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Chocolate Stain Removal
 ~Pooja Chakrabarty

The Basics of Chocolate Stain Removal

Children and chocolates go together. They make a wonderful picture. However, along with children and chocolates, creep up those dreaded mini-disasters: Chocolate Stains. Chocolate stain removal is by no means an easy task, and it helps to get all the helpful hints that you can.

One of the many stains that your kids invariably put all over their clothes is that of chocolate. And chocolate stain removal is a task and a half.

Chocolate stain removal has to be done quickly, and it merits very careful action.

Scraping off as much as possible of the chocolate with a blunt knife constitutes the first step in chocolate stain removal. To aid in this step ice treatment could be used. What this does is to make the chocolate hard and brittle, so that scraping it off is that much easier.

Chocolate stain removal has to be done quickly, and it merits very careful action

For chocolate stain removal from a non-washable fabric, the chocolate stain must then be blotted with a dry cloth. Thereafter, the chocolate stained garment must be taken to the drycleaner.

Fabrics that are washable can be scrubbed with a toothbrush and some warm soap water. That in itself may take care of the stain.

However, in case a brownish stain remains the garment may benefit from a soak in a sanitizer that contains sodium percarbonate. This should ideally be followed by a warm water rinse.

Despite all these measures, the stain may persist. This can be tackled by sponging the stain with denatured alcohol and ammonia, in equal quantities. However remember to check the garment for colorfastness first. After the alcohol-ammonia treatment the garment should be washed in warm water.

Alternatively, after scraping off the solid chocolate particles, the stained portion can be held under running cold water, so that the stain is forced off from the back. A liquid detergent can be applied on the chocolate stain and then be allowed to remain for about 5 minutes or so. Following this up with a 15 minute cold water soak would help in loosening the stain. Rubbing the stain every 5 minutes would also be helpful. Finally, the cloth should be thoroughly rinsed. This whole process can be repeated a few times till no more chocolate stain removal is possible.

Sometimes an oily stain may remain, but this should be removed easily by using a light liquid detergent.
Chocolate stains are certainly difficult to remove, but not impossible by any means. So don't take that chocolate away from your six-year-old. After all, there are ways to take that chocolate stain out.

[The picture used in this article has been taken from the photo library of stock.xchng.]
 

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