Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with wash

Who named Ghost Ditch? And when?

carsonb — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:14:41 -0800

This past weekend I drove from Los Angeles to Tucson via Interstate-10, and took to noticing the names of the various ditches and washes that are spanned by the highway out in the middle of the high lonesome desert. There are a lot of them. Ghost Ditch, Taro Ditch, Larry Ditch, Stubby Wash, Fornat Wash, Itta Wash, Edom, Mccoy, Rollie, Bula, Sutro, Calotus, Esso, Arco, Teed, Turala, maybe a hundred between the ditches and the washes. The names don't seem to refer to nearby municipalities (there aren't any) or other geographical features, and are clearly part of the National Bridge Inventory. How were these 'waterways' named? Who named them? Were they named before the freeway required infrastructure to pass over them, or during the construction process, or when the NBI was implemented, or after the fact altogether? I have submitted a question at UglyBridges.com, which looks like a public-facing handmade front for the NBI. There doesn't seem to be much interest in 'bridges' over washes and ditches in the middle of nowhere, big surprise, and I haven't heard anything back from them. The NBI has a library but their services are mainly reserved for governmental employees doing important things that aren't based in idle curiosity. I imagine I'll hear back from them sometime next year. FHA has a boatload of documents and policy to wade through, and I'm sort of picking through it haphazardly. So, here I am, asking you. Any idea how that sort of thing works?

Why are car washes in New York City open 24 hours?

RajahKing — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 07:59:22 -0800

Does anyone know why so many of the car washes in New York City (all boroughs) are open for 24 hours? Most businesses, obviously, are not open around the clock. Is this also true in other cities, that car washes are, like some diners and convenience stores, open 24/7?

Does anyone know why they are allowed to do so, and/or what purpose it serves? All I have been able to come up with is that taxis, car services, etc., use the washes after normal business hours... but at 3am?

Hand Washing Sports Jersey's

dbirchum — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 05:52:55 -0800

Looking for a better alternative to cleaning jerseys in a washing machine. Greetings,

I have many sports jerseys (mostly NFL, hockey and soccer), that I wear somewhat regularly. I wear the NFL and hockey ones "casually" (when watching games on the weekends, etc), however, I have 5 or 6 soccer jerseys that I wear while working out (running, at the gym, etc), as they offer moisture wicking abilities, etc.

I used to wash all of my jerseys in the washing machine (inside out, on delicate cycle, hang to dry, etc), but lately I have been noticing that some of the letters and crests of the non-stitched numbers or crests are starting to peel off. This has got me thinking that I probably should hand wash.

Any suggestions for the best way to hand wash a jersey? Tips, techniques, detergent, etc?

Thanks!

How do I clean cotton napkins?

lynnie-the-pooh — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 07:30:05 -0800

I have cotton napkins, some 100 percent, some 65 percent. And it says on the label to wash them in cold. I want to make sure that when my child puts the napkin to her mouth that the napkin is sanitary. But I'm wondering if washing them in cold takes all the microbes out. I'm not only talking about the food, but what about my wash machine which may have just washed our family underpants. Is this common practice? Or am I missing something? Am I supposed to be washing the napkins in a bucket instead? I wanted the convenience of washing in the washing machine, but if that is not sanitary I will do the bucket. Also, if I can do it in the machine, should I do it in warm to make sure microbes are gone? Or is cold best? Also, should I line dry or do it in the dryer. Thanks in advance for your help.

But they're 90% hole!

Diablevert — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:41:13 -0800

Kitchen Cleaning Gurus of MiFi: What's the best way to clean 1) oily gunk from between the handle and the netting of my all-metal spider, 2) a colander/strainer? Tips and tricks requested! Wrinkles: I have no dishwasher. Hand washing only.
Also, re: the spider, an SOS pad was of course my go to, but it doesn't seem to get inbetween where the supports attach to the basket. This pic looks a lot like mine, though my spider's basket is a net or mesh rather than simply rings.

Also, at first I thought the gunk was rust, but upon closer inspection it seems to be a build up of partially plasticised oil.

How much should I wash my wool thermals?

garlic — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 09:44:04 -0800

How can I minimize the number of wool thermals I need for everyday use in the cold, and for exercise out in the cold? So I know that wool or synthetics (never cotton) is what I want for any sort of exercise where I might get wet and want to stay warm and not get killed. But it's pricey to get some of this stuff, so I don't want to buy more than I need. Some of the labelling or packaging on the clothes I've been getting say things about odor resistant or not being stinky or something similar. What is this really trying to say -- is it talking about wool smelling like wool when it's wet, or is it talking about potentially wearing it multiple times between washes because sweat isn't going to smell in it?

