Woman Falls in Love with Hydrogen Peroxide

That woman is me, of course.

I found out today that it is a miracle laundry stain remover.  I have tried EVERYTHING to get out tomato stains over the past several years, all to no avail.  After literally working on pieces of clothing every day for a week or more, I'd finally give up and figure, "Oh well, it's lighter and they'll grow out of these clothes before too terribly long."  But it bugged me a lot.

Today I went to launder a dress of Faye's that was new as of yesterday and was dismayed and depressed to see that she had spilled her sloppy joe meat on the front of it.  :(  For some reason I picked up my hydrogen peroxide and sprayed it on the spot.  It started fading before my eyes.  I rubbed some Fels Naptha soap into it and threw it in the wash.  When it came out, it was very faint.  I was not satisfied and did it again.  The dress came out spotless.

Experience #2:  Avi came home with some mystery brown spots all over some white shorts.  I worked for over a week on them and finally resorted to bleach today.  (This was before the victory with Faye's dress.)  In what I find to be typical fashion for bleach, it didn't do a lot of good.  Maybe faded the spots a tad, but nothing significant.  After the results with Faye's dress, I decided to apply some h.p. to the spots.  Rubbed in the Fels Naptha and let it sit a little.  Rewashed.  Faded significantly.  I'm about to go do it again and see if the spots might totally disappear, but had to run here and share this miracle with the rest of the world first.

Hope this makes your laundry times a thrill!

update: tried this on old ink stains and with one application they had faded significantly.  haven't tried it again to see if it would all come out because i've been looking at these pieces for weeks-literally-trying to get it out.  but i bet with a few times through they would be free of stains!

Comments

Sandra said…
ummm I KNOW I'll be hitting the store for some HP!!! I have 3 shirts that I can think of that could probably use a bit of that HP and I just PRAY it comes out. All 3 of those shirts are NICKS!! It was all my fault as I ruined them.....but maybe there is a chance of him wearing them again???
smw said…
Sandra, I sure hope it works for you!!! I'm trying it on old ink stains on a couple of items right now-which I doubt will work-but if it does, that will be another wonder! i can get ink out if i catch it before it gets washed and spray it good with hairspray, then spot cleaner, but as soon as it gets washed, it seems hopeless.
leah said…
wow! good to know!
Jacki said…
sounds great! i just read recently that it works well on grout, too, if anyone is looking for something for that--it seems to be working in Brian's shower!
L, Ann and boys said…
I use it with baking soda...works well if brushed in with a toothbrush and then washed. I still use oxyclean to soak things in bulk when I'm feeling lazy and don't want to spot treat things though. ;) I've never heard of the soap you rubbed in after the HP.

And for ink...oddly enough, concentrated simple green works sometimes depending on the fabric and how set it is.

Loving the laundry chatting here. Makes me feel not so alone as I head down to switch over a load right now. :)
J and A said…
Stumbled on this blog through An's after I saw your title. I love HP and use it with washing soda (stronger alkali then normal baking soda) with a lot. Heard that's really all oxiclean is, though I'm not for sure on it. Never thought of using the Fels Naptha straight though; I've only ever used it in making laundry detergent, but stopped after I couldn't stand the fumes :)
smw said…
i enjoyed reading all these laundry thoughts.

the fels naptha soap is a bar of soap that was recommended to me about 13 years ago. it's in the laundry section. i have had the same bar all this time and rarely use it, but happened to pick it up to scrub the hydrogen peroxide in more. :)
Jamie Bahr said…
I am always excited for a new stain remover right from my cupboard. Just now I am working on stains and my fave tomato remover is the dampening the spot and putting out in the sun....didn't think it would work, but it zaps tomato stains like nobody's business!! My two enemies are chocolate and mustard...any ideas?!
smw said…
jamie-mustard is SO hard to get. nearly impossible. i almost just write it off as going to be there permanently if it happens to wind up on a piece of clothing.

as far as chocolate goes, i haven't had a ton of issues with that not coming out. i use resolve on any spots (in general) and then wash as usual, but probably would add trizyme-an enzyme cleaner from amway. that's my usual regimen for spots.

one of the clothing items that the hp helped was a pair of white shorts that had brown spots all over and even bleach wasn't helping. my daughter told me that the spots were chocolate milk after i asked her in exasperation what on earth she got on them. so maybe it will work on chocolate...? let me know!

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