Get Crayon out of laundry and dryer!
A Mess of Melted Crayon
At midnight, just before going to bed, I thought I'd carry the laundry up. After several accidents, I thought I was diligent in going thru pockets, but apparently I missed something. The laundry appeared to have been involved in a a massacre. Red streaks smeared baseball uniforms, t-shirts, polo shirts, jeans and good school clothes. UGH! And the dryer drum was an odd streaked orange and red.
This was not the first time. But now I have experience, so I'm going to share it with the rest of you. The first time, I read many blogs and posts about how to get melted, dried crayon out of laundry. Some home remedies sounded positively flamable so I did a little trial and error on my own...
Cleaning products that work...and don't
First I ran HOT water in a sink and filled it with a capful of Oxy-Clean. I don't know if this works, but it makes me feel better. Then I spot treated each place on one shirt with Shout, one with Oxi-clean spot remover, and treated another with Spray-n-Wash. I let these soak in the ultra-hot water. In the meantime I sprayed the dryer drum with Dawn Power Dissolver - let sit, and then wiped clean with damp paper towel. This works really well as the DPD is super good at removing dried wax/oil, which is what crayons are really. That done, I returned to view results:
The Spray-n-Wash didn't do a thing, even with scrubbing. The Oxi-Clean did OK, but left orange marks where the red was. The Shout Advanced performed admirably and with just a little scrubbing, the stains all came out of most articles. As each article of clothing was inspected and deemed free of crayon, I put it back in the washer. BUT there were still a few items - like baseball pants - that just wouldn't let go of the stains. Wasn't sure what Dawn Power Dissolver would do to clothes, but they were ruined anyway, so I gave it a whirl and sprayed just a little on the stains - they practically melted off the clothes! And seemingly no harm to the clothes! So once again I placed all articles back in the washer, washed on HOT and then dried. All articles of clothing were saved! Took me about 2 hours to get it all done but the laundry was saved. I can't really say the same about my fingers - after all the hot water and cleaning products, they felt pretty bad - gloves would have been a bonus.
Hopefully this saves someone else's laundry. Or if you know a better way, let me know!
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