Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with stains

Out, damned spot!

fantine — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:55:12 -0800

How can I clean my besmirched kindle? Stain on white Kindle case. Do not want!

Ok, I just got a kindle and it's awesome. However, i've gotten it a little dirty and I prefer it clean.

I was trying to clear up a little mark with the spit-and-fabric technique when unfortunately, some reddish/pink dye from my skirt (cheaply made, alas) got onto the white border. I tried scrubbing with windex, a damp paper towel, and a washcloth with soap Toni avail. There remains a faint (but real) light pink stain on the upper left corner.

How can I clean this properly? I'm guessing a thin coat of white out maybe be folly, but would that work? Any and all guidance apppreciated.

How to protect a new sofa from stains?

WizKid — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:38:35 -0800

Just bought a new very light beige color sofa and would like to protect it from spills and stains. Any advice?
I've read good reviews about "scotchguard". Any tips on that?

Is my washer causing clear oil stains?

Tim McDonough — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:44:40 -0800

I know that if a Chapstick goes through the wash, it will stain my clothes, but could identical stains be indicative of a washing machine malfunction? The stains in question look just like baby-oil stains, not grease or motor-oil. The research I've done so far suggests that a washing machine seal break or leak would result in a dirtier type stain, more grease-like. We don't use any kind of fabric softener or dryer sheets, so I've ruled those out. Thanks in advance!

Out, Out, Damn Spot

EmpressCallipygos — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 10:25:25 -0800

How do you remove a stain....if you don't know what the stain is? I have a white rayon tunic shirt which long ago developed some mysterious brown stains on the front. It almost looks like I dribbled tea down the front. Except - I didn't. I just pulled it out of the closet one day and noticed all these drips of an unknown stain on them.

All I can think is: I used to live in an apartment where the "closet" was open space under a platform loft bed, leaving all my hanging clothes open to random weird floating gak in the air from inside or outside. So this stain could be ANYTHING.

I've tried stain spray, I've tried diluted bleach, I've tried Oxy-Clean; it's still rather stubborn. I even got desperate and tea-dyed the whole shirt to see if the rest of it would take on the same hue as the stain, but...that just made the stain a little darker too, so you can still see it. Researching all the "stain removal tips" web sites out there require you to know what the stain is first, but....I don't know.

Help?

Help me get our yellow pillowcase white again (without bleach).

gchucky — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:13:15 -0800

Laundry Filter: Help me get our yellow pillowcase white again (without bleach). We have a white pillowcase that has taken on a rather strong shade of yellow as of late. I put it through the wash but that didn't help, so I didn't dry it. I'm hoping to avoid using bleach on it 'cause I don't own any, and I've accidentally stained a few things over the years.

So what alternative solutions are there to get this pillowcase back to its original color - or do I have to use bleach?

How do I get dirt stains out?

otherwordlyglow — Fri, 15 May 2009 08:22:55 -0800

How do I remove dirt stains on pants? My daughter came home from daycare with the knees of her pants totally saturated with a mixture of sand and dirt. She's a crawler and I expect this to happen a lot but have no experience with dirt stains. (I don't do a lot of stuff that leads to dirt stains on me). For the most part it doesn't matter too much: the pants were cheap and I'm sure she'll grow out of them in another month but what's the best way to treat these kinds of stains? I'm sure there will be plenty more.

The complicating factor is that they've already been washed and dried and still have stains on the knees. Is there any hope of getting them totally clean? Generally, I know to pre-treat stains but I neglected to do that this time. So the question really is two-fold: What are best practices for dirt stains and then what do I do in this case where it's already been laundered but the stain remains? I'm in the U.S., so product recommendations will be most helpful if they're available here.

Bonus side question: Does anyone remember a solvent/stain removal product that used to be available maybe up to the 70s and 80s? It was alcohol based and came in a narrow, tall-ish glass jar with a felt tip that you dabbed on to stains? I can't find it anymore which leads me to believe it was toxic and so they've taken it off the market but it worked like a charm on a lot of things.

What's the best way to remove stains from a shirt that has been washed over and over?

gchucky — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:23:19 -0800

What's the best way to remove stains from a shirt that has been washed over and over? (And anyone from NYC ever find that their shirts come out worse after washing?) Hey all. Let me get this out of the way: I know there are a bunch of posts out there like this already, but I think this one is a little different.

