Evening star., 1942-08-22
Cleaning Trade Finds
Home Spot Removers
Hinder Instead Of Aid
Amateurs WeII-Meont
Efforts Usually Only
Complicote Situation

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your drycleaner than home treated
spots :. the kind that you try this,
that, and the other on at home and
then send off for professional help
anyway.
AS long as there are iodine and
Ink, Martins and Manhattans, blue
berry Juice and baby foods, there
will be stains. The experts advice
Is: let 'em alone and you stand a
better chance that they'll come
home from good drycleaner's+
invisible" A cleaner really worth
his salt can handle anything from
paint to perfume providing 1t is
merely paint or perfume, uncom-
plicated by trial and error home
remedies or some unusual condi-
ton.
Home treated ink is one of the
professional cleaners pet problems.
Many people rush for the milk
pitcher the instant ink begins to
wend its menacing way through a
new dress or the best rug in the
house. This, say those who know,
is wrong-and it all started when
some one remembered that Tactic
acid affects ink. But the amount
Of Tactic acid in milk is so slight
that the effect on even small ink
stain is negligible.
And there you are with your spot
complicated by protein stain,
which your long-suffering cleaner
has first to digest" with engines
before he can begin to tackle the
Ink itself.
Know Your Fabric.
Spilled nail polish Is another
clothing casualty which too often
lures the amateur on to ruin. Your
first thought when you spill your
favorite nail red is naturally nail
polish remover This may or may
not work. depending on the type OF
fabric. Your chances of definitely
knowing the fabric content are
slim. Many nail polish removers
contain acetone.
Acetone is harmless to some
fabrics, but ruinous to cellulose
acetate rayon. If your dress should
be acetate rayon, and thousands OF
dresses are, your treatment Will
promptly dissolve the fibers and
create discolored, stif and
permanent stain.
Attempting to Danish grease or
wax spots by pressing with a not
iron over blotter is another
practice the professional drycleaners
look upon with horror. Heat should
never-no, never!-be applied to
any SPOT or stain because it usually
has an effect exactly opposite to
the one you strive for. Instead OF
removing the spot, 1t may set II
for life. ....
All in all, say the drycleaners,
spots come In an almost INFINITE
variety of sizes, shapes, colors and
chemical content. knowing what
each is and how to treat it is prac-
tically life work in itself. In gen
eral, food stains fall into the broad
groups of starch, sugar, fats, oils,
water and albumin. What's right
for one is wrong for another. Com
binations require special methods.
Degree in Chemistry Needed.
If you spill mayonnaise, for ex-
ample, the oil must be treated as
such, but the egg is albumin-some-
thing quite different. Just to make
1t more complicated, the same food
will act differently in cooked and
raw state. Raw starch is treated one
way, but cooked starch has the char
acteristics of sugar.
Unless you hold degree in chem
istry, it's next to impossible to know
all the fine points of the care and
feeding of food stains-to say moth
ing of medicine, ink, glue, chewing
gum, grass and leg lotion.
Even If you did know your stains
and spots backward and forward,
there is still the entire field of tex
tiles to master before you could
do successful spotting. There is the
dye to be considered, the flbers, the
weave and the finish. What will re-
move coffee from rayon may not
remove it from wool. A method safe
on seersucker may be fatal to satin.
Even granting, say the dryclean-
ers, that you knew all about stains
and all about textiles, which is un-
likely, there is still! that thing called
skill. After you have finally setted
on the right treatment for the right
fabric, there is considerable tech
nique required to handle them prop
erly-a technique which explains
why spoilers" are among the high
est paid craftsmen in the dryclean-
Ing plant.
"Tamp." Don't Rub Spot.
Almost every ones instinct is to
rub spot. The professional "tamps"
It, 70 as not to disturb the threads of
the fabric. Then, too. removing
spot is not much help If it is prompt
lv replaced by a conspicuous and
glaring ring. The professional skill
fully feathers it out so that not
trace remains. That takes exper-
fence and practice.
Boiled down, the drycleaners' ad-
vice Is: Let an expert do 1t. Some
cleaning can be successfully done
at home talthough the fire hazard
people are against iD but the PER-
centage Is so small that the simplest
and, in the long run, least expensive
thing to do is shoot the problem
off to professional. Inept expert
menting only makes the 'lrycleaner's
Job harder, and lessons your chance
Of satisfactory results
And while YOU are at it. remember
that promptness helps. Fresh stains
react better than stale ones. To
top it of, tell your cleaner what
has caused the spot. Those two
rules-bundling off the garment to
a quality drycleaner Immediately
after it has been stained and identi-
flying the stain-can do more to
prolong the life and looks IF your
clothes and household things than