The Archive

TL;DR

• Bar soap — specifically Zote or Palmolive bar — works better than liquid detergent on grease, grass, and mystery stains because of how surfactants behave when applied dry and concentrated directly to fabric.
• The method: wet the fabric, rub the bar directly on the stain, let it sit 5–10 minutes, then wash normally. That’s it. No soaking. No special products.
• Hot water before soap on protein stains (blood, egg, sweat) sets the stain permanently. Cold water first, always.
• It doesn’t work on everything. Ink and red wine have their own rules. Pretreating old dried stains needs more patience than I usually have.