Drycleaners are just like everybody else;  whenever you get a few of us together, we talk shop.  And with the internet, it's easy to get a few (or a lot) of us together.  Believe it or not, there's a discussion forum on the internet just for drycleaners and suppliers, and we swap great ideas as well as ask each other for advice from time to time.  You benefit from that advice, so don't think these newsletters are all my ideas alone.

One day recently we were discussing home remedies that customers may try when attempting to remove stains from their clothes.  While some of the remedies have a grain of truth to them, there is a lot more to clothing today than meets the eye -- and a lot more to stain removal, too.  I've told you before that I have to be half chemist to be a good drycleaner, so this week I wanted to give you some insight into how to get those spots out the BEST way.

As professionals, we look forward to our ultimate reward each time you visit us -- getting your clothes back to like-new condition, and making you say, "Wow!"  See you soon.

Jim Nixon
The Cleaners

Home Remedies from
a Different Era

Lots of the "home remedies" that have been passed down from generation to generation began out of necessity.  People homesteading out on the prairies or in the wilderness didn't have any choice but to come up with innovative ways to clean their clothes.  Even the first "dry cleaning" came about by accident when someone spilled a fluid for lamps on some cloth and the stains disappeared as it evaporated.

Today  there are lots of different types of man-made fibers and dyes, and many are blended together into one garment.  The old remedies may make a stain situation worse instead of better.  Read on and find out why.

Coat Cleaning Coupon

Labor Day has come and gone, and we're heading into the Fall at last.  It's time to pull out that winter coat, and get it spruced up for the near future. 
Let us clean your coat, and we'll knock $3 off the bill.  
(Include the first page of this e-mail with your order.  Offer expires Sept. 13, 2003.  Cannot be combined with other offers.)

Scrutinizing Home Remedies

It sounds so great:  "If you've got this kind of spot, do this and it will be gone!"  You can find lots of sites on the internet, or read columns in popular magazines, and find lots of tips.  The only problem is that sometimes the remedy just makes the situation worse.  Why?  Well, it's more complicated than you think.

Here are some common "remedies" you may have read -- and even tried -- and our take on what is really going on, or may happen.

• YOU'VE READ:  For a coffee stain, soak the area in cold water, maybe rub the area with some glycerin or liquid detergent.

OUR TAKE:  The reason some garments say "dry clean only" is that the fabric reacts adversely to moisture.  Many dyes are not water-fast (they'll begin to bleed when water is applied).  With some fabrics, you'll get the spot out all right -- but a water ring will form around the area, making it all the more noticeable!  And RUBBING is always a no-no when it comes to fabric care.  This can chafe and break fibers, causing permanent damage.

• YOU'VE READ:  Ink can be removed from fabric by saturating the area with alcohol-based hair spray (or rubbing alcohol) and blotting the area.

OUR TAKE:  Alcohol can also cause dyes to break down and run, which will make the area you're working on a different color when you're done.  It may not be noticeable at first, but after the next cleaning it will be obvious.  Also, not all inks respond the same to alcohol -- some require water, some a solvent, some an acid.  Do you really know what kind of ink it is?

• YOU'VE READ:  Rinse blood away with cool water; same for fruit juices (or perhaps dab with white vinegar.)

OUR TAKE:  Again, the fabric you're dealing with may well have dye distortion from this procedure.  With fruit juice, it is essential to get ALL of the product out, or a brown stain will appear when the garment is put in a dryer or ironed, since the sugar will carmelize.  This is often a permanent stain.

• YOU'VE READ:  Lipstick on fabric can be loosened with dry cleaning solvent that you apply, and then rinsed with hot water.

OUR TAKE:  The trick with lipstick is that the stain includes wax and color -- both of which must be removed simultaneously.  Some lipsticks are formulated to make them resistant to water (the "last all day" lipsticks.)  We're going to take a different approach than the one outlined above.

• YOU'VE HEARD:  A popular way to remove wine stains is with carbonated soda water.  Or, if it's a red wine stain, pour on an equal amount of white wine to "neutralize" it.

OUR TAKE:  We're going to ask what kind of wine it was, since it makes a huge difference in what will get it out.  Sometimes, wine requires the presence of an acid to get it out.  Other times, it is a protein stain that comes out with alkali.  As for "neutralizing" one kind of wine with another, all that is done is make it a compound stain with more tricky chemistry required to get it out!  And the liquid itself can disturb dyes or even ruin the fibers themselves.

