| |
By Kirsten Hawkins
Do you remember the television commercials for the laundry detergent
that claimed to remove the embarrassing “ring around the
collar?” The husband and wife would be at some social
gathering, perhaps dining on Lobster Thermador at the Rotary Club or
some such thing, when one of the Gladys Kravitz-esque attendees would
notice a stain on Mr. Commercial’s shirt collar and point it
out loudly enough for everyone this side of Brooklyn to hear,
“He’s got ring around the collar!” The
singsong nasal chorus would repeat this as Mrs. Commercial turned
several shades of crimson and Mr. Commercial went on merrily munching
on his shellfish, oblivious to the goings-on. I, for one, always
wondered why Mrs. Commercial was so embarrassed when clearly the
problem would take care of itself if Mr. Commercial would just take the
time to wash his neck.
I got to thinking about that commercial recently as I was trying to
remove another stubborn stain, this one caused by my baby’s
ample and artful methods of regurgitation rather than my
husband’s poor upper vertebral hygiene. Babies’
garments are different
from
adults’ you see, and babies’ skin is far more
sensitive, so there is no miracle stain remover that is both safe for
baby and tough on the messes that they tend to make when they decide
that they want to take one more look at that last bit of formula. There
are, however, several ways to remove stubborn stains like these from
baby clothes and accessories using common household items that contain
no harmful chemicals.
For the traditional spit-up stain that parents of a young baby will see
plenty of, the best method that I have found uses club soda and baking
soda. What you’ll want to do is sprinkle a bit of baking soda
on the stained area and then pour on a bit of club soda. Remember the
papier mache volcanoes that the nerdier kids constructed for the eighth
grade science fair? This is the same effect. The club soda and baking
soda will bubble and foam a bit. Let that happen for a few seconds and
then take an old toothbrush and gently scrub the area. The dried on
bits of yuck should loosen and chip away in no time at all. Now wash
the garment as usual. Voila! The stain should be gone. This same
concoction will remove corrosion from the positive and negative posts
of an automobile battery, by the way, so if you have that problem one
day, tell your husband that you’ll take care of it for him
while he goes into the bathroom and washes his neck.About The Author:
Kirsten Hawkins is a baby and parenting expert specializing new mothers
and single parent issues. Visit http://www.babyhelp411.com/
for more information on how to raising healthy, happy children.
| |
