With all the looks coming down the runway during Fashion Week, my inner designer is itching to share some creations! Tomorrow, Fashion Week will come to a close, but not before a very important show that Clorox is helping to sponsor. On February 16^th at 3pm ET you can tune in to Strut: The Fashionable Mom Show. There will be some great DIY looks heading down the runway from Clorox, and for those of you who want to stay on trend this season we pulled together a few tips to help create a look of your own.

Vintage Flashback:  DIY Reverse Tie-Dye

• Using thick thread or a rubber band, start to bind areas of a 100% cotton t-shirt into knots. You have to bind the shirt very tightly; otherwise the bleach solution will get under the bound parts and won’t provide the desired effect.
• To diversify the look, take bigger pieces and bind it in two or even three places; and then in other places just bind a tiny area. In other words, mix it up!
• Next, dip the shirt into a bleach soaking solution of: ¼ cup bleach per gallon of water.  If a smaller amount of bleach solution is needed, then you can use 1 tablespoon of bleach per quart of water.
• You may need to use something to fully submerge the shirt such as a spoon, plate, etc. Let it sit 5-15 minutes. If discoloration is slow, be prepared to repeat the treatment, but don’t use a stronger bleach solution.
• Once you achieve the desired effect, take the item out of the bleach solution and rinse thoroughly. Remove the threads and/or rubber bands and rinse thoroughly once more.
• Tumble or air dry the item.  To completely stop the bleach reaction wash the item one additional time using Clorox 2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster

Remember to always work in a well ventilated area and wear gloves if you are going to expose your skin to the bleach solution for a prolonged period.  Below are some additional best practices tips for successful DIY projects:

• Check care labels to confirm textiles/garments are 100% cotton.
• Before any DIY project, wash items by hand with a very small amount of laundry detergent in luke warm water and then rinse and air dry.
• Always use a bleach-and-water solution; never apply undiluted bleach to any textile since yellowing or holes might develop over time.
• Use the bleachability test to determine the item’s colorfastness to bleach before starting.  This way you’ll have an idea of how much work it will take to get the color change you desire – or if it will change at all!  To test for colorfastness
  • Add 2 teaspoons bleach to ¼ cup water
  • Apply a drop of this solution to a hidden part of the item
  • Wait 1 minute, blot dry and observe any color change
  • A large difference means the item will respond quickly to bleach, while a small difference may indicate several treatments may be necessary before getting a more dramatic color change

Don’t forget to follow the show on Twitter with the hashtag #strutmoms. I’ll be live-tweeting as the show goes on! For more information on Strut, check out the moms behind the show here: http://www.thefashionablemomshow.com/

Q:  My white t-shirt tag recommends the use of non-chlorine bleach only. I have Clorox® Regular-Bleach, do I need Clorox2® instead?

A:  That’s good you are looking at the care label in your shirt! It should also contain information on what the shirt is made of, but sometimes that information is split onto two tags. One can be attached to a side seam and the other at the back of the neck, so you may need to look thoroughly.  I say this because you will want to check the fiber content to see if the shirt contains a small amount of spandex.  If it does, then you should not use Clorox® Regular-Bleach and should instead use Clorox2®.  That’s because spandex (along with wool, silk, mohair, and leather) should not be washed with Clorox® Regular-Bleach; its bleach active is sodium hypochlorite, and will break down the fiber/fabric.  Cotton, polyester, and cotton/poly blends, on the other hand, can be safely washed with Clorox® Regular-Bleach.  Often a garment or textile manufacturer produces a single style in a variety of colors and puts the same tag on all of them regardless of their wash-ability.  The most amusing example to me is a white towel!

Q:  Does disinfecting with Clorox® Regular-Bleach “kill” scabies?

A:  Clorox® Regular-Bleach is an EPA registered disinfectant, and any bacteria, fungus, or virus that we can state efficacy for (aka the ability to kill it when the product is used as directed) must be listed as part of the EPA registration.  Unfortunately I could not find scabies on the EPA master label, and so I cannot tell you that using bleach will kill it!  I wish I could have been more helpful.

Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays, and when I looked at the calendar this morning I realized it really is right around the corner! However you spend it, your Valentine’s Day is bound to be full of love, smooches and boxes of chocolate. But we all know that smooches from your red lipstick and ooey gooey chocolate squares can leave a little more mess than you bargained for. Check out our infographics below for some fun facts about your smooches and chocolate treats to get you in the loved-up spirit.

And most importantly, don’t forget to visit us if you find yourself with some lover’s day stains to clean up on the 15^th! 

I love a box of chocolates from my hubby on Valentine’s Day, and just like most North Americans milk chocolate is my favorite! How much chocolate do you think you’ll eat this year?

Some women can pull of red lips, but I’m more of a rose girl. Either way, I think the stat above is a good reminder for all the husbands across America! How many of you will be getting a goodbye kiss every morning?

