Stain Sticks

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SoapSap

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A lot has been reported about making laundry bars on this forum. I am going to make a test batch of 100% CO, and 0% super fat formula for laundry bars and stain sticks.

My question is when using the stain sticks do I need to wet the soiled part of the fabric before rubbing it with the stain stick? Do you wet the stick and rub it on dry fabric, or rub a dry stick on the dry fabric?

These may be no-brainer questions, but I am totally unfamiliar with stain sticks. I thus far have been using spay and wash!
 
I wet the item and then run the stick under water to get that to start lathering a bit too, then I rub the stick onto the wet clothing. Then I massage the soap Into the stain with my fingers and rinse. For tough stains I rub the soap onto the stain again and toss it into the wash.
 
I went both and rub the stain stick in well. All you are doing is applying a bit of extra soap right to the stain.
 
So ... a stain stick (at least in this context) is just 100% CO, NaOH (I assume) and no superfat/lye discount?
 
I normally just use regular bath soap, because usually when I see a spot, I'm in the bedroom getting ready for bed. Way easier to nip into the nearby bathroom, grab a bar from the soap dish, and solve the problem right then, rather than schlep down to the laundry room or try to remember what shirt had spots where when I do the laundry later. Bath soap has always worked well for me, although I'm mostly dealing with minor problems when I do this. I wet the bar and firmly rub it over the spot -- the result is just a small dampish soapy mark. I don't want clothes with large wet spots sitting in the bedroom laundry basket.

I did reserve a chunk of the 70% CO, 30% lard, 0% superfat laundry soap I made this past weekend and will cut it into sticks and put them in the bath and the laundry. I'm curious to see if it does better than regular bath soap -- I imagine it might be more effective on super greasy-dirty spots.
 
I would think that the CO and it's properties would make it an excellent candidate. Still, it's matter of degrees I am sure.
 
CO makes an excellent stain remover. I keep a tube of CO LS paste in the bathroom for just that reason. When the shirt comes off, it gets checked and rubbed and into the hamper.
 
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