Also in general, how many times do you wear thermals between washes if you have underclothes under them? When does it make sense to throw them in the not too dirty to rewear pile instead of the dirty laundry pile?

My home-made quilt needs cleaning.

whitneyarner — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 17:01:24 -0800

I've got a handmade all-cotton knot-style quilt that was made by my mother. Since she has passed away, this is of course a very precious item to me, and I don't want to do anything to damage it. It is, however, in desperate need of a wash. Is this something I can just throw in the machine? Is there anything I should be wary or warned of? This is something I'd love to ask my mom's advice on, but, ha ha! Added difficulty level: I live in New York and send my laundry out.

Roses.

sucre — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 21:20:13 -0800

Help me find a rose-scented body wash from my Parisian past! In the summer of 2006, I studied in France for six weeks. During that time, I purchased some items at a Sephora store and received a free sample of a rose-scented body wash. The packaging was pink (possibly bright pink) and it may have been produced by a French brand (but one of those brands that are also well-known in the US). The scent was quite rose-y but had some other elements as well; not straight rose.

Any ideas on what brand or product this could be? I want to recreate this Parisian bathtub memory; smelling of flowers and feeling the train rumble beneath the apartment building.

Car washing for idiots

almostmanda — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 08:27:40 -0800

How to get the best out of coin-op style carwashes? There's a coin-op car wash setup near my home (it actually takes cards, and there is a $3 minimum). I just bought a new car with a dark, metallic blue exterior. I have never had to learn to use one of these kinds of car wash stations before (I've always driven really junky cars). I can't seem to figure out how to do it correctly. Can you explain to me, like a child, how to operate one of these so that I don't drive off with water spots and streaks all over the place? Do I have to towel dry my car while I'm there? Should I be doing it at night so the water doesn't dry so quickly? Which of the settings on the dial do I actually need to use, and which can I skip? Should I just pony up for the automatic wash?

Soaping up with a bucket and hose isn't really practical at my home, but I'm welcome to suggestions about easy stuff I can do in my driveway to keep the exterior of my car looking nice.

They lost my car floor mat, should they replace it?

Shal — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:33:24 -0800

After having my car washed and vacuumed on the weekend, I noticed one of the floor mats is gone. Car wash says they don't have it. Should I just get over it or can I expect them to replace it, and if so, what exactly should I do next? I had my car washed and vacuumed on Saturday. Yesterday I noticed the drivers floor mat was missing. All the others are present, and it wasn't hidden under one of the other mats or in the trunk, so I assumed they took it out to vacuum and forgot to put it back. I called the car wash this morning. They looked (it has the car model written on it so is fairly distinctive), said they didn't have it, and said that they don't take the mats out of the car when they vacuum. I told them it was there before I had the car washed and now it's not and I have not touched it. They asked me to come down so they can look at the other mats, so I'm going there this afternoon.

Assuming they still can't find it, what can I expect to happen? They are OEM floor mats, eBay tells me a replacement set will cost $60 + shipping, and the mats can't be bought individually so I would have to get an entire set.

I feel bad asking strangers on the internet advice about a stupid piece of carpet, but I'd rather not have to spend $60+ to replace something that I didn't lose. I tend to avoid conflict and I hate hate hate confrontation like this, so: is it right to expect them to replace it and what exactly should I say in order to have that happen?

Potentially relevant info: This was part of a Groupon deal so I imagine any kind of 'refund' will be tricky.

Wash this outta my hair!

queens86 — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:01:44 -0800

Why have I developed a sudden greasy patch on my scalp? Sorry for the grossness, but about five or six months ago I first started to notice that when I blow dried my hair right after washing it, it was all fluffy/soft/clean/normal except for this patch at the back crown of my head. This patch extends around to the right hand side of my hair, about midway towards the end of my hairline. The other half of my hair is completely normal.

What could be causing this? It seemingly appeared of out nowhere, and I've never had the problem before. No matter how much I wash my hair, it won't go away (I usually wash my hair every three days or so, and always have, but I tried unsuccessfully when I found this to scrub it out by washing three times in a row).

I asked my dermatologist, and he told me to use T Gel, which I started doing several months ago. I usually don't notice it because my hair is curly and I air dry it, but I just blow dried my hair and realized that this greasy patch is back and seems to be worse.

It doesn't itch, and no one has noticed it, but when you touch it it just feels heavy, gross, and weighed down, like I have way too much product in it.

Any suggestions?

shower me with tips!

grumblebee — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:28:05 -0800

We have no water pressure and may be without it for some time, which makes showering difficult. What can we do about this? By which I mean (a) what can we do to get our water pressure back, and, in the meantime, (b) what are some tips and tricks to keeping clean without a working shower? Note: I'd prefer tips for keeping clean at home than "why not just buy a gym membership and shower there every day?"

