The other day I dressed Max in his lovely new Coral & Tusk onesie and within 20 minutes it looked like this. Now, I freely admit that I'm allergic to dirt and imperfection. So even in spite of all of my natural diet and lifestyle choices, until I became pregnant, bleach was one of my best friends. Realizing how nauseating and caustic it was, I immediately stopped using it and all of its forms and watched the stains begin to appear around my house. Then I discovered natural bleach (aka hydrogen peroxide). Unlike store-bought "natural cleaners" hydrogen peroxide can even be used as a mouthwash and with this little guy running around putting everything in his mouth, I like cleaners that are edible. (Plus it gets extra points for being cheap!)
Step 1: Remove the garment as soon as possible and rinse thoroughly with cold water. Next, apply hydrogen peroxide directly to stains. Allow it to soak in for several hours. I usually hang the garment in the shower or place it in a bowl to keep it from dripping onto other things.
Step 2: Most stains will not be visible at this point, but for those really stubborn ones, rinse the garment in cold water again thoroughly. You will find that this second rinse removes most of the remaining pigment, but if not you can repeat steps 1 and 2 again. Once the stains are removed, machine wash and dry and usual.
One thing to note is that, unlike regular chlorine bleach, hydrogen peroxide will not remove stains that are old or have been through the dryer. It works best on fresh new stains. It can also be used for a variety of other cleaning tasks. It can even be used as daily mouthwash to whiten teeth and tone the gum line. All for $1? Between this and the old vinegar/baking soda combo I'm not sure why all of the complicated expensive (not to mention toxic) cleaners were ever invented.
