Back-To-School: Keeping School Uniforms Stain Free
A time of year that signals the end of the summer holidays and the beginning of a new term, for parents the first few weeks of autumn are busy. From stationery and textbooks through to school uniforms; there’s a lot to buy and organise.
For many, the main priority is buying a new school uniform. It’s a familiar scene – when your little one first puts the uniform on it looks wonderful, but over time the crisp and bright colours become stained and faded.
This handy guide will help you to keep school uniforms stain free for the duration of term thanks to the wide range of stain removal products from Vanish.
Preparing school uniforms
To ensure your child’s school uniform goes the distance, read our top maintenance tips for keeping stains at bay:
- Dry school uniforms outside
Drying school uniforms outside not only dries your clothes naturally, but it will also reduce the risk of shrinking that occurs when drying normally. Take care not to leave coloured garments in direct sunlight to ensure maximum brightness.
- Keep the uniform for school
Ensure that your children take off their uniform as soon as they arrive home from school and either hang it up for tomorrow or pop it into the wash basket. This will ensure that any stains made at school can be treated fast, and any stains made at home won’t ruin tomorrow’s uniform.
- Revive whites
As term goes on you’ll notice that white shirts begin to fade. Every day use, frequent washing and stains can cause whites to take on a dull and greyish colour. To keep your children’s uniform looking brilliantly white use Vanish Gold for Whites Powder. Simple add one scoop of powder to 4L of warm water and soak for up to 6 hours. To ensure the best results afterwards, add one scoop of the powder to your washing machine and wash as usual.
Tackling school uniform stains
No matter how much preparation and planning you do, children will always get messy. In a classroom full of children accidents happen – especially when there’s an art lesson! From paint to pen ink, your little ones can get into all kinds of trouble expressing themselves.
Then there are the food stains that happen at lunchtime, plus the playground. School is literally a hotbed for stains!
For your child, stains on their uniform represent a fun day at school, yet for you an evening of laundry and stain removal. Here are some tips on how you can treat the most common stains fast with Vanish.
- Water-based inks and paints
Whether the stain’s caused by a biro or fountain pen, water-based inks are easy to remove. Blot to remove any excess moisture and pre-treat with our Vanish Gold Pre-Treat Power Gel.
Squeeze the gel directly onto your stain. Using the specially designed head, rub the gel into the stain in circular motions for five minutes before popping into the wash as normal with a scoop of Vanish powder.
- Oil, grease, mud and sweat stains
To remove stubborn stains caused by grease and oil fill a bucket with 4L of warm water and 60ml of Vanish. Leave garments in Vanish Gold Oxi Action Gel for a maximum of an hour, before placing in the washing machine with an extra 60ml of Vanish Gold Gel.
- Food, grass and dirt stains
To remove stains picked up from the canteen and playground mix 1/4 scoop of Vanish Gold Oxi Action Powder with 3/4 scoop of warm water. Apply the paste to the front and back of your stain and watch it disappear in as little as 30 seconds! Again, after leaving the product to take effect, put in the washing machine with a scoop of Vanish powder.
With a little preparation and a helping hand from Vanish your child’s school uniform will last longer than ever before.