Are my clothes destroyed???

[UNCjigga]

Hey guys, wassup. Well, my mom was visiting and she thought it would be great to do my laundry for me and I thought 'hey, why not? she's my mom' so I said 'yea go ahead'. Well I get woken up this morning by my mom almost sobbing and she's like "I think I ruined your clothes!" Apparently, the Formula 409 bottle was empty and she needed to refill it. We have this big refill bottle and I guess she didn't look for the 409 one and instead poured Clorox Bleach into it!!! She then proceeded to spray all my colored clothes with clorox. It just so happens I'm bout to start work in a business casual environment so I had my colored hilfigers, nauticas, banana stretches etc. all in the wash. In the end, it appears $300 - $400 worth of clothes were destroyed this morning!! My mom offered to pay for it all but she's po', so I can't let her do that. Is there any known way to remove bleach stains from solid colored shirts???

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Sorry but you are out of luck.

The next question is, why was she spraying Formula 409 on your clothes?

 

[GasX]

my question exactly...

Yes, your clothes are toast. bleach does not STAIN so much as it REMOVES dye.

 

[Locutus of Board]

A man is sometimes judged by the clothes he wears, but more often by the clothes his wife wears.

 

[gittyup]

That sucks. Sorry guy.

 

[Azraele]

There's no way to fix that, unfortunately.

I know you're bummed, but sometimes accidents happen, and your mom feels pretty bad about it, apparently. She was trying to do something nice and she messed up. Give her a hug to let her know it's ok.

 

[LadyNiniane]

No, unfortunately, bleach isn't just a "stain" - it is a color (dye) remover. What you've got is stuff that is now showing what the fabric looked like before they added the color.

It might be possible to redye some of it, but probably won't be worth it from the point of view of the fabric itself. Not only does chlorine bleach remove the color, it also weakens the cloth fibers, especially if it is sprayed on full-strength.

Give your Mom a hug and tell her you love her.

Then throw that refill bottle away ASAP (so it doesn't get used again - if you now put anything in it that has ammonia as part of its formula, you will create deadly chlorine gas. True story!)

Watch for sales - now that summer is here, a lot of stores will start putting their summer stuff on clearance, to get ready for the fall clothing shipments.

Lady Niniane

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

Ugh.. I'm surprised your mom didn't see the color lifting before she'd completed doing them all in. You'll still visit her in jail, won't you?

BTW I'm not sure how successful this would be, but you could try to re-dye your clothes. The only thing is i'm not sure if the color would be entirely consistent after the process.

 

[palad]

If you haven't heard enough comments yet, I will concur with what has been said. About the only way to get rid of the bleached spots would be with a pair of scissors.

 

[Looney]

Naw, redying won't work.. i tried that on a pair of favorite pants a long time ago. Even left it in a bucket with the dye for 2 days straight and it still didn't come out even.

 

[Urinal Mint]

Hopefully, in your case, clothing with white splotches all over will be in style soon.

 

[atom]

Sorry about your clothes, they are hosed. I still am wondering why she is using 409 on clothing though. That's usually for the counter top not the laundry.

 

[vash]

You're up a creek without a boat or a paddle, I'm afraid. The only thing you could possibly do its make sure everything is fully bleached so you can wear lots of whites to work.

vash

 

[Mday]

well, now you have $300 to $400 worth of clothing to wear if you were to: paint the house, cement anything, etc...

 

<< My mom offered to pay for it all but she's po', so I can't let her do that. Is there any known way to remove bleach stains from solid colored shirts??? >>



You should be asking if there is anyway to replace the dye the bleach stripped away.

I would be p!ssed beyond the point of control. But of course don't take it out on your mom.
But I would say she needs to play some part in replacing all of your expensive clothing.

 

[Vincent]

You could try to bleach your clothing again so that the stain covers the entire garment. Then, the color might be uniform.

 

[UNCjigga]

Formula 409 works better than Spray n' Wash and all those other spray-before-wash cleaners. Since it was a misted spray, I guess she just didn't see the colors lifting. Oh well. At least I have some really stylish clothes I can wear doin yardwork or in the garage!!!

 

[BoberFett]

<< A man is sometimes judged by the clothes he wears, but more often by the clothes his wife wears. >>

Don't forget about judging a man based on his wife's clothes that he wears.

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

<< Formula 409 works better than Spray n' Wash and all those other spray-before-wash cleaners. Since it was a misted spray, I guess she just didn't see the colors lifting. Oh well. At least I have some really stylish clothes I can wear doin yardwork or in the garage!!! >>

Thanks for the tip on the 409, I'll have to try it. You seem to be taking this pretty well, you must be a pretty nice guy

 

[SuperGroove]

<< Hey guys, wassup. Well, my mom was visiting and she thought it would be great to do my laundry for me and I thought 'hey, why not? she's my mom' so I said 'yea go ahead'. Well I get woken up this morning by my mom almost sobbing and she's like &quot;I think I ruined your clothes!&quot; Apparently, the Formula 409 bottle was empty and she needed to refill it. We have this big refill bottle and I guess she didn't look for the 409 one and instead poured Clorox Bleach into it!!! She then proceeded to spray all my colored clothes with clorox. It just so happens I'm bout to start work in a business casual environment so I had my colored hilfigers, nauticas, banana stretches etc. all in the wash. In the end, it appears $300 - $400 worth of clothes were destroyed this morning!! My mom offered to pay for it all but she's po', so I can't let her do that. Is there any known way to remove bleach stains from solid colored shirts??? >>



Don't take it out on her. Look at it this way....those clothes are getting pretty old in the world of fashion. Now you can legitimately go on a clothing shopping spree

Buy cheap this time

 

[UNCjigga]

<< You seem to be taking this pretty well, you must be a pretty nice guy >>



It was my MOTHER for chrissakes!!! She's only the person who's bought over half of all my clothing ever in my lifetime (mother giveth, and mother taketh away...)

 

[rahvin]

You seriously spray all your clothing with 409 before washing it? I mean I can understand using it to spot stains or something, but all your clothes?

Washing your clothes is the single most destructive thing most clothes experience, all the detergents and all the washings weaken the fibers almost as much as wear and tear. When you are washing clothes, less is better, less detergent (as long as they come out clean) and less washing with less water generally better for the fabrics.

 

[UNCjigga]

Hehe, to clarify, we only use the 409 on collars, spill stains, dirt stains and armpit stains! More than you wanted to know, eh? The shirts my mom was washing had some ring around the collar and that's the area she sprayed. Truth be told, we use a minimum amount of detergent now. We have one of those funky water deionizer balls in the washer--it just sits there and deionizes the water so dirt and stains just fall right off!

 

[Howard]

um

 

[ussfletcher]

Wow a semi-helpful free ipod super necro.