Bloodstains on shirt collar.

Bleating Lamb

Hi all,
Have a nice 100% cotton French Connection shirt with a bloodstain on collar,have left it about a week which prob doesn't help!
Any suggestions on best way of getting the bloodstain out successfully ?

Many thanks.

SpaceTime

Any decent biological detergent will remove that without any fuss at all.

Persil, Ariel, store brands are all pretty effective.

It has to be bio though as the enzymes will break up blood stains.

Talula_d

I had my other half shirt with blood stains on it and it came out with cold water and a scoop of vanish oxi action gold soaked for a few hours and then through a normal wash, make sure to use cold water as hot water will only make the stain more stubborn to remove as it "cooks" it!
Also if it's not white take care on the time you soak the shirt for I think the box suggests only an hour for colour items!

convert

The same happened me before, and I used Vanish to pretreat the collar with it and some cold water, then left it soak for a little while, and then washed it as usual. It worked brilliantly

SpaceTime

I did a bit of consumer product marketing and to some extent you do get what you pay for in these things.

The likes of Ariel and Persil contain multiple enzymes (they're quite expensive as they're patented by Novozymes in Denmark.

Surf and Daz contain one enzyme.

Some of the store ones are pretty good though, particularly Aldi and Lidl.

The products with the fancy cocktail of enzymes will remove stains like blood and food stuff without any issue, the ones without, won't.

Vanish and other products like that basically use peroxide to remove stains, so you're slightly risking fading the dyes too, where as the enzyme cocktails just dissolve up the stains without harsh chemicals. Mostly they're very similar to what's in your own saliva. They're given a totally unfair reputation as some kind of 'scary' thing.

In most markets non-bios don't exist, it's a UK/Ireland marketing wheeze largely.

Also enzymes work best at body-temperature range - so 30 to 40C.
Too cold, they don't really activate and too hot and you just destroy them.

Also the powders (other than the colour versions) all contain bleach. It's similar to what's in Vanish - reacts with water and produces peroxide effectively.

Liquids don't and are much less likely to fade stuff.

---

It's the same with dishwasher tablets, you're largely paying for fancy enzymes on the top of the range stuff and they really do shift gunk off your dishes better without resorting to bleach.

lizzyman

SpaceTime wrote: »

I did a bit of consumer product marketing and to some extent you do get what you pay for in these things.

The likes of Ariel and Persil contain multiple enzymes (they're quite expensive as they're patented by Novozymes in Denmark.

Surf and Daz contain one enzyme.

Some of the store ones are pretty good though, particularly Aldi and Lidl.

The products with the fancy cocktail of enzymes will remove stains like blood and food stuff without any issue, the ones without, won't.

Vanish and other products like that basically use peroxide to remove stains, so you're slightly risking fading the dyes too, where as the enzyme cocktails just dissolve up the stains without harsh chemicals. Mostly they're very similar to what's in your own saliva. They're given a totally unfair reputation as some kind of 'scary' thing.

In most markets non-bios don't exist, it's a UK/Ireland marketing wheeze largely.

Also enzymes work best at body-temperature range - so 30 to 40C.
Too cold, they don't really activate and too hot and you just destroy them.

Also the powders (other than the colour versions) all contain bleach. It's similar to what's in Vanish - reacts with water and produces peroxide effectively.

Liquids don't and are much less likely to fade stuff.

---

It's the same with dishwasher tablets, you're largely paying for fancy enzymes on the top of the range stuff and they really do shift gunk off your dishes better without resorting to bleach.

How about Woolite? I always use it and find my clothes tend to last better and keep their colour much longer than when I used to use Surf. For stains I always use the vanish spray and find it great.

Re dishwasher tablets, I use the cheapest value range junk I can find in Tesco and my dishes always come out sparkling

SpaceTime

lizzyman wrote: »

How about Woolite? I always use it and find my clothes tend to last better and keep their colour much longer than when I used to use Surf. For stains I always use the vanish spray and find it great.

Re dishwasher tablets, I use the cheapest value range junk I can find in Tesco and my dishes always come out sparkling

The own brand ones are pretty good.

The big manufacturers tier their products though.

There are fewer ingredients in Surf than Persil for example because unilver see it as a second tier product and still charge you a fortune anyway.

Woolite probably doesn't contain any enzymes as wool and silk a protein and would be damaged by enzymes.

It most likely just a ton of conditioner type stuff in it.

Bleating Lamb

SpaceTime wrote: »

I did a bit of consumer product marketing and to some extent you do get what you pay for in these things.

The likes of Ariel and Persil contain multiple enzymes (they're quite expensive as they're patented by Novozymes in Denmark.

Surf and Daz contain one enzyme.

Some of the store ones are pretty good though, particularly Aldi and Lidl.

The products with the fancy cocktail of enzymes will remove stains like blood and food stuff without any issue, the ones without, won't.

Vanish and other products like that basically use peroxide to remove stains, so you're slightly risking fading the dyes too, where as the enzyme cocktails just dissolve up the stains without harsh chemicals. Mostly they're very similar to what's in your own saliva. They're given a totally unfair reputation as some kind of 'scary' thing.

In most markets non-bios don't exist, it's a UK/Ireland marketing wheeze largely.

