April showers bring… mud? The green soccer field turns into a mud pit, and the baseball diamond is a slip and slide of mud from base to base. Now that you have mud covered uniforms and clothing, what to do with it?
First of all, do not try to remove a wet mud stain! I know, this is the exact opposite of what I have advised you to do with every other stain, but mud is a special stain. If you try to remove the mud before it dries, you will end up making the stain larger and also further embed the stain in the fibers of the clothing.
Let the mud dry completely. Using a soft bristle brush, carefully loosen the dried mud on the article of clothing. Shake the loosened mud off of the shirt, making sure that it does not get deposited on to a different part of the clothing. For small mud spots, laundering the clothes as you typically do should be enough to remove the stain. If the stain is large, you can pretreat with a detergent, such as Purex Dirt Lift Action, and then launder as you would usually do. As always, do not place the article of clothing in the dryer unless you are satisfied with the stain removal. If the stain has not been removed as well as you would like, pretreat again and rewash.
In the realm of stains, mud is a relatively easy stain to remove. There are a few key items to remember. First, the more the mud gets ground in, the more effort it will take to remove the mud. Second, let the mud dry before treating it! Also remember that mud stains are going to differ from park to park. This is because mud is often a mixture of dirt, clay, and grass. During your stain-fighting, you may see that part of the stain is more persistent than the rest, or maybe there is a hint of green left behind. Use a stain remover, such as Zout Liquid Spray or Purex 2 Colour Safe Bleach, to pretreat the stain by applying it to the stain and allowing it to sit for five minutes. Then wash as you would normally do. This process will help remove any stains that might have been mixed in with the mud stain.
Happy spring! Good luck with all of your stain-fighting adventures this month!