Q:  I just washed a new red and white striped coverlet I had custom made. I tried to prevent the red from bleeding on the white by putting two Shout® Color Catchers® in the cold wash. Well, I still had some bleeding on the white stripes! How can I get this off? And in the future, how should I wash this product? The coverlet is made out of 300ct cotton sheets that have been sewn together and I did not dry it once I saw what happened.

A:  What an unfortunate situation, but good for you for not tumble drying the coverlet.  You have a much better chance of restoring it since you didn’t heat-set the dye transfer.  

Start by figuring out if the red portion of the coverlet is safely bleachable (even if the original sheet was labeled “only non-chlorine bleach”).  You can check for colorfastness to bleach with this simple bleachability test: dilute 2 teaspoons Clorox® Regular-Bleach in ¼ cup water; apply a drop of this solution to a hidden or less visible part of the coverlet (or maybe you have fabric scraps to test); wait 1 minute then blot dry; no color change means the item can be safely bleached.  It’s hard to know if the red will pass—many colored bedding items do, but red is notorious for being a problem, and you won’t know until you try. 

Let’s say it passes—in that case, soak the coverlet in a solution of ¼ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach diluted in 1 gallon cool water for up to 5 minutes, then rinse thoroughly.  Air dry, and check for success.  Hopefully the fugitive color will be gone, but if the bleach soak leaves the dye transfer color unchanged, (or if you determined that the red fabric could not be bleached) then you may need to try RITÒ Color Remover, which can usually be found at drug and hardware stores.  Since you don’t want to strip the red color, you may want to try a weak dilution first to see if that does the trick.

You were also wondering about future care of the coverlet.  If you have any fabric left over from the construction of the coverlet you can determine the extent of the bleeding problem by soaking fabric scraps in a warm water + detergent solution.  If the fabric only bleeds one time when you do this, then it could be that excess dye is now off the fabric and you won’t see bleeding in the future. But if it’s not, and the red fabric takes a few more washes to get the excess dye off, you could do a series of warm water washes with detergent to try to get all the dye off the fabric, and then do one final restoration step.  You could also see if bleeding is minimized in cold water, and then only wash in cold water in the future.  If the nightmare persists, and you decide to make another one, try some of the bleach friendly sheets that are now available.

Has anyone else had this frustrating problem happen to them?

Q:  Are there any health/fire/safety risks associated with adding bleach to the rinse cycle (when already used in the wash cycle) to whiten dingy cleaning rags?

A:  Thanks for sending in your question — it’s a very interesting one!  There’s no fire risk with Clorox® Regular-Bleach.  From the product’s Material Safety Data Sheet, Fire and Explosion Data is as follows:

• Flash Point: None
• Special Firefighting Procedures: None
• Unusual Fire/Explosion Hazards: None. Not flammable or explosive. Product does not ignite when exposed to open flame.

Health risks associated with adding bleach to the final rinse cycle would be limited to potential skin sensitivity of people who use the rags in the future, and that would vary between individuals.  The biggest issue (and the best reason to not add bleach to the final rinse cycle) is residual bleach left behind in the washer that could carry over to the next wash load, meaning you could get bleach spots on items not safe for bleach! 

Adding an extra rinse cycle would eliminate the “bleach residue” problem, but I would recommend using a combined bleach pre-soak and bleach + detergent wash instead.  Start by rinsing the rags, and then soaking them for 5 minutes in a bleach solution of ¼ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach per gallon of warm water.  Drain the soaking solution and then wash the rags in hot water using a good powdered detergent + ¾ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach.

Q:  How do you get a pink color out of clothes that bled from a darker garment when it was accidently put in with lights?

A:  What you describe sounds like dye transfer and you should be able to restore any bleachable items with a bleach soaking solution. 

Start by figuring out if any of the partially white items are safely bleachable (even if they are labeled “only non-chlorine bleach”).  First, check the care labels and eliminate any items that include wool, silk, mohair, spandex, and leather – these should never be bleached.  For the colored parts of the remaining items, check for colorfastness to bleach with this simple bleachability test: dilute 2 teaspoons Clorox® Regular-Bleach in ¼ cup water; apply a drop of this solution to a hidden part of the each item (like a hem, cuff, collar, or inside seam); wait 1 minute then blot dry; no color change means the item can be safely bleached. 

For the white items, and any partially colored items that passed the bleachability test, try soaking them in a solution of ¼ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach diluted in 1 gallon cool water for up to 5 minutes, then rinse them thoroughly.  Air dry the items, and check for success (it’s important to keep the items out of the dryer so the heat doesn’t set any remaining dye). 

Hopefully the fugitive pink color will be gone, but if it is lighter, then repeat the bleach soak again.  However, if the bleach soak leaves the pink color unchanged, then you may need to try RITÒ Color Remover, which can usually be found at drug and hardware stores.

