The Vanish Challenge

As someone who spends a lot time outdoors with the children they very often come home filthy, just the way it should be and that’s what washing machines and detergents were invented for!

If we are going on an outdoor adventure there are two things I insist on though:

1. No “best” clothes
2. Nothing white

Much as I don’t mind them getting filthy I cannot bear to ruin their nicest clothes and no stain remover has ever removed the most stubborn of stains.  I try to avoid white clothes where possible, but Eliza has a couple of gorgeous white dresses that I am scared to let her wear after one got an ice cream splodge on it last summer which just won’t shift.

So when Vanish challenged me to see if Vanish Gold Oxi Action really did make whites three shades whiter I was more than up for the challenge.

They provided me a rather grey looking shirt which looked the same colour as our “white” school shirts, a pot of Vanish Gold Oxi Action and instructions of how to use it:

• Add one scoop of Vanish Oxi Action to 4L of water
• Leave to soak for no more than 6 hours
• Wash as usual

Did it work?

I am surprised to say that it did!

The shirt was visibly whiter after the first soak and I added some more of the Vanish Gold to the washing machine when washing my whites.  It has certainly brightened up the kids greying school shirts too.

Reassured that it hadn’t ruined the shirt, I then decided to test it out on Eliza’s ruined white dresses.

To pre-treat stains it is recommended that you mix 1/4 scoop of powder with 3/4 of a scoop of water and apply the mix to the stain, gently rubbing it in.  You then wash the clothes as normal.

This treatment got rid of one stain completely but the larger of the two stains was more stubborn.  It has definitely lightened it though and I will keep adding the dress to my white washes with a scoop of the powder to see if it will come out eventually.