How do you get skin barrier cream out of clothing?

White vinegar? Dawn? If dawn gets crude oil out of bird feathers I imagine it would work for desitin on clothing.

Ordinary washing detergents are very good at breaking down fats and oils, but slightly less so at low temperatures. Forget the eco bit for the time being and stick her clothes on a 40 degree plus wash.

Another old housewives' wrinkle is blotting paper/thick kitchen towel and a cool iron. The iron melts the fat or wax and the paper soaks it up. If the clothes are dry clean only it might be worth pretreating them in this way before you take them in.

40 degrees Celsius about 104 degrees Fahrenheit. 😉

Glad, do washing machines put the temperatures in Fahrenheit too? Only my American Apparel t-shirt has 30 in its little washing tub symbol - maybe they're catering for the EU or something.

CM, I don't know about the washing label, I haven't looked at one in a very long time. But, our washing machines only list cold, warm and hot for temperatures. So in this case it would be a hot wash since that is the range the water heaters are set. Though my water heater is set to 120 degrees.

Do your washing machines list the actual Celsius temps?

They vary. My favourite ever was an Indesit that let you set the temperature separately from the wash programme; so theoretically if you'd taken it into your head to boil your woollens you could have done, on a gentle wash. I agree that's an unlikely scenario, unless you're into felting or something, but it was nice to know you *could.*

Mostly we get a choice of 95, 60, 50, 40 or 30, and if you want an actual cold water wash you can always put the detergent on a rinse programme and run it through twice. Boil, very hot, hand hot, warm and cool, I suppose they translate as. How do you manage without a boil setting? - I use that for all kitchen textiles (working on the kill or cure principle), and most bed linen and towels too.

Maybe it's because most American appliances are much better than the Euro versions - more powerful motors and more robustly built.

A boil setting? Here our government probably determined that was too hazardous. 😉

Thanks you guys. You're the best! I DID try the white vinegar and Dawn. It helped MUCH. It got the Destin out, but there is still what looks almost like a grease spot......but hey.....we're not trying to be perfect at this stage right? Thanks again. cadams

I pretreat the stain with dish washing soap (Dawn as suggested). Just rub it in a bit. Then when I go to do the wash (which is sometimes a day or three later) I just use regular washing detergent as suggested putting up the temperature to high and separate the clothes. Her dark pants that do sometimes get the skin cream on it, go into the wash on high temp with borax to help with the urine/bathroom smell. Her shirts and sweaters and undergarment are washed separately with our clothes on a normal wash cycle.

I had the same issue with my father's trousers. "Lestoil Concentrated Heavy Duty Cleaner". Just a very little, worked in with a brush, then wash as usual. Even old grease stains have come out with this. It does have a strong scent and a second washing or rinse is sometimes necessary -- but hopefully you'll have the same results as I.

I pretreat my clothes with Mean Green from Walmart. I spray it on, scrub it in just a bit and let it set for about 30 minutes and then wash as usual. Comes out with no residue or greasy mark.