How Long Does it Take for a Stain to Set?

So you are out to dinner with friends the day before a trip.  

You look great in your favorite creme crepe silk blouse.  

Then the unthinkable!

So the question is, how long can safely you wait to take it to your trusted cleaners?  Or . . . would you be better off to pack it and take it to an unknown cleaners at (gasp) the hotel where you are staying rather than let it set?

The answer to this question is the same as the answer to so many questions.  The unsatisfying "It Depends. . . "

The good news is it probably isn't as urgent as many people believe.

It takes anywhere from 4-6 months before sugar stain caramelize.  Think about biting into an apple, the apple turns brown due to the sugar oxidizing when exposed to oxygen.  The same happens when you spill clear soda, juice, white wine on your clothes.  It dries clear.  However, if not removed it will take several months for the stain to turn brown.  And once it does, it will be VERY hard to remove, if not impossible.  Oil stains (body oil, butter, grease) can also oxidize and they are even more difficult to remove that oxidized sugar stains.

So the question is, How Long Can You Safely Wait?

I always recommend that you clean a garment as quickly as possible.  However, stains don't set immediately.

Specific Tips:

• Try not to put water on the stain at the scene of a stain.  Do not put water on any stain if you don't plan on finishing the job.  Almost getting a stain out can be worse than not doing anything.  Blot don't rub, and avoid using water unless you are prepared to finish the job.  This is especially true with blood and wine.  As for ink - please don't ever put water on ink.  It will set it immediately.

• Leaving your clothes in the car.   The heat that can build up in a car can cook your clothes and set a stain in the matter of an hour.  Once that is done, your clothes may be done for.

• Taking a cotton shirt off after sweating and leaving it in your closet for a week.  I see this from guys again and again.  Men (sorry for the generalization guys, I do love you) finish a hard days work with out noticing they had been perspiring.  they leave their shirts in the back of the closet for over a week.  Perspiration creates a chemical reaction and weakens the fibers quickly.  Especially a natural fiber such as cotton or silk.  When the shirt is cleaned, the shirt tears. . . typically in the area where the shirt came in contact with the person, the underarm or the back. 

In closing, I believe you will be better off waiting (storing the clothes in a cool place with little sunlight), than taking any prized item to an unknown cleaners.  Dry Cleaners are not all made equally.  There are no requirements that make someone qualified to be a cleaner.  And because cleaners are so dependent on humans (it is more of an art than a science), a cleaners reputation and history will be key!

How to Remove a Blood Stain at Home

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First thing:  Is your stained garment silk, rayon, wool, or some other dryclean only fabric? Then I recommend taking it to a well trusted drycleaner!

If you have a polyester or cotton and the label says launder or wash, then you are wise to follow my advice!

1) Best chance to remove a blood stain is to treat it as quickly as possible before it has a chance to set.  

2) ALWAYS TRY COLD WATER FIRST , since harsher chemicals may damage more delicate fabrics and/or pull color.

3) Let the item soak a little - then scrub - with a fingernail scrub brush, your fingernail.

Here is the most important tip: If the blood doesn't come out all the way, DO NOT GIVE UP!  Keep scrubbing.  If you need to take a break, that's fine.   - Leave the item soaking.  Scrubbing for 10-15 minutes or longer of is not uncalled for for a large stain, or if the stain has been sitting a little while.  Do be careful not to scrub a whole in the garment.

4) If you must - you can add a little soap.  The soap acts as a lubricant making it easier to remove the soils.  Using too much soap DOES NOT increase the chances of a stain coming out!

5) If soap doesn't do the job completely, try pouring ammonia straight over the stain and scrub again.

6) EXTREME MEASURES: Hydrogen Peroxide is another method - soak the entire stain in straight Hydrogen Peroxide 10-15 minutes and rinse with water.  Watch for color loss with this one. If the stains are all over - I would dilute the Hydrogen Peroxide in water - and soak the entire garment.  Watch it carefully - as soon as the stains start to move rinse and then wash the item completely!

Let's Get Sweaty!

Here it is, August already. What is a drycleaner to talk about? How about sweat? During the hot sticky summer months (like August and September where I live), going outside means that I am most likely going to sweat. Did you know that sweat can damage your clothes!? And that it is among the most difficult stains to remove from fabrics?

Now, you may be wondering, SO WHAT? It's just sweat, WASH IT OUT!

Most people think perspiration stains are no big deal, and that they can be easily removed in the laundry. Well that may be true some of the time, However perspiration stains are among the most difficult stains to remove from fabrics.

CONSUMER TIP: If you sweat in your clothes, clean them as soon as possible.

