Does a Blood Stain on Clothes Mean They Are Ruined?

You just bought the perfect Easter dress for your little girl. She looks like a little doll as she dances around the room. Her ruffled dress is flowing and she is twirling and twirling. As she spins, somehow, she looses her balance and falls and hits her mouth on the coffee table. She starts screaming. She puts her hand to her mouth to check if it is bleeding and before you know it she is screaming louder at the sight of her own blood and wiping her hands on the beautiful dress that you just paid seventy five dollars and some change for.

As you comfort your child, knowing that even though she is hurt she will live, your mind is racing. All you can think of is how she spent five minutes in a dress that took you all season to find and now it is plum ruined. You think that there is absolutely no way you are ever going to be able to get those stains out.

You have to stay calm for the child's sake. You get a wash cloth from the bathroom and explain to her that her mouth is fine and it will all be better by the time she gets married. You wash the blood off her hands and help her out of the dress. As the tears subside, (hers and yours) it is now time to decide if the dress is salvageable.

As you look at it, all you can think is that it is ruined. There is no way you can get those crimson stains out. But wait, there may be a chance.

First of all NEVER try to rub a blood stain out. Let me tell you from experience that this will only make it worse. Also, the trick with daubing a little bit of dawn dish detergent on a paper towel and rubbing will not work in this case either. There is only one thing that may save the dress.

Head for the bathroom and open your medicine cabinet. Grab the bottle of peroxide!

What you are going to do is pour peroxide generously over the stain. Do not be shy about it as you can usually buy a whole bottle for less than a dollar.

After the garment is soaked, it is a good idea to fill the sink up with warm water and peroxide mix, or add peroxide to a pre-soak cycle of the washing machine. Let the clothing soak overnight. Do not let the water dry up or the material dry out.

If the blood stains are noticeably bad, before soaking the garment in a water/peroxide mix, you can blot the stains with a paper towel. Even at this point rubbing will still make it worse so be sure to BLOT.

Before washing the dress, if you can still see the blood stains, spray Shout or Spray and Wash on the stains. Run the dress through a wash cycle. If after one wash you can still see stains, repeat the process again before drying the dress. Once you dry the clothing, the stain will be set in. Sometimes by repeating the process you can make the stain disappear or be less noticeable.

Hopefully, your hard work will pay off. I have had right much luck with this technique. Having had a daycare in my home and foster children, I used it quite often. Hopefully it will help you as well!