|
COPYRIGHT 2002 Australian Consumers' Association
IN A NUTSHELL
* On test: 34 pre-wash stain removers for cleaning three common household stains. The best by a long way were powder soakers, some of which you probably know better as nappy washes.
* Even these products were only reasonably good at removing a combination of soot and mineral oil (to simulate black grease), but were very good on red wine (a tannin-based stain) and blood (protein-based).
The key to effective stain removal is quick action. If you act fast with the right method, many stains will come out altogether--although it might depend on the fabric. But what if you can't do anything about the stain at the time or don't notice it till washday? Our test worked on that scenario: we tried to clean swatches of fabric that had well-fixed stains representing three general types of household staining (see Types of stain, page 32).
Our recommended products (see the What to buy list, page 32) removed two of these stains (blood and red wine) well, and did a reasonable job--though far from perfect--on the third (black grease).
Overall, the powder soakers worked best. They give visibly better results than the products not in the What to buy list (we use a sensitive instrument to measure stain removal; differences in scores of 4% are visible to the naked eye). However, they require several hours of soaking, which you can do in your laundry sink, in a bucket or in a top-loading washing machine (as long as the instructions don't say not to use a metal container). If your machine has a pre-wash or soak function it's even easier.
The only high-scoring product that isn't a powder soaker is NAPISAN In Wash, which you just add to your wash water or, for very stubborn stains, apply directly to the stain (this is how we used it) and then...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|
Bookmark this article
Print this article
Link to this article
Email this article
Digg It!
Add to del.icio.us
RSS
