How to Remove Blood Stains from Clothing

If you have children, have in your laundry arsenal hydrogen peroxide, a bottle of cheap shampoo and salt.

With these three items just about any stain can be removed from any item of clothing your child wears. (No- not including dry clean only- but please- for children?)

As soon as you notice the stain- treat with hydrogen peroxide and cold water. Hot water is a no- no (remember children?) as it will set the stain. Soak the item overnight, if you are able, as the longer your arsenal rests on the stain, the better chance for complete removal.

Sprinkle a few granules of salt on the stain, especially if there is grass and dirt mixed in with the blood.

My mom tells me while my sister and I were growing up she should have invested in hydrogen peroxide stock as she went through so much with us (okay, mostly me- but hey, it was discovered that I was in need of glasses and soon thereafter my dare devil ways became somewhat subdued. With glasses I could actually see how far down a jump was, or how high in a tree I had climbed.)

Right before you toss the clothing item into the washing machine, rub a bit of cheap shampoo over the already there mixture of salt and hydrogen peroxide. Do not place the laundered item in the clothes dryer until you are sure the stain has been removed. Once heat hits that stain, it is set.

This is yet another reason to not invest a year's salary on children's clothes. Not only do they outgrow them rapidly, some become ruined before they have even been paid for in full.

The clothing will come out of the wash never the wiser for having been bloodied. I find the triple stain fighting effects work best, whereas if I only use one or another, then I may have to launder the piece of clothing more than once.

I have also heard that treating the stain with meat tenderizer (yes, you read that correctly!) works wonders, but I have yet to try this method. It will not work on fragile material. (Children's clothes should not be made with fragile material!!!)

I have also tried glass cleaner, as a blood stain remover, but I do tend to forget this when I am in a rush to get the stain out. I have not started keeping a bottle of Windex in my beside the washing machine arsenal basket.

Now my grandmother had thirty two grandchildren and all she used with saliva and salt. None of us ever complained.