Back-to-School: Keeping Uniforms Stain Free

It’s a special time in the life your child, when a new term begins at school. It is also a busy time in your life as a parent – the summer holidays have ended and it’s back to the grind for your children! You now have to buy new stationery and get new school books, and maybe even new school uniforms. There’s just so much to buy and organize!

For many parents, the main priority is buying a new school uniform for the school year. It’s a familiar scene – when your little one first puts the uniform on it looks wonderful, but over time the crisp and bright colours on it become stained and faded.

This handy guide will help you to keep school uniforms stain free for the duration of the term, thanks to the wide range of stain removal products from Vanish.

To ensure your child’s school uniform goes the distance all through the year, read our top maintenance tips for keeping stains at bay:

• Dry school uniforms outside
  Drying school uniforms outside not only dries your clothes naturally in the fresh air, but it also reduces the risk of shrinking that occurs when drying in the dryer or indoors. Take care not to leave coloured garments in direct sunlight for long hours, so that you can ensure maximum brightness.
• Keep the uniform for school
  Ensure that your children take off their school uniform as soon as they arrive home from school. After taking it off, it must either be popped into the wash basket or hung neatly for use the next day. There are high chances of your children getting their lunch on their uniform, so changing into other clothes is a must when they’re home. Besides, you can catch any stains made at school when the uniform is hanging outside.
• Revive whites
  As term goes on, you’ll notice that white shirts begin to fade and take on a yellowish or greyish hue. Every day use, frequent washing and stains can cause whites to take on a dull and greyish colour. To keep your children’s uniform looking brilliantly white always, use Vanish Gold for Whites Powder. Simple add one scoop of powder to 4 litres of warm water and soak for up to 6 hours. To ensure the best results afterwards, add one scoop of the powder to your washing machine and wash as usual.

No matter how much preparation and planning you do, children will always get messy when they play at school or squirt their lunch over their uniforms. In a classroom full of children, accidents happen quite frequently – especially when there’s an art lesson! From paint to pen ink, your little ones can get into all kinds of trouble expressing themselves.

Then there are the food stains that happen at lunchtime, plus the playground. They can get ketchup stains on their shirt, or grass stains on their skirts and trousers. School is literally a hotbed for stains!

For your child, stains on their uniform represent a fun day at school, but for you they are an evening of laundry and stain removal. Here are some tips on how you can treat the most common stains quickly with Vanish.

• Water-based inks and paints
  Whether the stain’s caused by a biro or fountain pen, water-based inks are easy to remove. Blot to remove any excess moisture and pre-treat with our Vanish Gold Pre-Treat Spray.
  Squeeze the gel directly onto your stain. Using the specially designed head, rub the gel into the stain in circular motions for five minutes before popping into the wash as usual with a scoop of Vanish powder.
• Oil, grease, mud and sweat stains
  To remove stubborn stains caused by grease and oil, fill a bucket with 4 litre of warm water and 60ml of Vanish. Leave garments in Vanish Oxi Action Gel for a maximum of an hour, before placing in the washing machine with an extra 60ml of Vanish Gold Gel to get the stains out completely.
• Food, grass and dirt stains
  To remove stains picked up from the canteen and playground, mix 1/4 scoop of Vanish Gold Oxi Action Powder with 3/4 scoop of warm water. Make a paste in the scoop and apply the paste to the front and back of the stain – it begins to disappear in as much as 30 seconds! Again, after leaving the product to take effect on the stain, put in the washing machine with a scoop of Vanish powder.

With a little preparation and a helping hand from Vanish, your child’s school uniform will last longer than ever before.