06.07.11
Consumer Reports has tested stain treatments applied before laundering, and is reporting its findings in the July issue.Each stain treatment was evaluated for its effectiveness on coffee, blood, wine, sebum, motor oil, and grass.
CR’s "Best Buy" is Resolve Laundry ($0.10 per oz.) as it netted the top scorre and worked well on all the stains. Shout Advanced Action ($0.21 per oz.) was almost as good and can be applied up to a week before laundering. It worked well on all stains but wine, according to the report.
For its tests, Consumer Reports technicians took swatches of stained polyester/cotton fabric, applied the same amount of each stain cleaner, let the swatches sit for 5 minutes, and then washed them in a mediocre detergent. For comparison, they also washed the stained swatches in a highly rated detergent, using no pretreatment.
Unfortunately for Reckitt Benckiser, the lowest-scoring treatment was also a Resolve product: Resolve Foaming Aerosol Laundry ($0.15 per oz.). It only worked well on removing motor oil, according to the magazine.
Most laundry pretreatments do help somewhat, according to the publication. The top products, including Fels Naptha (which was made into a paste using one part Fels to four parts water), worked better than detergent alone. Scrubbing will probably improve stain removal but may also damage fabrics.
CR’s "Best Buy" is Resolve Laundry ($0.10 per oz.) as it netted the top scorre and worked well on all the stains. Shout Advanced Action ($0.21 per oz.) was almost as good and can be applied up to a week before laundering. It worked well on all stains but wine, according to the report.
For its tests, Consumer Reports technicians took swatches of stained polyester/cotton fabric, applied the same amount of each stain cleaner, let the swatches sit for 5 minutes, and then washed them in a mediocre detergent. For comparison, they also washed the stained swatches in a highly rated detergent, using no pretreatment.
Unfortunately for Reckitt Benckiser, the lowest-scoring treatment was also a Resolve product: Resolve Foaming Aerosol Laundry ($0.15 per oz.). It only worked well on removing motor oil, according to the magazine.
Most laundry pretreatments do help somewhat, according to the publication. The top products, including Fels Naptha (which was made into a paste using one part Fels to four parts water), worked better than detergent alone. Scrubbing will probably improve stain removal but may also damage fabrics.
Nature’s Source Natural ($0.20 per oz.) and Green Works Natural ($0.25 per oz.) only did a good job on a couple of the stains. Ecover ($0.66 per oz.), the priciest choice, claims “plant based ingredients.”