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…and the winner is: OXICLEAN — at least 95% of the time. When my daughter was born, I tried switching to 20-Mule-Team Borax because it was about 1/3 the cost, but I soon found out it only cleaned stains out of clothes about 1/3 as well (if that). When I switched back, the Oxiclean also removed stains leftover from the failed Borax treatments that had been washed and dried several times.

As a demonstration of awesomeness, check out these before and after photos! Please forgive any lighting discrepancies; the before photos were taken at night with the kitchen lights, and the after photos were taken during the day with natural light. Warning: Explicit poopy messes forthcoming!

Now, to start with, I would like to explain that these are from the “Oxitreat” pile that I keep around for about 2 weeks. So some of these poops and stains have been dried and setting in for 10+ days. Also, the baby is breastfed, which may make the stains easier to remove. I’ve been using Oxiclean since my son was a baby (5 years ago!), and it has always worked great throughout his dietary changes. Breastfeeding, formula and solid foods, it all comes out somewhere and makes messes on the clothes. I’ve always been able to get the clothes clean, including during potty training and bedwetting (white sheets). All you need to do is put one scoop in the sink, fill it halfway with hot water, and soak items for an hour or two, agitating them a couple times.

Wash the clothes as usual after they’re done soaking. You’ll want to rinse them well after they’ve soaked before washing them, otherwise they get kind of a rough, crusty texture even after machine washing. Oxiclean also irritates my skin a little; makes it feel really dry and kind of itchy. You may want to wear gloves when using it, or rinse your hands wells (1-2 minutes under running water) and use a gentle hand lotion afterwards.

Oxiclean seems to work best on the “bodily” soils and stains. Food stains are tough, as you can see from the before and after comparisons of my son’s shirt.

My son is very active and we put up few boundaries as to how messy he can make himself (the house is another matter entirely), because of this he systematically destroys any clothing that he wears. This is fine, as we shop mostly at Goodwill and garage sales anyway, but every summer I buy him a couple packages of Hanes plain white tees. They’re nice because they keep him cool (he sweats buckets just like his mom) and at the end of the summer they can be “recycled” into whatever. But they don’t even last ONE DAY before he has them covered in any kind of stain you could imagine. Blood, grease, mud, grass, red kool-aid, he’s like a walking stain demonstration.

Oxiclean removes the bulk of the stains, and greatly minimizes they’re appearance. Remember, they’ve been sitting for probably a week before being treated, so that’s the best I can expect and it’s just fine with me. It extends the life of these white t-shirts and makes them look as presentable as a 5-year-old’s everyday white shirts can look. I’ve tried just washing without treating before and WOW–trainwreck.

One bucket of Oxiclean lasts us about 2-3 months. Along with treating the kids’ stains, I throw a scoop in the washer with my husband’s work clothes. I don’t use it for much else other than laundry. Thanks to Oxiclean, I’ve been able to resell or hand-down the majority of baby clothes and other fabric baby items (seat covers, sheets, blankets, etc.) once they’re outgrown. Without it, nobody would want the yucky stained used clothes; but with it, nobody is the wiser…

I wrote this review completely independently of any compensation in regards to this product. I believe when a product works well you should share your experiences and spread the word.