Best Homemade Stain Remover

Ever been tempted to throw away a perfectly good article of clothing just because it has a stain?  There are times when clothes get grungy looking, or you find yellow armpit stains, or there is a ring-around-the-collar issue.  Maybe you dropped a dollop of tomato sauce on your favorite white shirt.  Or maybe you have a grease stain on that pretty turquoise blouse.  Rather than buying expensive stain removers, you might have everything you need right in your kitchen cabinets. 

I had seen this post at One Good Thing by Jillee for armpit stain remover.  It works great for whites and takes out more than yellowed armpit stains.  BUT, if you have colored clothing, hydrogen peroxide is not the ideal thing as peroxide can bleach colors.  Never fear!  There are alternative solutions.  

Here is the recipe for the original stain remover for white clothing:

• original blue Dawn dish soap
• hydrogen peroxide 
• baking soda

Mix the Dawn dish soap and baking soda to form a paste.  Using an old toothbrush or other type of brush, work the Dawn/baking soda mixture into the stain.  Let it sit for a bit.  Then saturate the area with hydrogen peroxide.  This will bubble like crazy.  Allow this to sit, again, for about 10-15 minutes.  Throw in the washing machine with other whites and launder on the hottest setting the fabric can tolerate.  Stains should be gone.  

I also keep a mixture of equal parts Dawn and peroxide in an opaque spray bottle to use as a pretreatment prior to washing.  An opaque bottle is important, as peroxide begins to break down or deteriorate if exposed to light.  That's why it comes in a dark brown bottle in the store.  

Now, for the color-fast stain remover!

Color-fast stain remover: 

• original blue Dawn dish soap
• white vinegar
• baking soda

Make a paste with the Dawn and baking soda.  Using a toothbrush or other bristled brush, work into the stain.  Allow to sit for about 10-15 minutes.  Once time is up, saturate stained area with white vinegar.  This will bubble considerably.  Once bubbling has stopped, launder clothing as directed.  

There you have it!  These are two inexpensive and easy ways to get stains out of clothing without resorting to expensive laundry pretreatments at the store! 

Scouring Powder Alternative

We all know there are things that just need a good scrubbing or scouring sometimes.  This is an alternative to the harsh scouring powders that contain bleach (Comet, Ajax, etc.).  It's simply blue Dawn dish soap and baking soda.  Honestly, there aren't too many things that I haven't used Dawn and baking soda to clean.  There will be more of those in later posts, but for now, we'll start with this.  

In order to make your own scouring alternative, using a damp sponge or soft cloth.  Squirt a little Dawn on the sponge or cloth, then sprinkle with baking soda and scrub the surface.  Scrub as you would with a scouring powder, then rinse thoroughly with water.

This works great for things like the bath tub, shower tiles, kitchen sink, counter tops, and I have even used it as cleaner to get bug splats off the front of my car without scratching the paint.  I have been told that it is also acceptable for cleaning flat-topped stoves, though I have not tried it myself, so use at your own risk. 

While it will not necessarily bleach stains, it will remove any substances that are stuck on and does a great job of dissolving oils and soap scum left behind in showers. I like to use it on my stovetop to get the tough, baked-on spills left after cooking.  

It leaves a fresh, clean scent.  It is nontoxic.  It's "green."  It won't hurt septic systems.  It's readily available whenever you need it, and it's economical.  It also cleans great, and is nowhere near as expensive as other scouring powders!

Getting the Most Out of At-Home Hair Color

Have you ever tried to use at-home hair color only to have it not work for you?  Do you have gray hair that is hard to color, especially with at-home colors?  Here are some tips that may help you get the most from at-home hair color products. This is a long post but will be well worth the read.

My eldest brother, Roger, was a hair stylist and cosmetologist, and prior to his death years ago, he gave me some helpful hints.  Here are some with regard to hair coloring.  

Make sure that the hair color you choose is suitable for what you want it to do.  Read the box.  If you want gray coverage, you must use a permanent hair color.  If you see semi-permanent or demi-permanent, the color will wash out in a certain number of washes.  Some hair colors now just simply say they will last through X number of washes.  That’s a semi-permanent color.  Take that into consideration when purchasing color.  If it says lasts through 28 washes and you wash your hair every day, the color will be washed out, literally, by the end of the month.  This is great if you just want to try a new color without committing fully.  However, if you want gray coverage, you will be disappointed.  For me, semi-permanent color will literally wash out of my hair as I’m washing off the color I just applied.  Permanent hair color will not wash out or come off; you will only see root growth.  The color may dim, but the effect will stay. 

If you use any hair-styling products, this can affect how your hair absorbs the hair color.  Even if it’s just mousse or hairspray.  Hair product residue can account for splotchiness/spots after you’ve colored.  This is especially true for straightening, smoothing, or heat-protecting serums.  Most contain some form of silicone.  Read the ingredients listed in hair products.  If you see anything that ends in “cone,” that’s a silicone based item such as silicone, dimethicone, or simethicone.  Polydimethylsiloxane (or PDMS) is another term you may see.  These all serve to coat the hair shaft, smooth, and seal it.  Seal it?! That’s right.  That goes against what you’re trying to accomplish by coloring your hair!  You will need to do something that strips all product residue off your hair before coloring so that nothing remains to block color absorption.