Q:  How do I get mildew off sheets and towels?

A:  The best question to first ask yourself is:  are these items bleachable?  If you are not sure, you can do a quick bleachability test to check: add 2 teaspoons Clorox® Regular-Bleach to ¼ cup water; apply a drop to a hidden part of the items; wait 1 minute then blot with a towel; no color change means the items are safe to bleach.  If that is the case, the following approaches should work:

• At a minimum, I would wash them immediately in hot water using detergent + 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach.
• If the mildew is very bad, consider doing a Clorox® Regular-Bleach soak (1/4 cup liquid bleach per gallon of cool water; soak 5-10 minutes), then wash in hot water with detergent + ¾ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach.
• If the mold/mildew is heavy, you may need to repeat treatment for complete stain removal.

For non-bleachable colors (or non-bleachable fabrics like wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex for that matter) it’s difficult to remove mold and mildew completely since the best mold and mildew removers are products with sodium hypochlorite like Clorox® Regular-Bleach.  Even so, you can try the following:

• Carefully brush off any obvious spores and then wash in the warmest water recommended on the care label with detergent and an oxygen bleach like our Clorox2® Stain Fighter & Color Booster.
• Try a 1 hour presoak with Clorox2® Stain Fighter& Color Booster following label instructions.
• Air dry the items in the sun.

I realize testing for colorfastness on towels is difficult because there isn’t a truly “hidden” area; applying a very small drop of the bleachability test solution on one side that will not be visible when the towel hangs on a rack is about the best you can do.  It may also be worth it to let the towels fade a little with a bleach treatment if it means getting the mildew off. 

Does anyone else have mildew on their towels or sheets?  This can easily happen if they are stored in a damp and dark location.

We all know I enjoy sharing my knowledge about spills, stains, and cleaning with you all, to help keep your laundry looking its best. Recently, I noticed that many people are sharing more about themselves on Twitter using #30ThingsAboutMe, and thought this would be a great opportunity to share more with my favorite readers.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to give my readers a better idea of who I am, beyond my role as a laundry expert –and to learn a little more about each of you behind the computer! Take a look at my list of 30 “fun facts” that may surprise you (yes, meeting your husband on a train can happen in real life, not just romantic comedies) and some that may not (I often volunteer to do my friends’ laundry for them).

I had a lot of fun making my list – it brings back great memories and reminds me that there’s always something interesting to learn about everyone. Without further ado, here it goes…

30 Things About Mary Gagliardi a.k.a. Dr. Laundry:

1. I have hiked to the top of Half Dome – twice.  Ascending the cables to the summit is heart stopping, and the view is absolutely amazing.
2. Curled up by the fire with a good book is my favorite way to spend a rainy day.
3. There are lots of great books out there, and no matter how many new ones I read, one remains my favorite year after year: Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird.
4. I met my husband while traveling on an Amtrak train from Boston to NYC.  He was on his way to Connecticut—just enough time for us to sit next to each other and begin a conversation that we are still having.  We’ve been married for almost 20 years now!
5. I’m a native to the San Francisco Bay Area.
6. My first job was at the Sonoma County Fair selling pan-fried chicken.  The fair still happens every summer and is worth checking out.  Horse racing, exhibit halls (I still have my blue ribbon for a blouse I sewed), 4H livestock auctions, a midway carnival—they’ve got it all (Except for the pan fried chicken booth. I haven’t seen that in years).
7. I learned how to drive in a 1972 Cadillac Coupe DeVille (blue with a white top) and so yes, I can parallel park any car anywhere.
8. I love to go fishing.  I caught my first fish, a rainbow trout, in the South Fork of the Eel River using a gold 501 Super-Duper lure when I was 6 years old.  And there’s nothing better than freshly caught fish rolled in Bisquik and fried in bacon fryings—what an indulgence.
9. I can drive a boat.  A small 8 horsepower boat for fishing on Lake George in the Eastern Sierra, and I promise not to get too close to any of the people floating around in tubes (and no apologies for catching more fish than they do!).

10.  We are a one car family that uses our bicycles to get to as many places as we can that we would otherwise travel to by car, including car-free vacations by train.  Good for the environment and great exercise!

11.  In college I was president of my sorority, which was a new chapter colonized by Alpha Chi Omega on the UC Davis campus.  Not only does this mean that I can (still) run down a flight of stairs while singing, smiling, and clapping, all without falling–my mother (also an Alpha Chi Omega) is my sister, too!

12.  I love roller coasters.  The Big Dipper at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is the gold standard—a wooden roller coaster that’s over 100 years old, and if you get lucky and get to ride in the first car, it’s such a thrill.

