Stain, be gone!

There are few things in life I am OC about (ask my husband - I am light years away from being OC). However, there is one thing that seems to top my short OC-ness list - and that would be any kind of stain on my clothes. Nowadays, it has expanded to DH's and the two DD's clothes and sheets. The moment I see a small stain or anything that remotely resembles one - I am all over it with tissues (white only, of course) and water (cold, never hot/warm) - as a basic emergency instant relief.

This kind of OCness must have stemmed from the fact that growing up, my mom has made sure that our clothes were always spic and span. My mom is THE expert at removing stains. Our white uniforms remain white years and years after they were bought. I could never understand the comparison's on TV when they show Detergent X washed laundry are not white... because our white clothes remain white forever.

I use the mandarin orange variant.
www.humanheartnature.com

My no-fail stain remover formula of late has been: water + mild liquid soap + hydrogen peroxide. For a strong stain that's dried up already - I usually mix 2-3 part water to 1 part liquid soap, and 1 part hydrogen peroxide. For the mild soap, I've tried using Perwoll and Human Heart Nature's mandarin orange handwash. Both worked perfectly fine. If the stain is fresh - more water would work too.

The worst stain I've used this on is a red wine stain on DH's pina barong. His friend spilled red wine on one arm of his barong - and we thought the barong was goner. I made the mixture of water, soap and peroxide and dabbed this on the stain. I kept applying and re-applying the mixture (while blotting behind the fabric with white tissue paper) every 10 minutes for about half an hour. At each 10 minute interval, I could visibly see the stain getting lighter - until it eventually complete disappeared. Even I was surprised at how well it worked. I feel bad I did not take a before and after picture!

Here are my other stain removal tips:

For the barong, I used the pink variant.
www.henkel.com

1. Try to blot out the stain (both sides) with water and tissue paper or white cloth as soon as possible.

2. Make sure to always use cold water, because hot water will "seal" in stain.

3. Remove the stain BEFORE sending this into the wash. Once the piece of clothing has been washed, dried and ironed - it's received a lot of stain sealing heat.

4. Ink stains are best removed by spraying hairspray on it first before washing. Spray hairspray liberally, and keep repeating until the ink has visibly evaporated/bled - before washing.
5. For stains with oil in it - it helps to liberally sprinkle with talcum powder first, to absorb the oil.

6. Use the mildest soaps available - and be gentle!

What are your stain removal tips?