[Kerri]

Any ideas on cleaning Santa’s gloves? I’ve tried Dawn, hot water with a little bleach, regular clothes washing detergent-soaking, scrubbing.

grease/grime from a fire truck. They are cheap polyester material.

They are not too expensive, but I’d rather not have to throw them away every year.

Mrs. Claus is aggravated

[Becky]

I think I remember my mom using hairspray (AquaNet?) to get wheelchair grease out of her uniform pants.

This is obviously going back quite a few years now.

Not particularly helpful since I couldn’t tell you if she sprayed and then regular-washed them, or hand-washed them.

[Elizabeth]

If you replace, I suggest buying cotton gloves. They can be bleached and can be hung in the sunlight to get bleached back to white

[Cameo]

liquid degreaser soak follower by oxygenated bleach (powder) soak. both can be found at dollar tree

[Jean]

Rub Goop gel hand cleaner (for mechanics) into the gloves, put them in a plastic bag and let them sit overnight, then wash in hot water.

If they don’t come clean the first time, let them air dry and re-treat.

[April]

Fels-Naptha
It’s a cheap laundry bar soap that gets out everything. Wet clothes, rub affected areas with bar, launder as usual.

[Angelina]

Strip them: fav detergent, borax (detergent booster), and calgon (helps treat water to making removing oil and mineral buildup easier).

Hottest water they can handle.

Agitate in sink bath with spoon. Soak for a few hours agitating every now and then.

Feel free to leave it overnight to soak and rehash as normal in the morning.

I like to pre-treat particlularly troubled areas with fels-naptha prior to stripping.

Stripping will remove oil and mineral buildup, but some oils and exposure to the elements can actually dye the fabric.

If that is the case, you may follow up stripping with a hot soak with Rit dye whitener added to see if that helps.

Bleach can also turn things white but the water has to be hot to get the best results and it comes with risk of eating through materials as well as leaving them a bit yellow.

A little bluing agent can color correct bleach yellowing but Rit dye to whiten is safest.

I prefer powder because it can be made as potent as you like and lasts longer for storage.

Just make sure to add to hot water and completely dissolve before tossing in your desired fabric.

[Faith]

Whatever you do, don’t dry them in the dryer without them being as clean as you like.

The heat sets the stain and as far as I have learned with dried stains, there’s no way to change them after that.

[Angela]

Soak in oxi clean in a bucket over night, drain the next morning
Throw them in a zip laundry bag and wash with whites will come clean in wash.

[Wendy]

I remember my grandma using gasoline to get amusement park ride grease out of a white dress I wore.

In a well ventilated area. Do not put in dryer.

But then soak in laundry detergent water (tide or era) to get the gas smell out.

[Karyn]

Try hair spray. Sounds weird, but it works. I’ve used it to get Sharpie stains out.

[Lanette]

my husband is a Santa and we have the same problem. I have used soap like you have described but soaked them overnight and usually stains come out.

The truth is, they’re not well-made and it may be cheaper overall to just buy a few more pairs.

Also, after several uses, the polyester starts to run and the stitching around the hands gives out. Good luck.

[Rebecca]

Hydrogen peroxide and baking soda make a paste and apply on stains . Let dry and wash as normal.

Works on underarm stains on white shirts as well!

[Maria]

Mix dawn dish soap, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and hot water. Soak them for a couple hours.

They will look like new!!

[Lesia]

Soak them in water with Borax added. I did this with ALL of our baby and toddler clothes and then with baseball pants and had good results.

But I let them soak a couple of days.

[Andrew]

From someone who had dress white uniforms (navy enlisted) find waterless hand cleaner in white.

Use the the hand cleaner and scrub the glove down rub together.

Then wash with hot water no other detergent.

They should come out very clean with few spots

[Vicki]

I’ve make my own washing detergent with borax, washing soda, Fels Naptha and Oxyclean. I will put a tablespoon in a medium pot of water that I have heated to boiling and then the tablespoon of dawn, and add a good squirt of hydrogen peroxide.

I soak whatever has grease in it or dirt and stir it until it begins to lift out.this combination seems to get most anything out.

You may have to heat the water again and leave it in the water soap mixture for an hour or so.

[Victoria]

Through degreaser in with them in hot water. Also, Oxi versatile powder, soak over 24 hours, agitate it.

I get everything out this way.

[Cindy]

Fels-Naptha might take a few times washing in the sink wet lather rinse catching water in the sink when you don’t have dirty water your done and if that doesn’t get it a bit of brake clean in a ziplock toss the gloves in for a soak over night dawn is an awesome pretreat but the laser are why I use on things that have been through the dryer with a stain

[Author]

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