- Dr. Laundry

No—you don’t have to factor in any additional time for transportation to the store from the production facility, or how long a product might sit on a store shelf because we already have! The “5 months past the purchase date” general guideline assumes that a bottle of Clorox® Regular-Bleach could have taken up to a month from the day it was produced until it was eventually purchased at a local store and brought home by a consumer. This is a pretty conservative allowance—our distribution channels are very efficient and usually bleach doesn’t sit on store shelves that long.

Hope that helped!

Dr. Laundry

If label strength usually is good up to 5 months past purchase date is there also a factor to be considered for time the product has sat on a store shelf on in a distribution center?

Regards,

Larry

If the clothes washer is brand new, then there could be residual lubricants or other oils left over from the production of the washer that are transferring onto the clothes. However, it should be consistent across all loads, that is, you should see it on both light and dark loads. That the stains show up only on the dark loads looks like it is incomplete oily soil removal. These stains are hidden on darker items that are still damp following washing, so you won’t necessarily notice them when transferring laundry from the washer to the dryer; they only become visible after the item has dried. The source of the stains can be any number of things: make-up, salad dressing, lotion, even spaghetti sauce if it’s made with a lot of oil, to name a few. Pre-treating stains, especially on items being washed in high efficiency washers, is critical for getting good results. Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster can be used to pre-treat these stains: apply a little liquid directly to the stain and rub in, wait 3-5 minutes and then wash the item in the hottest water recommended on the garment care label using detergent and more Clorox2®. For more heavy oily stains, you may need to pre-treat with a small amount of liquid dishwashing detergent before washing with Clorox2®. Finally, air drying is important so you can evaluate items for incomplete stain removal before they are exposed to dryer heat, which can permanently set stains.

What you describe reflects the need for consumers using low-volume high efficiency washers to adapt their laundry habits. I have an HE washer and overall I love it, but the mechanical energy and thermal energy components of cleaning are definitely different versus a deep-fill traditional washer, and I rely more heavily on pre-treating and pre-soaking to continue getting good results. It’s worth it for the energy and water savings, though!

Hope that helps!

- Dr. Laundry