Laundry snafu
February 20, 2014 11:55 AM   Subscribe

How would you get a beeswax / oil / zinc oxide stain out of cotton?

I accidentally put a tube of lip balm through the washer and dryer with a load of laundry. So, now the clothes in that load look like they are covered with spattered bloodstains. The clothes are mostly cotton and the lip balm was either this one or something very similar. Any ideas for how to get these particular stains out? This is a new one for me.
posted by cairdeas to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (5 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Try rubbing some dish soap (like Dawn or similar) into the stain, really aggressively work the suds in there with a finger, then rinse it out.

If there are any particularly thick smears, you may also have some luck (before doing the dish soap thing) putting some paper grocery bag down over the stain and ironing it with a hot iron.
posted by phunniemee at 12:00 PM on February 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


Seconding Dawn, with the addition of heating up water to 160°F or so and pouring it through the Dawn-soaked stain before putting it in the wash.

(Using Dawn specifically was the trick my coworkers and I used to get grease stains out of our clothing, way back when during my days in food service.)
posted by telophase at 12:19 PM on February 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


Zote or other bar soap. Unless you are vegetarian.

Pink or white - I like to think pink is more effective but that seems unlikely.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 12:43 PM on February 20, 2014


If the above doesn't work, try Lestoil.

Also, don't forget to clean out your dryer. Better Homes and Gardens recommends wiping it down and then wiping with a cloth with alcohol on it, and running some old towels through to make sure the stains are all gone.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 1:09 PM on February 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


Put wax paper on the cloth...use an iron at. Low setting...keep using more paper till it's all gone.

yeah, this is basically magic in how effective it is.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:52 PM on February 20, 2014


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