Question
I was carrying a flower arrangement and got an orange stain on my shirt. I’ve used Clorox, Oxyclean, Shout & Dawn with no results. Please help
Answer
Did the arrangement have lilies in it? If that’s the case then the stain could be from the pollen-rich anther. Because pollen is sticky and oily, and it has color, the discoloration is a combination stain. In that case, you want to work on the oily/sticky part first. If you tried the bleach products before completing this step, that’s probably why you haven’t had much success.
For concentrated oily stains, usually I recommend pretreating with a little liquid dishwashing detergent (like Dawn, which I see you have already tried). If you treated the stain on wet fabric (that is you rinsed it first) then the detergent won’t be as effective. If that’s the case, start over and pretreat the stain directly with the Dawn when the fabric is dry. Apply a few drops and gently work them into the stain. Wait 5 minutes, then rinse with a little lukewarm water. The stain won’t be completely gone, but the oil should be, and now you can work on the colored component of the stain.
For white bleach-safe fabrics, pretreat with a bleach and water solution made with ¼ cup Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach added to ¾ cup water. Apply the bleach and water solution to the stain and then immediately machine wash the item using detergent and ⅓ cup Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach.Air dry and see how it turns out. If the stain is lighter, then you can always repeat the treatment. Hopefully the item hasn’t been through a hot dryer while you have been working on it because that will make it harder to get the stain all the way out.
I also wanted to mention that since you have already tried Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach I have assumed that your shirt is white 100% cotton; note that you should always avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex. If your shirt has any spandex in it, then don’t use regular bleach. Instead you can use Clorox 2® For Colors 3-in-1 Liquid for the second pretreatment step: apply a little directly to the stain and wait 10 minutes before washing in the hottest water recommended using detergent and more Clorox 2®. Air dry and check your progress–repeat the treatment if needed.