• YOU'VE READ:  Apply baby powder to grease marks on clothing and rub it in with a clean cloth until the stain is gone.

OUR TAKE:  Baby powder may absorb grease, but there's usually more to the stain than that (like the color of the gravy, etc.)  Plus, rubbing is never recommended, especially on something like silk, since it may distort the fibers or the weave permanently, making your "little stain" a can't-miss-seeing-it eyesore.

• YOU'VE READ:  If you burp the baby and he spits up on your nice suit, soak the stain in an enzyme detergent and wash in warm soapy water with some ammonia.  And if he wets on your trouser leg, flush the fabric with cold water and launder, perhaps with the ammonia again.

OUR TAKE:  Just as important as the stain is the fabric it is on.  What's it made of?  Is it wool?  Ammonia can ruin wool.  Is it "dry clean only"?  Then don't launder it.  In other words, keep reading those care labels and take them seriously.  That's what they're there for.  We read them all the time.

• YOU'VE READ:  Chocolate can be removed with a few drops of ammonia in warm sudsy water, perhaps some dry cleaning solvent and some bleach.

OUR TAKE:  We actually don't have any such thing as "bleach" in our shop.  We use various solutions designed to lift away the stain and flush the solution out of the garment before cleaning.  Chocolate has sugar in it, and that merits consideration in its removal.  But of paramount importance is the fabric that has been stained.

• YOU'VE READ:  Nail polish can be removed from clothing just like you take it off your nails -- with acetone nail-polish remover, then wash as usual.

OUR TAKE:  Hmmm.  What's that fiber content?  Acetate or triacetate?  Oops!  You just dissolved the fabric!  Many other fabrics may hold up to the acetone, but will their dyes or fancy trims?

• YOU'VE HEARD:  Paint should be removed by scraping off dried paint with a dull knife, rub petroleum jelly on it to soften the stain, soak in paint remover and rub as necessary to dissolve stain.  Then wash.

OUR TAKE:  First off, that's a lot of steps to save just a few dollars and let us handle it.  Second, there are lots of kinds of paint -- which kind is it?  Some are oil-based, some are egg-based (tempera) some are latex (called water-based, but still with solvents in them).  Each requires a different technique to successfully remove the stain.  One remover won't cover all paints.

• YOU'VE HEARD: On new shirts, you can keep the thread holding on the buttons from unraveling by applying a dab of clear nail polish.

OUR TAKE:  Again, if it's an acetate shirt, or the thread fibers contain acetate, your polish will actually dissolve the fibers instead of keeping them firm.  There are other products on the market to stabilize thread.  Better not to take a chance on this one.

So, what does that leave you?

Of course, we don't expect you'll bring every stained garment to us.  You're going to try some home remedies, and sometimes you'll be successful.  But before you roll up your sleeves and get out the white vinegar, step back and determine if you're being "penny wise and pound foolish."  In other words, if it's a valuable garment, or just one you really love for sentimental reasons, why take a chance?  Bring it in promptly and we'll ask you the following:

• Where is the stain?  (Sometimes it's not visible when it dries, but you need to tell us the area to concentrate on.)
• What is the stain?  (be as specific as you can be.)
• How long has it been there?  (Some things change chemistry over time, so this is a valuable piece of information.  The sooner you get it to us, the better our chances of removing it successfully.)
• What was put on it, if anything?  (Any home remedy might also have altered the chemistry of the stain, so we need to know.  We promise we won't scold you.)

We may need additional time to remove a tricky stain, so keep that in mind.

As for treating your clothes like the investment they are, we also recommend a book called The Ultimate Guide to Shopping and Caring for Clothing by Steven Boorstein.  If you click on the photo of the book above, you'll go right to Amazon.com where you can read more about it and even view sample pages of the book.  It's full of great information that will make your garments last longer -- and that's something we both want to achieve.

We
Get
Letters!


Hi Jim:
I noticed in the new Greeley telephone book that you have a store in the Centerplace  Shopping Center. Where is it? – Susie Lee

Dear Sue:  
The store will be just west of the new Safeway (between Safeway and their gas station). We hope to open October 13th. Click HERE for more details.