Blood

[Susan B.]

BB was hiking in the Grand Canyon, pulled a boulder onto his leg, had to be medi-vac-ed out in a helicopter, and bloodied up his hiking pants really good. His question is, what will get a massive amount of dried blood out of fabric, probably a synthetic. I've seen the hydrogen peroxide suggestion.

Does anyone else have a great solution? It's a bit much for saliva.

It was a "movie-style" rescue...he said the view was great. :lol: :lol: Fortunately, just a few stitches & he's fine, but the trip was cut short because of a short cut.

The pants held up fine, except for the blood.

[Jo H.]

I found this link. Perhaps it will help.

http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to...od-stains2.htm

[E.M. T.]

Cold water soak first..changing water often..a day or over nite.Wring out well. Peroxide to follow..use lots,
let stand a good while rinse well in cold....then wash with an oxi-clean laundry soap in cold.
Don't use hot or warm water or allow to dry until you've done all the cold soaking you can put up with....
At that point..what you've got is prob' ly it. Once dried it will stay ... :cry: Then it's to the dye pot ! :lol:

[Rita C.]

Glad your brother was rescued and is fine Susan. I don't have any 'solution' to this bloody problem but I am glad his pants held up well - it would have been potentially very embarrassing otherwise. :lol:

[Margo C.]

I absolutely agree with Marilyn's technique, and like Rita, am glad it wasn't worse! :shock:

Any nurses here have more suggestions for dealing with blood stains??

[Renata L.]

Susan, glad your brother made it out of the canyon with minor injuries--tackling the bloody pants is the easy part. I, too, like Marilyn, would soak the pants in cold water changes until you get a lot of it out. I would then put the pants in the washer on a cold water cycle, rub in a stain remover, put Oxyclean in the washer along with your detergent and if you have both a stain and soak cycle, do both. Do not put the pants in the dryer until you are satisfied that you've gotten the stain out on a cold water cycle. Hot water and the dryer will both set what is left of the blood stain into the pants. If need be, wash them again before putting them into the dryer. No guarantee the stain will come out completely and if he is not completely satisfied, if he air-dries the pants after washing and takes them to a professional cleaner, they may have other products to get the residual stain out.

Again, glad your brother is okay!

[Lotti D.]

Full fat milk was always used by my aunt, place on stain, let soak, soak up with paper towel... Don't rub in, then wash as normal with detergent. (also supposed to work on old dried in blood stains).

Another one that seems to make sense is either baking soda or. Peroxide (H2O2 3%), seems to have something to do with the extra oxygen...

:0)

[E.M. T.]

I'll have to try the milk sometime, Lotti...But..I think it will leave it's own stain behind. :roll:
In the end...better he is saved rather than the pants !! :wink:

[Susan B.]

thank you all so much. I'll pass on all these tips to him. He's a dear brother, and I'm glad he didn't break anything major. He's thinking that age has caught up and maybe no more cross-country back-packing trips are in order, medium difficulty only.

I, however, have learned that I'm not too old to get up in the middle of the night for a trip to the airport :shock:

Ya'll are the best.

[Susan B.]

Okay, I have done this with wine staines and works beautifully. Keep in mind wine is harder to get out than blood. One part dawn dish soap To two parts hydrogen peroxide. Soak then wash in cold water. I was amazed at how well this works. The mixture is also color fast and doesn't fade colors. Add baking soda and it takes care of pet stains/orders. I found this on pinterest.

[Lorna B.]

I am so glad he is okay.

All great suggestions. Working in the hospital I used hydrogen peroxide to get the blood out. Isn't oxy-clean pretty much the same thing?

Wine is harder! I am going to write that one down. Thanks!

Lorna

[Lorna B.]

All I can add is that my mum told me to cold water soak, and then put lots of salt over the stain and then leave it for as long as possible.

The reason for avoiding heat is because blood contains protein and the heat will 'cook' it in (the same goes for milk too).

[Lorna B.]

Get as much of the blood out as you can and then leave the rest for him to tell the great story about his rescue. Glad he is alright.

[Lois B.]

I have nothing to add, but I am always totally amazed at the knowlege and expertise you can get in just a very short time from friends all over the world here in this Forum. You all are the greatest!

[Nancy H.]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents worth. A couple of years ago my oldest son asked if I could repair a quilt I made for him (1976), red/white/blue. To make a very long story short, it was tattered, torn, blood stained, doggie urine, grease (and this is no exaggeration) I was totally shocked. I contacted a quilt historian here in Phoenix, AZ, told her my tale of horror and she suggested using a product called ORVUS. It is produced by Proctor and Gamble and is like a very thick gel, and come to find out the only place that carried it was our local Tack and Feed store. Found out that it is used for bathing livestock!!! Well, nothing ventured nothing gained right? Went down and picked it up (only sells by the GALLON!!) So, after repairing the quilt, reattaching the binding and re-quilting it, I put it in the washer with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of Orvus in warm water, let it soak for about an hour, ran the wash cycle and crossed my fingers. Lo and behold it came out of the wash like it was brand new. I was amazed. As a side note, it also works wonders on greasy motorcycle jackets, gloves and pants.