Perspiration not only stains fabrics, but the chemicals contained in it can affect dyes resulting in color changes. Although perspiration is mostly water, it contains a vast variety of chemicals all affected by the individuals own body chemistry; diet, medications, ingested, etc. Perspiration also contains fats and cholesterol. Perspiration can permanently stain protein fibers like silk and wool. Although the staining most commonly occurs in the underarm areas, it may also be found around the waist, on the back panel of a garment or inside the neckline.

Tears on the backside of men's shirts are often due to fibers weakened by perspiration - and I am talking all types of shirts here, cotton, rayon, silk, etc. By waiting even just a week before cleaning, your clothes can be damaged by perspiration!

Home Stain Removal Techniques

People often call asking how to remove a stain. Drycleaners do not like answering that question. We want to be helpful. However, there are so many variables. What follows is a quick list of the most common home remedies - THESE ARE FOR MACHINE WASHABLE, COLORFAST GARMENTS ONLY!

*Trade names are used for illustrative purposes only. Other similar product may perform as well.

WISK*: for pre-treating ring around the collar and not-so-difficult stains. Be sure and let the garment sit for about 20 minutes before washing, and follow all manufacturer's instructions.

BIZ*: I love this product. It is for pre-soaking difficult stains. Be careful as it is easy to pull colors and bleed a garment. A couple of hours soak is generally enough. Warm water can make this a much more aggressive technique.

Ammonia: Use at 50% strength diluted with water to flush out fresh blood stains on a shirt. Be patient and blot thoroughly then wash. BLOOD: If you are going to get blood out, be sure you are prepared to work at it. Use COLD water and DO NOT GIVE UP. Once you have worked on the stain - if it is still there, and you wash and dry the garment - it will be a permanent stain

Bleach: I do not recommend bleach. If you must, be sure to rinse MUCH MORE THAN YOU THINK IS NECESSARY. Bleach will eat the stains and the fabric - resulting in holes and other damage.

Pet Stains: Blot with a vinegar/water mixture - one quart warm water to 1/2 cup white vinegar.

Fabreze*: Another product I love. It is excellent for removing odor. A light spray and some sunshine can do wonders to restore a musty, smoky or smelly item.

"Old Wives' Tales" (that do not work); CLUB SODA - considered by many as a "cure all" for practically every mishap, it usually just spreads out the stain and can make removal of oily stains like butter and gravy almost impossible. Then there is WHITE WINE to remove red wine (please don't try it!). HAIR SPRAY to remove ink and WATER to remove almost anything. But when a spill happens in a social situation and a napkin dipped in water or club soda is used and rubbed, it breaks fibers and causes color loss ("crocking").

These remedies often appear to be helping, when in fact the majority of the time, a very expensive piece of you clothing investment is being ruined.

How to Remove a Stain

First: Never put water on a dryclean only garment in an effort to remove a stain!

Water stains are best removed with water - anything put on a stain will have to be removed. I know, most people has heard that soda water bubbles will lift a stain - Don't believe it!

Ink: Ink is combination of chemicals. One will come out with water and the other will not! Once the chemicals have been separated - the ink becomes permanent. Hairspray is water based, so even if it get the ink out - you then need to remove the hairspray stain. Most small ink stains can be removed by a skilled drycleaner. However success also depends on the fastness of the color in the garment. Natural fibers - cotton and silk for example, do not hold dyes very firmly making these sort of stains difficult to remove on brightly colored garments.

Second: If you feel the need to apply an at home stain remover, REFRAIN! Again, most of these products are water based and will need to be flushed with water. This is not a good idea for dryclean only garments.

Third: You can blot the stain with a clean towel or napkin. Do not use paper napkins, or worse, colored paper napkins - the color may transfer to the garment and cause damage.

Fourth: Do not rub a stain. This will cause abrasion or de-luster the fabric - so it is no longer a stain, it is then fabric damage. You may also work the soil into the fibers making the stain more difficult to remove. Blot or pat the stain to remove the excess.

Fifth: At home dryclean kits do not remove soils. They freshen with deodorants and at best remove dust.

Sixth: Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking Soda are wonderful natural whiteners for your regular laundry. They are do not contain the toxic ingredients of many store bought bleaches and cleaners. Be sure to read the instructions and not over use them.

Seven: Sunshine is a wonderful disinfectant - leaving items outside in the sunshine for a short period (less than an hour) works as well today as it did in your grandmothers day. Drycleaning alone does not remove odors but sunshine will. But be warned, the sun is very damaging and can bleach garments and weaken fibers if they are left out too long!

In the end, I am advocating leaving stain removal to the professionals. They have access to more chemicals than you do at home and they have experience with all sorts of fibers and soils. Some stains that are impossible to remove at home - make-up stains and salad oil for example, are relatively easy for the drycleaner to remove because oil based stains come right out in the drycleaning process. One of the many lessons I have learned over the years is that nothing is simple. Every garment is unique - weave, material blend, dyes -- and every stain is unique, and is best left to the professional.