendly stain fighter — travel friendly too, since it’s probably already in your toiletry bag. It works not only on tomato stains, but also on coffee, mustard, and makeup stains. You might have benefited from shaving cream on your latest travel fiasco, because it can actually help remove vomit stains, too! However, when Better Homes and Gardens tested it, they found it to be less effective on some other stains, such as ink and nail polish. In addition, they found that while it did work somewhat on coffee and oil stains, it didn’t completely disappear them. Your best bet with shaving cream is getting it on the stain right away. (Sidenote: make sure you use the foam kind of shaving cream, which has the active ingredients that fight stains. Gel and cream shaving solutions do not.) And incidentally, shaving cream works really well on carpets!
If shaving cream isn’t right for the stain you’ve got, there are plenty of other Earth-friendly and non-toxic alternatives. I recall a conversation Dot’s intern Emily had with the Laundry Evangelist (his real name is Patric Richardson), who recommends white vinegar as a stain remover. But don’t add it to your wash, he said, as that dilutes the detergent. Rather, use it for pretreating. “I love vinegar for pretreating,” he told Emily, noting that he prefers it to lemon juice. “It's just so much cheaper, and it's so readily available, and so many people have it.”
To use vinegar to remove stains, he advises, “presoak whites in a mixture that is one part distilled white vinegar, six parts water. Let it soak, completely submerged, for a few hours, or even overnight.” Vinegar can work on colors, too, but do a spot test first, to make sure they don’t bleed. Spot treat by mixing equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Spray the stain and let it sit for 10-15 minutes before blotting and then rinsing and throwing it in the wash. When rinsing, you’ll want to use some laundry soap to remove the vinegar.
A few caveats for using vinegar, however: Avoid using it often on your exercise clothes or other clothing containing elastic, as the acid in vinegar will break down elasticity. And most definitely do NOT use vinegar with chlorine bleach, which will create a chemical reaction resulting in dangerous fumes.
Another non-toxic stain-fighting superhero is plain old baking soda. Baking soda is a powerhouse at eliminating odor, making it ideal for vomit stains (though Dot hopes that experience was a one-off, Julie).
To pretreat stains with baking soda, mix the soda with a bit of water to create a spreadable paste, then rub the paste into the stain. Let it sit for up to 30 minutes before laundering. For an oil stain, sprinkle dry baking soda onto the stain and let it sit to soak up the oil. Then brush off the baking soda and put the article in the wash.
The Laundry Evangelist recommended an even more readily available — and free! — resource for rescuing white clothes from unsightly stains: sunlight. “Add ½ cup of lemon juice to a load of whites in the washer (you can put it in the fabric softener dispenser) before you set them out in the sun. The lemon juice reacts with the sunlight to enhance bleaching power!” he said.
The Laundry Evangelist has also touted oxygen bleach as a stain remover, since it’s a safe and eco-friendly alternative to chlorine bleach. Oxygen bleach is made from sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide. It releases oxygen once it comes into contact with water, and the byproduct is soda ash, which is not harmful to the environment. Oxygen bleach works well on most fabrics (but can damage silk and wool). It is color-safe as well, removing stains without stripping dye.
If you’re looking for a compact and portable stain remover that you can keep in your pocket, Amodex Ink and Stain Remover might be perfect for you. The Laundry Evangelist has recommended this non-toxic product, which even works on Sharpie stains.
But remember Dot’s Laundry Law: spot test first!
Thanks for your question, Julie. Let’s hope that the memories and mementos you bring back from future travels don’t include stained clothes!
Spotlessly,
Dot
