The Vanish Test

Do you remember those ads 20 years or more ago, where an over enthusiastic housewife used a certain washing powder on her kid's grubby clothes and then badly acted over enthusiasm and disbelief at how white they were? These ads probably still exist, but as I haven't watched regular UK TV for 15 years or more, I have missed out on the modern version.

Today though, I get to be that woman!

I recently received two Vanish stain removal products to put to the test. BB is good at making things dirty, so we were able to test out grass stain removal, along with some chocolate and paint. I also grabbed one of his vests which has a poo stain (Vanish use the term body soil!) that has been there for few washes, and a jumper that he got covered in 'black stuff' after rubbing his back on a friends car and tyre yesterday.

Here are my results (minus the badly acted astonishment!).

Paint and chocolate were easy. I just put some of the vanish powder in with my usual washing liquid and they were gone.

For both the grass stain and the car grime stain, my first attempt was to just add some of the power to my regular wash. They did OK, you can see a definite improvement, but it wasn't perfect. So I then soaked them in the powder for an hour and then put them in the washing machine again, with another scoop of the powder added to my usual detergent. This did the trick and they both look completely stain free now. 

For the poo, I sprayed on some of the liquid and left it for 5 minutes as directed, and then washed in the machine with a scoop full of the powder plus my usual detergent. Not good, a slight improvement maybe, but it definitely needed further work! So I then soaked in the powder for an hour, then sprayed some more of the liquid on it, and then washed in the machine with a scoop full of the powder plus my usual detergent again. It faded considerably to the point where you probably wouldn't notice if you weren't looking. I was actually surprised by that. In fairness to the instructions do say to soak whites for 6 hours (I just did it for 1 hour as I did at the same time as the colours - I know - huge washing faux pas!). I'm done with washing for the sake of it now, but I will give it another soak before the next wash and I think there really is a high chance it will have vanished!

                 

My conclusion - it's not without effort, but it is definitely possible!

Disclaimer: This post is in association with Vanish