Laundry woes

October 19, 2005 11:54 PM

LaundryFilter: Help me get rid of a mystery green stain!

My new khakis, worn only once, came out of the washer with a mysterious green stain on the leg. I am pretty sure the stain wasn't on the pants when they went into the wash, but nothing else that was in the washer (all light-coloured stuff) came out stained. Unfortunately, my boyfriend put the pants in the dryer before he noticed, so the stain is good and baked in now. I've tried treating with generic stain remover and repeated washings in cold water, to no avail.

The pants are 97% cotton, 3% spandex and are a light beige colour. Help!?

posted by sanitycheck to home & garden (6 comments total)

The best luck I have had with stain removal from things that have been through the wash is to have the item drycleaned. But don't just take it to the cleaners without discussing the stain and that you would like the item drycleaned. Otherwise they will just pop something like these pants into a regular wash, setting the stain more than it is now. Helps to have a drycleaner whose reputation you know and trust.
posted by Dick Paris at 4:30 AM on October 20, 2005

Lestoil gets stains out of fabric that's been through the dryer. I never would have believed it until I tried it myself, after hearing my Mother-in-Law sing its praises. Every time I use it on set-in stains it gets them out. Just put enough on the green stain to soak it, and leave it sit for about 24 hours, and then wash as usual. You can find it with PineSol and that kind of thing in the cleaning aisle of the market.
posted by iconomy at 6:31 AM on October 20, 2005

If you can take a guess at what the stain came from, you could perhaps find a removal tip in this list of 150 Tips and Tricks for Cleaning, like maybe the crayon stain removal tips or marker stain removal tips. Just ignore the blantent advertising at the top.
posted by geeky at 7:27 AM on October 20, 2005

I used Lestoil, too, and it actually got car grease out of a cashmere sweater, leaving no residual stain or damage to the sweater itself.

Also, I've tried that product that they hawk all the time, "OxiClean." I sent a pair of my favorite jeans through the wash, and stupidly left a ball point pen in something else that was in the same load. It broke, leaked a big ink spot on the knee of the pants - which I failed to see while they were wet, and sent them on through the dryer. Talk about panic when I brought them out.

I made a paste of the OxiClean stuff, as suggested, let it sit for a while, then scrubbed with a toothbrush. Washed jeans in hottest water possible. Repeated one time, and the stain was gone. Needless to say, I was very happy.
posted by Liosliath at 9:10 AM on October 20, 2005

I swear by a laundry stain remover called Zout. It remove a lot of stains that have already been through the washer and dryer, including grease, ballpoint pen ink, and red wine. it's very good on blood if the stain is fairly fresh.

There's another good product called Gonzo. It looks and smells like water but it works very well.

Either of these, you'd want to test on a hidden area.
posted by wryly at 2:16 PM on October 20, 2005

I heard that hairspray and soap is a good stain remover anyone ever try that?
posted by any major dude at 5:13 PM on October 20, 2005