So here's the problem: we have a bunch of shirts with armpit stains and other spots on them. And no matter what we do, we just can't get the stains out.

We've tried all the methods suggested in other posts. We've used Biz to pretreat the shirts half an hour before washing them. We've tried treating the shirts with Biz the night before, which also didn't work. Vinegar, Oxi-clean, you name it - we've tried it. And nothing works.

So I come to you guys for help. What's left? Do we just have to accept that the shirts will never be in their original state? Is there some miracle cure that we just don't know about?

I mention the NYC question because I'm starting to believe that the water here is making the shirts worse. Maybe it's my laundromat, though the place is pretty darn clean. But have any of you living here in the city found that your laundry stains come out looking worse after a wash?

Hard water stains

hardbop — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 13:27:57 -0800

How do you clean hard water rust stains from plastic and rubber? The fridge front door where you get water and ice has nasty brown stains on the rubber levers and plastic drip tray.

How to remove dye stains from hardwood?

Felicity Rilke — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:38:45 -0800

Ho do I remove confetti and streamer stains from hardwood floors? We held an election party last night complete with streamers and that metallic confetti which shoots out of poppers. Some of the streamers and confetti sat in pools of alcohol all night and today I am faced with candy-coloured marks all over my light-coloured hardwood. What's the best way to get rid of them (or, at the very least, fade them so they're less noticeable). I don't want to ruin the floors with my experimentation.

The dirty and the not-quite-so dirty (lanudry)

iamisaid — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:18:26 -0800

When doing the wash, I refuse to mix my laundry with towels that our puppy has peed on, for fear that my clothes will somehow end up smelling like pee afterward, even if only faintly. My roommate, on the other hand, thinks this is completely irrational and that you can mix anything in the laundry because the soap and hot water get it all clean anyway. So, neutral third party, I ask you: who is in the right? And if you agree with my roommate that it really doesn't matter, just where would you draw the line? What if it were poop instead of pee, would that make any difference?

By the way, when I had my own washer/dryer this wasn't even an issue to me, but I now have to use coin-operated machines, making me question (slightly) the wisdom of paying to do separate laundry loads.

Creeping myself out.

Jess the Mess — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:17:09 -0800

What are these reddish brown stains on the floor of my "vintage" apartment? I'm not sure if I really want to know the answer to this question but here goes: I live in an old (circa 1920's or older) apartment in Chicago with wood floors. Both this apartment and the one I lived in before (also quite old) had very dark reddish brown stains on the floor when I moved in. In this apartment, they're in the bedroom. The other one was in the bed/living area of the apartment, which was a studio. Both were groupings of several stains of varying sizes, the largest being about a foot in diameter.

The morbid part of me wants to think they're blood stains, but could they just be from a drippy plant or something? Also, why is this apparently so common, if it is blood? As far as I know there hadn't been any murders or anything in either apartment.

Something's burning....something's burning...(and I think it's my eggs!)

kaseijin — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 07:10:27 -0800

I have a nice All-Clad 8" skillet in which I made a tasty grilled cheese sandwich the other night. Now, the burned butter around the edges won't come off... I know that variants of this question have been asked many times. The problem is, I've read them all and tried all of the suggestions for cleaning my pan.

I've tried a slurry of baking soda, hot water, and elbow grease.

I've tried Dawn Power Dissolver.

I've tried EasyOff.

I've tried boiling water in it (though that's hard in a skillet, when the stains are on the upper edges).

I've had this pan for years, and made many a grilled cheese in it, but I have recently moved into a place with my first gas oven - which seems more inclined to run hot. All of the butter came out of the bottom of the pan (and the sandwich didn't burn)....but all around the edge now are splotchy brown stains, almost like a patina.

There's no texture to these areas and if you run your finger over them, they feel as smooth as the shinier sides of the pan...with the exception being that they are covered with splotches of caramel-brown and black.

What should I do?

Also, what could I do to prevent this in the future? I'm a good cook, and not in the habit of scorching things. The pan was only over a medium-low flame, and - as mentioned - the sandwich didn't burn at all, nor the butter on the bottom of the pan (which came clean just fine).

Has anyone had any success with removing sweat / antiperspirant combo stains?

GleepGlop — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 15:21:14 -0800

Has anyone had any success with removing sweat / antiperspirant combo stains? On my black undershirts the armpits are kind of caked on with white and on the white undershirts the armpits are stained yellowish. There seem to be 'recipies' out there to remove armpit stains but I was curious if anyone has found success. I use Mitchum clear gel antiperspirant if that makes any difference.

