“Not pre-treating laundry immediately after, say, the vinaigrette hits your white T-shirt can make it much harder to remove the stain once it has set,” Corinna Williams, who co-founded the hip laundry mat Celsious, told Real Simple. "At that point, getting the stain out will require much harsher treatment, which will ultimately shorten your garment’s life cycle."
How to pre-treat stained clothes
Before doing laundry check for stains and ensure they are pretreated before washing.
When treating a stain make sure you blot the stain rather than rub it. According to www.bhg.com, “Blotting draws the stain away from the fabric; rubbing pushes the stain into the fabric and damages the fibre finish and the colour of the fabric.”
“Use a gentle rubbing motion under running water to help remove dried food, protein, or oil stains from denim-weight fabrics of cotton or cotton/polyester blends.”
Once treated, make sure the stained items are washed separately with cold water, especially if you aren’t sure what caused the stain. Hot water can cause the stain to set.
Lastly, make sure the stain has been removed before putting it in the dryer.
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