How do you get dirt stains out of clothing?

Answer 1

To begin with, I am not an expert on laundry and cleaning products. I only know what has been working for me, at least to a reasonable degree! My mother had always used Clorox to help get her white clothes white, and I always wore dull, yellowed white clothing. More like it, I never bought white clothes! When my two sons were taking karate lessons, I was forced to face the issue and find a solution! The uniforms were completely white, 100% cotton. The first time I washed them, using Clorox as my bleach, they turned that horrible, dull yellow color that I knew so well. The next day at my office, I happened to bring up the subject of laundry, and getting clothes white again. The person I was talking with, my supervisor, told me that she had always used Biz bleach to get clothes white and clean. She said that especially cotton clothing needs Biz, because Biz is a non-chlorine bleach. The chlorine in Clorox is the yellowing factor. If you have noticed, Clorox has put out a product that is free of chlorine. I have not tried it, since I know how much I like Biz. (I see no reason to change brands when the one I use is doing the job for me!) I always use Biz with my laundry soap. (When I wash an all-white load, I use the full recommended amount of Biz along with the full recommended amount of detergent. On mixed colors, I use a half-sized amount of Biz, per manufacturer's recommendation. Just read the side of the bottle or box.) The soap product I use is flexible. My mother always used Tide, and remained a faithful Tide user all her life! When I first married and set up my housekeeping, I also used Tide. In later years, at about the time of the environmental scare about phosphates, Tide was tagged as a bad product because it had killer phosphates in it. (That was the reason it cleaned so well!) I didn't want to contribute to environmental destruction, so I started using other detergents that were declared safe. When I tried blue Cheer, I liked the product, and began using it on a regular basis. In conjunction with Biz, Cheer is a great soap product. I hope this is the sort of information you were looking for. Where I live, the water is considered "hard". I am guessing that the hardness or softness of the water will have an impact on the soap and bleach products you want to use. Find the products that work for you, then stick with them as long as they keep you happy!