13.  My kids attend public school, which means I am a very busy PTA volunteer.  My newest assignment is to help implement taking all of next year’s 6^th graders to Yosemite for 3 days of science fieldwork with Naturebridge.

14.  My favorite textile fiber is…wool (I’ve forgiven it for not being bleachable).  What’s not to like about a fiber that’s exothermic (gives off heat) when it absorbs water?  That’s why your wool hiking socks seem warmer when they first get wet—they actually are!

15.  One textile fiber I wish everyone knew is bleachable is…polyester.  Why so many people think this hydrophobic (water hating) fiber that typically has its colorant locked into the liquid polymer before the fiber is even extruded would be damaged by a bleach and water solution just makes me shake my head.

16.  Strapping a pack weighing 35 pounds onto my back and hiking for several miles into the wilderness is my idea of a great time.  I’m really just rediscovering backpacking now that my kids are old enough to go, too.  And what a great excuse to use an overnight pre-soak with Clorox2® to get all their hiking clothes clean again when we get home!

17.  I’ve backpacked around France, Italy, and Switzerland (getting between countries by train, of course)—while 5 months pregnant.  Maybe that explains why my daughter likes to backpack, too.

18.  I’m an obsessive sorter.  Not only do I sort lights, darks, and whites, I also sort out items for separate red loads.  That the soccer uniforms for our league are red helps make it easy to add other items to make a full load, which also means fewer opportunities for dye transfer!

19.  Skiing is my favorite winter sport, and nothing is more spectacular than the view of Lake Tahoe from the chair lift with glistening fresh powder below.  Of course I like cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, too—any excuse to get out in the snow!

20.  When my family goes to Tahoe, we always try to stay at the Sierra Club’s Clair Tappaan Lodge.  We like the massive fire place in the great hall, and since the meals are served family style, we always meet new people—and I often get to share laundry tips!

21.  I have a dog—a wonderful yellow lab-mix named Bella whom we adopted 4 years ago from the Humane Society.  She’s ten now, and slowing down a little, but she is such a good companion the way she follows me around the house, always trying to flop down near my feet.  And for her it’s nothing but the best—I only bleach her doggy blankets and bedding with Clorox® Regular-Bleach!

22.  My favorite food that I am learning to prepare at home is paella—after tasting some at a local street food festival, I wanted to give it a try.  It helps that in the Bay Area you don’t have to go too far to find just about any spice used in any type of ethnic food.  The best place to find the supplies for authentic paella is The Spanish Table in Berkeley.  And my favorite way to get out paella stains (think saffron and paprika) is by pre-treating with a little liquid Clorox2®.

23.  I remodeled my kitchen (OK, my husband helped, too).  To do this, I started with a kitchen design class and a remodeling class from the Berkeley Building Education Center, and using what I learned, actually pulled off a huge remodel.  From tear down to painting, I did (almost) everything, including obtaining permits; designing the layout, door and windows, cabinets, countertop layout, and electrical plan; installing the framing, duct work, hardwood floor, and tile backsplash; and painting the walls and cabinets.  We were lucky to have contractor friends help out along the way, and one of these days we’ll have to finish the few loose ends that most home improvement projects have…

24.  Every year I like to learn to do at least one new thing—last year it was how to build dry-laid rock retaining walls.  This year, maybe it will be how to finish one home improvement project before starting a new one!

25.  I like to wash my friends’ laundry—actually what I really like to do is experiment with it.  When I noticed how dirty one friend’s son’s baseball pants would get after just one game (Frankie likes to slide), I asked her if she’d let me see if I could keep them clean all season long.  She was more than happy to hand that one off, and this soccer mom learned just how hard it is to keep the knees on baseball pants white.  Thankfully I had a lot of dry Clorox2® on hand for overnight pre-soaking!

26.  I’m in a small group with 8 amazing women from my church, First Covenant.  We meet every other week to laugh together, encourage one another and build each other up, and be grateful for the connection we have.

27.  I still get a paper copy of the newspaper, every day.  Sure, the e-versions are convenient, but I don’t want to give up the coffee and paper routine I enjoy so much every morning—not to mention filling in the crossword puzzle with a pen!

28.  My favorite kitchen accessory that I can’t live without is a milk frother.  Yes, we are saving for college one homemade latte at a time!

29.  My family motto:  If you’re not getting dirty, you’re not having fun.

30.  My pet peeve:  people who say “well, it’s OK for you to let your kids get dirty because you can get their clothes clean” just because I work for Clorox.  Hey—I buy my cleaning products at the grocery store just like everybody else.  Washing whites with Clorox® Regular-Bleach in hot water isn’t a trade secret, and anyone can have socks as white as mine!

So, do we have any of these #30ThingsAboutMe in common? Let’s get to know each other better in 2012! Help me continue the conversation, and get to know you by sharing one of your own facts from your #30ThingsAboutMe list below. What’s your story?