Finally, let’s talk about gray hair.  It’s that stuff that crops up on your head like a sneaky traitor bent on letting people know you’re just not as young as you once were (wink!).  Some of us were afflicted with a family trait that causes premature graying. I have prematurely gray hair, as did my father and brother.  In addition, that gray hair often seems to be tougher, coarser, wirier, and so resistant to color that you couldn’t get it to change colors if you sprayed it with spray paint!  But you can!

In order to absorb hair color, the hair shaft has tiny scales that must open so that the dye can be deposited on and in the hair shaft.  At the end of the process, a conditioner and smoother is applied to seal the color/dye in place.  (It’s more technical than that, but it’s a general idea of how it works.)  If you are going with a lighter color, you must also “lift” the color from your original hair, then deposit the new color, via dye, onto the hair shaft so that it absorbs.  That same process is needed in order to get gray hair to absorb color and not be just gray.  The chemical (peroxide) that causes this change is said to have a certain volume.  You may see 10 volume, 20 volume, 30 volume, or 40 volume.  This determines how much original hair color is removed or lifted when the chemical is applied.  For example, 10 volume takes it up 1 level, 20 volume 2 levels, 30 volume 3 levels, and so on. 

Most department store products contain 10-volume solution.  Some contain higher volume and usually say so on the box.  However, the wording may not be consistent.  It may say volume.  It may say level.  It may say it comes out in X number of washes. My favorite hair color, Loreal Feria, lists “level 3,” which would correspond to 30-volume developer solution.  That’s what I need for my stubborn grays.  If you have hair that is normal, most hair colors will work for you.  However, if you have hard-to-color hair or gray hair that is nearly impossible to color and you don’t want to have to go to a salon, here is a trick that may work for you to get the most lift so that the dye works as it should.

It’s likely in your kitchen cabinet, and it serves a dual purpose.  Not only does it strip any residual hair care products off your hair, it opens up the hair shaft that it’s ready to accept and absorb hair color.   

It’s baking soda.  Yes, you read that right.  Baking soda.

And slightly “dirty” hair. That’s hair that’s been washed in the morning, allowed to do its thing all day without hair products, and then colored at night…. Or washed at night and colored in the morning.  You get the idea. 

What works best for me is to wash my hair in the morning using baking soda with a diluted vinegar-water rinse then color it that night.   I put the baking soda on my scalp, near the roots which have grown out, and massage the hair between my fingertips.  The point is to really rough up the hair and rinse the baking soda out thoroughly.  After that I use a generous solution of half white vinegar and half water to apply to the hair.  Massage through, then rinse.  The white vinegar and water neutralizes any residual baking soda. 

This is going to leave the hair feeling strange and dry, almost sticky.  This is good.  It means the hair shaft is “open.”  I recommend allowing it to air dry or dry quickly with a blowdryer and then put your hair up out of the way because you do not want to apply styling products.

A few hours later, I dye my hair.  This allows some natural oils to seep out and protect the scalp.  I apply the color to the roots only, let it sit, and then massage the color through the hair.  Follow the directions on the box of color to complete the dye process.   That’s it! 

Be aware, though, that you might just want to color the roots.  Hair that has been dyed previously already has a hair shaft that is open and will readily absorb color.  This is why some people buy the same hair color and then occasionally get a surprise darker head of hair than usual if they apply the hair color to the entire head of hair from roots to tips. 

I’ve seen some recommendations to add baking soda to your shampoo and scrub.  That works okay, but oftentimes shampoos contain moisturizers and smoothers.  These are the very things you were trying to get rid of, and this defeats the purpose of using the baking soda.  You can use a slight bit of nonmoisturizing dish soap to make a paste and apply to the hair, but only do this when you’re ready to color, as dish soap is very harsh and strips the hair even more.

So there you have it!  Using these techniques is not a fail-safe method, but it can help you get the color results you want to achieve, especially for hard-to-color or gray hair.  It’s an economical way to achieve a style you want, get results that are consistent, and avoid an expensive trip to the salon.

Homemade Fabric Refresher Spray Like Febreze

I love deodorizing sprays like Febreze, particularly for those days when you walk in the house and can smell everything that just happened in the last 24 hours and some that were even further back than that.

What I don't like is the price!  Depending on where you shop and whether you have coupons, the price is between $3.00 and $5.00 for one bottle.  

There's a much less expensive alternative that works just as well, and you can make it from ingredients you probably have sitting around.  I love using these homemade versions to spray around the house, on the carpets, couches, bedding, and to just randomly squirt throughout a room.

Here are my two versions.  

Homemade Febreze

1 part liquid fabric softener (I like Gain) 

1 part isopropyl or rubbing alcohol  

2 parts water 

Homemade Febreze Recipe #2 

1 part liquid fabric softener  

1 part isopropyl or rubbing alcohol 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

2 parts water 

I use 1/2 cup Gain, 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol, and 1 cup water, but I have made a larger quantity using the same ratios.

Mix well and pour into spray bottle, then spritz wherever odors are evident.

NOTES:
The rubbing alcohol is needed to perform two functions.  The first is to act as an antibacterial.  The second is that it allows the water in the solution to evaporate faster so that splotches of water, resulting in  water circles, are not left on items sprayed.

For the second recipe, the baking soda is, again, optional.  In my experience, it can leave a white, powdery residue on items when dry, but it does help with deodorizing properties.

I hope this economical version is pleasing, and I'd love to know what has worked for you.