How to Pre-Treat Bodily Stains Efficiently
Sometimes misfortunes happen that your shirts or jeans catch horrible stains. But, apart from these occasional misfortunes, our body produces sweat and other bodily fluids that may cause stains too. It may be annoying for you, but that’s the law of nature.
Whether your stain is from your favorite food or you have sweated a lot from a basketball game, there are ways you can do to remove your bodily stains efficiently. What is the secret to successfully removing these stains? Knowing how to pre-treat them.
Pretreating the stained clothes as soon as possible gives the best chance of removing the nasty stains. No one wants to have a visible stain on their clothes; remove it efficiently by acting on it as quickly as possible. The longer the stain sits on the fabric, the more it settles. Do not waste time. Pre-treat your clothes before going to the laundry pickup Gramercy near you.
There are various methods to pre-treat your laundry. Read further to know how to counter these stains like a pro.
Always Check the Care Label First
Checking the care label is the default step in treating stains on clothes. May it be pre-treating or during laundry, the care label is helpful in providing the proper care for your clothes’ fiber content.
Use the recommended laundry method on the care label. Generally, care labels suggest which water temperature to use, the amount of detergent to apply, and other specific instructions. Meanwhile, there are other clothes that require dry cleaning. In this case, point out the stain and explain the cause of the stain before the laundry pickup or when you drop it off at the laundry shop.
Soak Clothes in Warm or Cold Water?
The right water temperature to use for pre-treating stains can be confusing. Washing colors with cold water to avoid fading or bleeding, while warm or hot water for white clothes to blast out the stains from the fabric is the most common misconception among people.
This theory does not relate to spot treatment. Several people assume that the color of your clothes determines the water temperature to use. In pre-treating stains, the water temperature depends on the stain characteristics. Thus, the hot or cold water depends on what was spilled on the clothes.
If urine is what stains the clothes, you have to use cold water. Meanwhile, you have to use warm or hot water if it is sweat or vomit.
Type and Amount of Detergent
There are different types of detergent, but a liquid detergent is the best one to use for pre-treating stains. Using powder detergent may only cause more harm because of its properties. The powder may not dissolve easily and only leave residues in the fiber.
Apply the liquid detergent directly to the stain and gently rub it. Let the detergent sit for a while to let its cleaning properties work. You can also try the enzyme-based detergent to have a more stain-removing ability; it quickly breaks the proteins apart.
Moreover, only use the recommended amount of detergent. Do not apply more than asked, using more than recommended will only lead to possible damage to the fibers. It may leave residues making your clothes have a foul odor.
Vinegar and Baking Soda
Apart from commercial cleaners, do not forget the reliable ingredients: vinegar and baking soda. You can easily find these two in your kitchen. If you are having stain problems, you can grab them from your kitchen cabinet to immediately pre-treat the stain.
You can pour white vinegar over your stained clothes before washing them or you prepare a baking soda paste, both of these options will lift the stain out.
Commercial Pre-treatment
If the aforementioned tips are not effective enough, you can use the strength of a commercial stain remover. This is the last chance for stubborn stains. You can stash a bottle of these commercial stain removers in your laundry room. Some use them for pre-treatment, while other products can be used as repellants.
These are most likely the most typical. You probably already have a bottle in your laundry room. Typically, spray pretreatment should be sprayed no more than a few minutes before your wash cycle, and the stain should be carefully massaged. Avoid vigorous scrubbing as this could harm your cloth. Do not keep these moist pre-treaters on for an excessive amount of time. Mildew could begin to develop after a few days.
When using a pre-treater to remove difficult stains, you have to be aware of these things. To ensure the pretreated is safe for your garments, test it on a small patch of fabric first. Second, always adhere to the instructions on commercial pre-label treaters. If you still can’t do it on your own, hurry to a nearby laundry pickup service and let them do it.