Also enzymes work best at body-temperature range - so 30 to 40C.
Too cold, they don't really activate and too hot and you just destroy them.

Also the powders (other than the colour versions) all contain bleach. It's similar to what's in Vanish - reacts with water and produces peroxide effectively.

Liquids don't and are much less likely to fade stuff.

---

It's the same with dishwasher tablets, you're largely paying for fancy enzymes on the top of the range stuff and they really do shift gunk off your dishes better without resorting to bleach.

Thanks for very comprehensive answer.

SpaceTime

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

Thanks for very comprehensive answer.

It's just chemistry and is fairly useful info. I used to completely wreck all my stuff!

Saves an absolute fortune though if you get it right as everything lasts much longer.

cormie

Space Time, what's your take on using the likes of eco friendly washing liquids, the likes of Lily's Eco Clean or Ecover, or even more natural types of organic washing liquids? How would these compare to the likes of say Persil Small and Mighty, from say a performance, hazardous/allergic reaction and environmental view?

dee_mc

To remove blood stains from fabric, soak in a strong solution of salt and COLD water for a couple of hours, then wash as normal. Works like an absolute charm.

il gatto

dee_mc wrote: »

To remove blood stains from fabric, soak in a strong solution of salt and COLD water for a couple of hours, then wash as normal. Works like an absolute charm.

This works well. If it's white, try Ace Bleach (is that still available?). It's pretty safe on colours too but I use it on white to remove blood before and it works well.
Tbh, with the advances in forensics, you'd be safer burning it.

SpaceTime

cormie wrote: »

Space Time, what's your take on using the likes of eco friendly washing liquids, the likes of Lily's Eco Clean or Ecover, or even more natural types of organic washing liquids? How would these compare to the likes of say Persil Small and Mighty, from say a performance, hazardous/allergic reaction and environmental view?

Good for the environment, less hazardous but they're not going to be as effective.

cormie

Thanks, but if you're saying the ingredients used in the likes of Persil are just naturally occurring enzymes, why is there a hazard and environmental concern using them?

SpaceTime

cormie wrote: »

Thanks, but if you're saying the ingredients used in the likes of Persil are just naturally occurring enzymes, why is there a hazard and environmental concern using them?

No, I'm not saying that. Enzymes are just a small % of the active ingredients, they happen to be the bit that break down certain stains though.

Typically they have:

At least:
Protease (sometimes listed as Subtilisin) - breaks down proteins into polypeptides and amino acids.
Amylases - breaks down starches into sugars

Better ones:
Lipase - breaks down fat lipids
Mannanase - Breaks down guar gum and other natural sticky stuff
Pectate Lyase - Breaks down vegetable / fruit stains.
Cellulases / glycosidases - they actually dissolve loose fibres on the surfaces (often in 'colour' products)

If you want to see what's in them: Follow the link to Surf / Persil and pick your options...

http://www.unilever.com/pioti/en/p1.asp

They all contain lots of surfactants, anti-redesposition agents, and optical brighteners.

The optical brighteners are basically fluorescent dyes that give you the "whiter than white" and "colours bright" look by actually absorbing UV and fluorescing visible light! You are literally slightly glowing.

If you're using something like ecover or Lilly's it's all plant-derrived natural ingredients and no non-naturally occurring chemicals.

Enzyme-based bio detergents are most likely a more environmentally friendly option than non-bio though as they don't need to rely on very strong surfactants and bleaches to clean the clothes like non-bio does.
They also work more effectively and more quickly, so you end up cutting down on energy use.

--

The reason I know all this is because I did a bit of research years ago on consumer behaviour and scares, panics and myths.

The UK and Ireland market is unique in having non-bio detergents. They literally do not exist anywhere else, yet somehow everyone's not scratching all the time...

What happened was Proctor and Gamble introduced Ariel which was the first enzyme-based detergent in the UK. As a response, Lever Brothers reformulated Persil, a very old and established brand by adding enzymes.
The new formulation caused rashes. This may have had nothing to do with enzymes as they'd completely reformulated it or it may have been one particular choice of enzyme, but they seized the opportunity to do damage to the new competitor, Ariel by making enzymes the new evil.

Persil was quickly relaunched as non-bio and pushed toward caring mums who of course wouldn't use 'harsh enzymes' on their children (even though they're found in their own digestive systems and most food you eat).

The effect was Lever Bros were able to sell their old cheap formula at a premium and avoid having to spend money on expensive patented enzymes.
In other markets, they just have 'sensitive' detergents which often do contain enzymes. They just remove all the things like scents, optical brighteners etc that are likely to cause skin allergies.
In reality here "non-bio" is probably a version of the generic "sensitive" products these companies sell across the continent only with the enzymes also removed.

Anyway, to cut a long story short - Enzymes are actually amazing things that have been much maligned by marketeers here!

lubie76

Thank you SpaceTime, very interesting and informative answer.

SpaceTime

Geeky reply ... I know but daft college projects sometimes come in useful lol

cormie

Thanks a lot for that, only had a chance to read it now, interesting stuff alright how were lead to believe certain things due to marketing!

Redpunto

I just stick clothes in a cold wash then repeat on normal wash. Make sure first wash is cold.