I have seven children. To cut back on laundry, my children wear their play clothes to death before we wash them. It’s like the zombie apocalypse of laundry, which means there are some serious stains. I don’t usually care much about the stains on their play clothes, but sometimes they accidentally wear their church clothes to death, too.
Like this adorable top my sister-in-law gave our littlest love:
Before a mustard splotch, grape jello, unidentifiable food byproducts, and a bloody finger, this was a white shirt. Ohhhh, poor shirt. You are doomed.
Enter the age-old Fels Naptha laundry bar and stain remover.
It looks like a great big bar of English toffee…
but it doesn’t taste like one.
We wet the shirt, rubbed the bar on the abundant stains, and tossed it…in the laundry basket and forgot about it.
The directions say to let it rest for a minute and then wash it.
Directions shmirshmections. I finally washed the shirt after a few days, threw it in the drier, and SHAZAAM! Stains gone!
So I put the shirt on my little model, ran to get my camera for an after shot, and SHAZAAM! Grape juice spill all over the shirt! Who gave the baby grape juice?! Oh…I did…well…not my smartest parenting move. Zombie apocalypse laundry:1, parental foresight: 0.
Option 1 was to wash the shirt again and take an after shot.
Option 2 was to embrace reality and just tell you people what happened.
I’m an option 2 sort of person. Who’s with me? It’s anti-climactic this way, but it offers more scope for the imagination. I mean, a picture? What’s that all about?
You’ll just have to believe me. The Fels Naptha bar worked. Another daughter used the stain bar on a white skirt and it came out looking like new. You’ll just have to believe her, too, because she doesn’t generally take pictures of her laundry. Crazy, messed-up kid. If you’re really set on seeing a before and after, check out this blog who did a similar experiment…but whose kids seem a bit tidier than mine. Ahem.
The bar did not take out our old stains that were already set in the drier, the kind that we sort of bonded with and which have become almost a part of the family. As far as I know, the best way to take out ancient stains is a pair of scissors. Do you have a better method?
I love products that have withstood the test of time, and this is one of them. It’s from 1894. How’s your math? That’s…uhhh…a long time! People use it as a laundry booster, stain remover, and ingredient in homemade laundry detergent, and I just read of people using to wash their dogs, dishes, floors, and furniture. Whoa.
If I were to change something, I would take out the fragrance. I always buy unscented, but that’s just me! Just me. It’s totally fine if that’s not you. It’s just me. Actually, it’s not me–it’s my husband.
Don’t eat it. It’s not English toffee.
Purex gave me this bar to test. The fact that it was free did not affect my opinion. It did, however, affect my household budget slightly. They also gave me a few free coupons for some of you, which will be part of an upcoming mega-giveaway. Sweet!
Good to know! I saw it at Walmart, and it brought back memories of my Grandma using it. I’m a big fan of tried and true. 🙂
My MIL (mother of nine) has used this for years. She said other moms used to ask how she got her boys’ football pants so clean-she scrubs everything with feels naphtha. I haven’t had such luck-maybe it’s our water. Detergent that was awesome @ my parents’ doesn’t work here. I’ll probably give it another go as Clorox 2 is pricey (but it works).