How can I remove stains from my wall?

mateuslee — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 08:09:45 -0800

How to remove stains on my wall? I just moved to a new place, unfortunately it is less then clean - and though I'm not anal-retentive, I don't like to see brown splash marks on the wall (coffee? I choclate pie fight?). I sprayed some bleach soap on them but it only works a little.
Short of painting the wall, what can I buy or make? I live in Holland, so brand names are not so helpful - better to be general about what sort of product I need.

Thanks!

Removing stains from floor.

zenpop — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:05:56 -0800

Any 'real' success stories with getting water/mildew stains out of an oak hardwood floor? While renting I've taken great care of my landlord's house. But was bummed to discover a big discoloration on the hardwood floor when I moved a large potted plant that I'd had sitting there through the year. (Yes, I had a water catch under it, but I think condensation gathered and did the dirty work).

I've Googled this and found various suggestions -- which are fine and good. This one sounding the most involved. But I'm wondering if anyone here has had real success in doing this. Or if anyone might have some other, less involved directions/suggestions. Or other stories to share.

I'm dreading the house 'inspection' when I move out end of July.

Help with my stained stainless steel!

wile e — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 09:27:23 -0800

Silverwarefilter: As much as I hate to waste a mefi question on this, but I feel I have to because it's driving me crazy. I have a set of stainless steel silverware and a set of cutlery also made of stainless steel (different brands/sets). We wash them in the dishwasher and they are constantly getting these orange like rust stains on them. How do I get rid of these? They can be rubbed off with some heavy scrubbing but I want the stains to stop recurring. Any ideas?

The Idiot Dog ate what?

onhazier — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:50:38 -0800

Dog + Pig Roast Charcoal Ashes = Dear God, how do I get this out? We had a great pig roast on Sunday. Yay! Monday evening, DH and I cleaned the grill, putting all the ashes and charcoal remains in a bucket. We moved one item from the backyard and returned to find the idiot dog with his face in the bucket. We got him away from it and removed it from his accessible area. No ashes were on his muzzle and he wasn't swallowing when we caught him so we thought we were lucky.

When we returned home from work yesterday, the idiot dog (his new official name, btw) had redecorated the carpet of one room. The mess came from the back end. This morning revealed a puke pile deposited overnight. How he didn't throw up the ashes earlier, I have no idea.

The idiot dog seems perfectly fine after his ash purgative. However, we have beige carpet with a hideous dark gray stain now. How do I get this out?

How to stop my blue jeans from blue-ing my white shoes?

freudenschade — Tue, 29 May 2007 10:03:08 -0800

I just bought a pair of sneakers that are made with white leather that has an unfinished feel to it (not glossy, but not suede either). My jeans are leaving blue marks all over them! How to remove the blue stuff, and how to prevent it in the future? Must I absolutely avoid wearing these shoes with jeans, or is there something I could treat them with, perhaps?

How to undo youthful idiocy in the form of an ugly smile?

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 21:41:48 -0800

Gross-ness-filter: My teeth are in pretty bad shape in terms of stains and fillings, what are my options? A childhood of despising and evading oral hygiene whenever possible coupled with braces and liberal consumption of caffeine, whether coffee or caffeinated soda, have led to a rather abysmal set of teeth. I've had numerous fillings, and a few teeth are starting to feel sensitive in a rather ominous way. Right now there are decalcification stains, on the parts of my teeth that weren't obscured by braces, as well as coffee stains. They're a rather ugly shade of yellow, as well.

Being slightly less obstinate and stupid now, I've been trying with moderate success for the past two years or so to brush more. I've never really developed the habit, so sometimes I genuinely forget at the end of a long day, or when I'm rushed in the morning, rather than just skip it and chew some sugarless gum like I once would have done. I'm trying, and it's improving, slowly but surely.

What I would like and need is to do something about the stains. Get them professionally laminated/whitened, maybe? And take care of cavities in the meantime. A sort of fresh-start, if you will, and an incentive to keep them fresh.

I'm on a very limited budget, being a student, and the monthly dental visits added to dentists (in the best of intentions, to be fair) scolding me about my dental hygiene have made me despise and avoid them at all costs.