Our entire NYC apartment building (and probably some of the other buildings on our block) has been without significant water pressure for a week. Gravity being the bitch that it is, the problem gets worse on upper floors, and we live on the top floor. Turning on the shower elicits an microscopic trickle of water.

In addition to having bodies to keep clean, my wife and I both have rather dense masses of hair (mine is curly) that take a while to clean even with fully-functioning showers.

There is no end in sight to the problem, which involves some kind of nasty city politics. There's road work going on nearby, which includes, for some reason, guys digging up a huge number of pipes and messing with them. This is, in some way, causing the problem. The construction project is massive and looks like it could go on for months.

The hundreds of tenants, the super, and the landlord are all complaining to the city, but so far nothing has been done. My (a) question is about whether anyone has tips regarding bugging the NYC (Brooklyn) powers-that-be about this sort of thing.

But knowing that any action on that front is not likely to occur today or tomorrow, I'm more concerned with question (b).

Okay, I realize this is a middle-class problem, and that countless people throughout the world and throughout history have kept clean without showers. But our privileged lives have thus far allowed us to live without water basons. Looks like that privilege is on hold for a while.

Any tips would be welcome. We have a perverse, American fear of the slightest trace of body oder and an ingrained, pathological, equally-American fear of not taking long showers every morning before commuting to the office.

Has anyone had experience with putting a lime wash with tint onto their plaster walls?

zagyzebra — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:09:15 -0800

I've just begun to research the possibility of using a lime wash that is either already tinted or adding a separate powdered tint as a possible eco-friendly method for coloring my walls but there is surprisingly little on the internet about it. Mostly, I'm looking for people's personal experiences with using lime and tint. If they liked it, how did they apply it, drawbacks and advantages, etc.

Shirt soaking

beerbajay — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 08:53:48 -0800

Bad idea? Soaking dress shirts in a bucket of water for a week at a time. I want to avoid yellowing/sweat-stains on my new cotton dress shirts. Getting the sweat off the shirts as fast as possible seems like the best way to do this. I don't wear deodorant, so it's only sweat that's getting on the shirts. I live in an apartment building and can only wash things every 10 days or so.

My question is: can I leave shirts in water for days at time without damaging them in some way? Is there perhaps a better process than this?

In which Magsie the Cat will continue to urinate in the laundry receptacle

item — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 09:38:02 -0800

Why does our kitten believe that dirty clothes hampers and toilets are one and the same? Our approximately four month old kitten, Magsie, will occasionally pee in our laundry hampers. Understandably, my girlfriend and I do not approve of this behavior. How do we get her to cease?

She was a rescue - we found her behind the house in one of our flowerpots when she was about a month old. She took to us really quickly, and now she's extremely well-adjusted: sweet, social, energetic, everything one could ask for in a kitten. She doesn't seem to be harboring any anxieties, but who knows? She has access to all parts of our house and is the recipient of much love and attention. Maybe she's spoiled - please don't judge us. She is an only cat.

This has been asked before, back in the AskMe's prehistoric days, but it didn't really seem to be resolved. This is the only thing she does that she shouldn't be doing. It happens once every few weeks. Will we have to keep our closet doors shut at all times or just have to learn to live with pee-soaked hampers? We'd rather get to the root of the problem.

I know pictures will be demanded, so here you go.

How should I wash? - a silk Tibetan shirt, lambswool cardigan, guernsey jumper, raw denim

Not Supplied — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 09:55:11 -0800

How should I wash or clean these garments? - a silk Tibetan shirt, a lambswool cardigan, a guernsey wool jumper, raw denim jeans I am reluctant to pay for dry cleaning every time, and don't trust them not to mess up clothes sometimes. The web has conflicting information on how and whether to clean things, so I'm hoping to get some good points of view on what to do about these things.

a silk Tibetan shirt - This is 100% silk shirt with but the weave is quite coarse and tough. I suppose it would be 'raw silk'. It's a golden colour, not been washed before.

a lambswool cardigan - This is soft lambswool, quite loosely woven. Not been washed.

a guernsey wool jumper - a genuine guernsey jumper, handloomed wool, tightly woven together. Company says dry clean only. Been dry cleaned once.

raw denim jeans - these are cheap raw denim jeans. Look good, but starting to show creases. Not been washed. Label says wash as little as possible. Would like to know how best to get them looking 'flat'. iron?

How should I safely wash and dry these things and are there any you really need to dry clean?

Something peed in my sneakers.

Cat Pie Hurts — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 11:55:34 -0800

Can my beloved sneakers be saved from the uriney menace? Is there some way I can thoroughly wash my pair of New Balance 817s which have been drenched with some kind of animal urine? I'm fairly sure it wasn't my cat (completely unlike him. He's never peed anywhere but the litterbox, except for times where he was pointed the wrong way. And I never leave my shoes anywhere near the litterbox). I think it happened while shoveling during a sleet storm several weeks ago. My feet were soaked by the time I was done, and I suspect some of the slush contained creature pee.

