Day 85 | Wax, oil and dye combination stains

I've been covering stains on clothing for the past 2 days, covering oil, protein and dye stains. It's been really interesting for me as to how many possibilities there are for removing stains, but that not all methods work for all stains. A lot of the methods are the same in principle, with a slight variation in the theme. The most important thing to remember is that bleach and denim don't mix well, so it's better not to get a stain in the first place.

As I wrote on Day 84 and Day 83, to remove stains from clothing, you have to first determine what created the stain. Fortunately we usually know what we have spilled, dripped or dumped on our clothes, but it's the times when you get home with something on your clothing, that it gets a little more difficult. Reading the label of the product that created the stain, should help in narrowing down your cleaning methods. Below is a list of some common stains and general removal tips.

Wax/Oil/Dye Combination Stains

• Ball-point ink
• Candle wax
• Carbon paper
• Carbon typewriter ribbon
• Crayon
• Eye make-up (mascara, pencil, liner, shadow)
• Floor wax
• Furniture polish
• Lipstick
• Livestock paint
• Pine resin
• Shoe polish
• Tar

"Firstly, spray or sponge with dry cleaning solvent like perchloroethylene or trichloroethylene, then rub a heavy-duty liquid detergent into the stained fabric area and rinse thoroughly. Secondly, soak the stained garment in a dilute solution of all-fabric powdered bleach."

"If the above steps do not remove the stain you can try soaking the garment in a dilute solution of liquid chlorine bleach and water if the clothing is white or light coloured. Warning - bleach damage to coloured garments is irreversible. Since bleaching can alter the colour of the garment, bleach the whole garment and not just a spot. If the stain is not gone in 15 minutes, it cannot be removed by bleaching. More bleaching will only weaken the fabric."

Other common combination stains

• Barbecue sauce
• Calamine lotion
• Ketchup or tomato sauce
• Cocoa or chocolate
• Face make-up (powder, rouge, foundation)
• Gravy
• Hair spray

"First, rub a heavy-duty liquid detergent into the stain then rinse thoroughly. Second, soak the stained garment in a dilute solution of all-fabric powdered bleach."

"If the above steps do not remove the stain you can try soaking the garment in a dilute solution of liquid chlorine bleach and water if the clothing is white or light coloured. Warning - bleach damage to coloured garments is irreversible. Since bleaching can alter the colour of the garment, bleach the whole garment and not just a spot. If the stain is not gone in 15 minutes, it cannot be removed by bleaching. More bleaching will only weaken the fabric."

"Before any spot removal process you should test the product on a non-visible corner of the garment. No method is always one hundred percent successful. Success can be thwarted by length of time the stain has set, the material and dyes that make up the fabric and the make up of the stain itself."

Hope this has helped a little with regards to removing stains. It's sure given me some food for thought next time I grab the general "all purpose" stain remover.

Day 36 | A professional view on dry cleaning

Yesterday's blog post surely caused some conversation, comments and emails. In the end though, I had comments from two professionals in the field.

It basically all comes down to this. Dry cleaning your jeans are ok, and as far as I understand, won't shorten their shelf life. However, you need to find a dry cleaner that knows what they're doing. It's the same with everything in life. You don't go to the first car mechanic you find. You look around a bit, and ask people who have used dry cleaners in your area before.

Here's some tips from Tim McCann, President and Founder of Best Cleaners in Capital Region, New York; "Dry-Cleaning in Hydrocarbon, CO2 and Solvair will return the jeans looking like new or better with no shrinkage." So there's something to ask your local dry cleaner. If you're living in the US, have a look at www.americasbestcleaners.com, for the top 50 dry cleaners.

According to Dependable Drycleaners in Denver, they did a test for a local TV station, where they dry cleaned a pair of pants 10 times, and washed an identical pair 10 times. When they compared them side by side, the dry cleaned pair looked as good as they did on day one, only softer, where the pair that was washed looked older and lost color.

As I said in the comments yesterday. My test, however, has nothing to do with washing vs dry cleaning. It has to do with "wearing in" the jeans for 6 months, and then washing them, in water, for the first time, so that the raw denim would shrink the 1-5%. That will, according to the experts, give me a really good fit.

I hope everyone learnt something about the dry cleaning though. As always, comments are welcome, because there's always more to learn.

Day 34 | More front pockets

My day started off really good. By really good, I mean I had coffee from the start. Usually an Americano from Condeco (Double espresso with extra boiling water). Condeco is not my favourite coffee place in Gothenburg, but it helps that they have a free Wi-Fi connection. It's good to get out a little bit in the mornings, especially if you work from home. Read the newspaper, check your emails, see some people and drink your coffee. The newspaper in my case is the Sesam, which is a Swedish newspaper written in really easy to understand Swedish. Every article has all the difficult words at the end of it, in a sort of dictionary, so you can learn as you read. Have a look at their website for more info.

Here's two more photos of the change pocket in the front, that I spoke about yesterday. As you might have noticed how the denim changes colour, dependant on where the photograph was taken. It's usually in our lounge, but sometimes you can't choose the lighting in a coffee shop, restaurant or street, and have to make do with what you have.

Day 28 | The moustache wash

Twenty eight days in, and the back of the knees are really creased. It hangs, or rests at night for about 8-9 hours before being worn again, so the daily wear is really taking its toll. There's not a lot of colouration on the the denim yet, because if you flatten the creases, the colour is still all blue black. Look at Day 13 for a comparison so far.

Apparently there's a specific way to wash and treat denim, which I included below, called the moustache wash. It's when you use sandpaper on creases like those on my jeans, and then wash the jeans to give them a more worn effect. Don't really know if it's my kind of style, or if I am just too tired to also now get the sandpaper out and start sanding.

Obviously there are thousands of different ways to treat denim, but Dr.Denim only has nine different washes on their website. We have the final three here today. I'll look into getting others from other manufacturers, including different types of raw denim.

Tint - "The jeans are toned in the wash, often yellow, brown or green to give them a vintage character or a dirty feel."


Sandblasting - "Before being washed, the jeans are sandblasted. This makes them look naturally worn."


Moustache - "Before being washed the jeans are treated with sandpaper, or something similar, to give a worn, creased look to the knees and crotch."

Day 27 | Harris Blue Black Raw so far

Now that it is twenty seven days into the test I've had a real good look at the jeans and have only noticed minor changes to the denim.

As mentioned before, the button holes look a bit more worn. The back hem is more worn, from when I where them at home, barefoot, and let them hang down without folding them up. The crease made by the fold up is more visible when the hem is folded down. The knees are much more stretched in front, and creased a lot behind the knees. Then there are more creases below the pockets where the jeans fold in front, when I sit. Other than that, I have not seen a major colour change. That will take time and a lot more wear. I'll publish some photos of the next couple of days of all the areas I've mentioned. It looks like a bit more rain will fall here over the next couple of days, so it'll be interesting to see how the jeans hold up with all that water. We have two more washes from Dr.Denim for today.

Cellulose Enzyme Wash - "The jeans are washed with enzymes and organic substances that break down the cellulose in the fabric. The result is a washed-out effect."

Acid Wash - "A type of stone wash that was launched in the 1980s. Pumice is soaked in chlorine and washed with the fabric. Also called iced, frosted or snow wash."