I'm fully aware that it's disgusting. Shame is half my hindrance. But please, keep your judging to a minimum. I would like AskMe's input in terms of whitening options, a ballpark figure of how much it costs and how to approach talking to dentists about it before I actually brave a dental office.

Random: Parentals are thinking of pulling me to China (where I'm from) next time I visit, as it will supposedly be cheaper there. I will also need to get an artificial implant there, as I was born without one of my adult teeth. Thoughts?

Laundry stains = creatures?

gusset — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 17:49:28 -0800

Have you seen illustrated decals that embellish laundry stains and turn them into "creatures"? A few months ago I came across a female artist's portfolio website. The artist had only one item for sale: decals or iron-on transfers that embellish laundry stains. They came in four different designs - one was robots and another I think was aliens - with illustrated heads and appendages that you place around your unremovable stain to turn it into a creature (the stain becomes the belly). They were simple black line drawings and were really unique and funny.

The decals might have been priced in UK pounds, but I found the site from a U.S.-based blog. Now I can't find the artist's website, remember the artist's name or the original blog I found it through. Can you shed some light?

PersonalStainFilter: Help for Pyridium stains

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 19:14:19 -0800

Do you have any solutions for the stains Pyridium leaves? My mother takes a lot of Pyridium (a UTI medicine that turns your pee orange and leaves disgusting flourescent stains), and as a result, her clothing is constantly stained.

For other reasons, I'm going to start doing her laundry and I really don't do well with anyone else's personal stains.

Does anyone have any advice for how she can treat these stains before I do her laundry? (I'm going to do it once every two weeks). Would a bucket with a weak bleach solution help? How long can she leave her underwear to soak?

I also tried to find her black underwear in the style she likes (big women's briefs) so that might also be a possible solution to this issue, if you have any sources. All I can find is white and various floral patterns.

Thanks for your help with this sensitive (to me anyway) subject.

Are vermin eating my underwear?

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 13:41:28 -0800

Mysterious holes are appearing in my dirty underwear where there are, ahem, juices. This is probably not lunch-safe. I have noticed holes appearing in my dirty underwear exactly where my girl-juices dry (I'm a fairly juicy girl). These holes are very specific--if the stains dry on the inner layer around the crotch (women's underwear typically has two layers of cloth in the crotch region), the holes will only be in the inner layer where the protein stains used to be, not the outer layer.

What could be causing this? Am I so acidic that I'm eating holes in my underwear? Or (and this is seriously gross) are bugs/mice supplementing their protein intake? I consider the latter because we do have cockroach/bug/mice problems, and there appears to be direct correlation between the appearance of holes and whether the underwear is on the floor and how long it's been sitting there.

How to get ballpoint pen mark off leather jacket?

zembla3 — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 12:39:13 -0800

What is the best way to get a light ballpoint ink mark out of a leather jacket without discoloring or otherwise damaging the leather? It's a black pen mark on a brown jacket.

How do I get rid of armpit stains?

PowerCat — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 09:21:07 -0800

Why do I get weird stains on my t-shirts, under the armpits? Most of my t-shirts have stains on the armpits. Some are yellowish, some are darker. I've tried to wash my white t-shirts in warm water with half a cup of bleach at least twice, to no avail.
The deodorant I use is old spide original. The tube is red and the deodorant material itself is blueish. I thought of blaming coffee cause it makes me sweat, but my room mate says it might be marijuana since I smoke it regularily.

What are these stains and how do I get rid of them?

Why do my stainless steel pans look so bad out of the dishwasher?

AstroGuy — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 12:10:41 -0800

Why does my new stainless steel cookware come out of the diswasher covered with white splotchy stains that I have to hand wash? We just bought a set of Emerilware (made by All-Clad) cookware. I'm learning to adjust to cooking in steel without teflon, and for the most part I love it. However, if I brown anything in the pans, when I clean them in the diswasher, wherever there was any cooked on residue, there are very ugly whitish splotches. I tried pre-soaking the pan as well, and it still did the same thing. The manufacturer says these pans are dishwasher safe.

I can restore them to their original look by cleaning the interior with Barkeeper's Friend, but it's kind of a pain to have to hand wash them.

If I don't brown/burn anything in the pans they come out of the dishwasher just fine. Am I using too much heat? I've read that only moderate heat should be used on clad stainless cookware.

Fellow MeFi gourmets, what say you?