I've washed the surfaces, but there is still significant odor coming from inside (even with the pad removed). I imagine they will require a significant soak or even a throw in the washing machine, but I'n not sure if I will ruin them. These are my beloved sneakers because they are the only shoes I can walk long distances in because of my bunions and various other foot sensitivities, and my overstuffed, winterized body is desperate for some exercise. Replacing them is not an option at the moment.

Looking for scrub in all the wrong places ...

troywestfield — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 08:43:16 -0800

Can you help me find a shower body scrub like sandpaper? I stayed at a hotel (the Sanderson, in London) that had a really gritty shower gel. I loved this stuff. They've since stopped making the stuff, and the scrubs for daily use available in the body wash aisle near me are pretty tame. Can anyone recommend something more powerful, ideally something widely/Internetly available?

Is there any hard evidence that washing your car is better for the finish than not washing your car?

markcmyers — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:01:03 -0800

Is there any hard evidence that washing your car is better for the finish than not washing your car? Isn't washing hard on the finish? Wouldn't a coat of dust protect the surface from sun damage? I think you can see where I'm coming from here.

Has anyone had success in reducing the number of acne/face cleansing products they use?

Loto — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:13:17 -0800

Has anyone had success in reducing the number of acne/face cleansing products they use? I was curious if anyone had success in reducing the amount of product they use on their face daily while still keeping acne under control. According to the Merck Manual for Acne I am in the medium to low end for mild acne. Currently, in the PM I wash my face with Cetaphil, run a 2% salicylic acid pad over my face and then apply a 2% benzoyl peroxide gel. In the AM I wash with water and run a pad over my face again.

Recently, I have stopped using traditional shampoo every day and now wash with baking soda and vinegar twice a week. I enjoy the reduction in the amount of crap I have in the bathroom as well as the fact my hair looks and feels even better now. I'm hoping to something similar with my face stuff but I am worried that cutting back on my acne treatments will result in massive breakouts. Has anyone successfully done this?

How often should I wash my blue jeans?

sbutler — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 11:27:06 -0800

How often should I wash my blue jeans? We're talking your basic Levi 550 relaxed fit jeans. Nothing particularly stylish/expensive. I have an office job and rarely do anything outdoorsy.

My current schedule is to wear a pair for a week/week and a half before washing. Works for me, but maybe everyone would be horrified if they knew (shrug). Ideally I could go as long as socially acceptable :)

Note: yes, yes, special circumstances require a special wash. Stains, particularly dirty weekends, etc. I'm just talking about your average, no-mess week.

It's been 7 years and I need a shower.

cobain_angel — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:35:47 -0800

Please help me find this elusive bath set. About 7 years ago, I was given a nice bath set by a lady at a Goodwill. It contained lotion, bath gel, a pouf and a little plastic bag, all on a nice round caddy with the "bad hair day" logo on the little plastic bag plastered all over it. It smelled like strawberries and all of the items were pink, red or white. All of the items had that logo on it.

I'm looking for this bathset again, as it smelled wonderful and I got hit by the nostalgia bug. I'm looking everywhere I can, but no dice.

Anyone had this bathset/has better googlefu than me?

How to wash gym shoes.

dino terror — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:39:59 -0800

Can I wash my suede gym shoes? I ruined an old pair of the same model previously in the washing machine in a last effort to salvage them so this time around I am looking at hand washing. They don't just have 'shoe odor', they have absorbed sweat into every fiber and distinctly smell of sweat. Normally for shoe odor I leave them in the sun and use baking soda or shoe spray or what have you but this time I need water. Will this ruin these suede shoes and if not, how do I go about this?

Automating Sched. D wash sale accounting?

de void — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:22:12 -0800

Is there a way to automate wash sale accounting/schedule D preparation for a very active investor? For my 2009 tax return I need to prepare a Schedule D for my voluminous stock/ETF trading (I am on extension for filing).

I literally have thousands of trades, many repeatedly in the same security. There will be many, many "wash sales" that I will need to account for. This is the first time I have this much trading activity to report.

I have all my trades in a CSV (comma separated value) that easily imports into excel or a database.

Is there any "utility" out there that can take my trade information, perform the wash sale accounting and put it into a schedule D friendly format?

Wash my dogs lady parts!

slowtree — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 19:45:31 -0800

How to wash my lady dogs neither region I need to collect a sterile urine sample from my lady dog. The vet has instructed me to wash her lady areas before I collect it so as not to further contaminate it. What's the best way to do this. She's a fluffy collie Shepard mix.