Removing Clay From a Baseball Uniform

By

Schlbusdriver

You can buy Fels Naptha soap at your larger grocery stores. I see it on the top shelf in the stain removal area. It is packaged like a single bar of soap. The off white wrapper makes it look like it has been sitting there for years. The stuff works great. I am working on a pair of baseball pants now and was searching for a solution to get the clay out of the pants. I had completely forgotten about the Fels. Going to try it now.

By

rytybo

Does anyone know where to purchase this Fels Naptha soap? Thanks.

By

Joe428

I purchased Clayz-out spray online. I sprayed the stains and I the clay came loose from the fabric and the pants turned white even before I washed them.

By

audreyt1947

I have to agree that Fels Naptha is the only thing for removing the red clay stains from my son's white or gray baseball pants. In the past, I've never had any trouble getting the red clay out even without pre-treating. But then they refurbished our baseball field this year, and all of a sudden, nothing will get those red stains out. I tried everything that has been suggested here but no - still stained after washing.

Then I remembered a baseball mom suggesting Fels Naptha years ago, and at the time I actually bought a bar but never needed to use it. So I dug it out, moistened the pants and rubbed the bar on the stains, let it set a couple minutes, tossed it in the washer, and unbelievably, the stains were gone without a trace! Fels Naptha is a really old product that your grandmother probably used. For some reason, it apparently fell out of favor with all the "new and improved" laundry products that got introduced. But it works like magic on every stain I've tried it on so far, mud, grass, feces, but best of all, blood.

On blood, it's miraculous almost - better than Oxiclean, enzyme bleach (Biz, Clorox 2), chlorine bleach, and hydrogen peroxide (although the peroxide had been my most recent fave, it often took a number of applications and sometimes still didn't get the blood out.) But with Fels Naptha you just moisten, rub, wait 5, wash, and miracle! no blood! You can get Fels Naptha in some grocery stores, but I get mine at Ace Hardware. It comes in a bar like a large bar of soap, and is with the laundry products. You can also buy it online, just Google it.

I've also made a kind of a liquid Fels Naptha because it got too time-consuming to rub that bar on many large red clay stains every day and because I'm kind of lazy. I just grated about 1/4 cup of the Fels Naptha from the bar, mixed it in about 1 cup water (you'll have to experiment), blended it all up with my immersion blender into a smooth liquid, and now just pour it on the stains like any other liquid stain remover. It doesn't bleach out colors at all (I've gotten distracted and left if for over a day at times). Find some and buy it - it's cheap and you won't regret it!

By

t-ballmom

Baking soda, baking soda, and more baking soda! The trick is to start with baking soda - use a makeup brush to lightly dust the pants before the game even starts. This will help keep the red clay from sinking in too deep. After the game, soak them immediately in a sink of some hot water and a full scoop of OxiClean. Swish around a few times, then swipe a bar of white bath soap across the worst of the stains. Dump a healthy portion of baking soda on each stain and scrub the fabric together. Rinse and check the stains - add more baking soda and do a bit more rubbing, then throw them in the wash. Make sure you check the stains to make sure they're gone before you let the pants dry. It takes some work, but the pants will be sparkling white when you're done!

By david (Guest Post)

Try adding oxiclean and tide in the washer and wash.

By

Noella

I don't know about red clay, but this works on football uniforms. When the twins played this fall, they'd get really grimy.

I used 4 scoops of Oxyclean and sprayed the dirty areas with Shout. Came out like new every time!

By

T&T Grandma

Bleach will turn the uniform a yellowy color. Any uniform (martial arts was my experience) with more poly in will yellow in bleach. Use color safe bleach, oxi clean, Amway has Trizyme-which I use. Or even try dumping some proxide on it and shampoo is good, must be like a Prell or Head/Shoulders. If you get dirt, use a protein buster, which can be Wisk, Era, etc. All these are well known cleaners.

By (Guest Post)

This works! In a bucket add a very generous squirt of Original blue Dawn dish washing detergent and about a cup of bleach. Squirt the offending stain with a little more dawn. Put the uni in the bucket and agitate several times over the next couple hours. Then wash as usual. Yes, it takes a little effort, but my son's team was always complimented on their sparking uniforms!