Fels-Naptha

I discovered a stain miracle worker. Well, that's a lie, my step-mom discovered it and passed along a bar of the stinky smelling stuff to me. It doesn't smell bad exactly, just slightly antiseptic. But as I discovered, it is simply the wafts of an age-old stain fighting technique conveying it's power with a strong scent. Fels-Naptha, a heavy duty laundry bar soap has been around for over 100 years. There's a good chance that my great grandmother used it to scrub her clothes along a washboard before hanging them out on the line.

I've had the Fels-Naptha bar sitting in my cabinet with my other laundry supplies for a couple months now. I've had the opportunity to use it, I tend to stain my clothes often, but instead stuck with my tried and true stain treating technique--Spray it with Shout, let it sit, throw it in the washer and shout it out!

Flash forward to this past week. I borrowed one of my roommates shirts, wore it out on a date, and managed to splash spaghetti sauce on it's cream colored fabric. Then, I get home from the date, and in my magical post-date haze I take off the shirt, toss it in the laundry pile, and totally forget that the stain ever happened.

Two days later, I'm making spaghetti for myself in the kitchen, and I suddenly remember the stain. I rush to the closet, hoping that my shout can work it's magic. I grab the shirt, squeeze the nozzle, but my shout is out. Not wanting to leave the stain to ruin the shirt any further, I rummaged around in my cleaning cabinet for any other stain remover and came across the Fels-naptha. I figured it couldn't hurt, peeled back the label, dampened the bar (per my step-mom's instructions) and rubbed it into the stain. I let it sit for a few minutes, and repeated the process while rinsing under warm water.

I couldn't believe my eyes. The stain washed right out! Not even a trace remains. If it can get out set in pasta sauce, I can't wait to see what it can do for my mascara stained towels.