PS; This article is for women because I’m mostly talking about “period blood” but if you are a serial killer who’s interested in knowing the simplest way to get rid of blood stain from clothes, welcome aboard.
The easiest way to get rid of blood stains is a mixture of cold water and detergent.
I remember the first time I got stained with menstrual blood like it was yesterday. I had only worn that pad for less than 2 minutes when it happened. No, I wasn’t bleeding to death. I had just started my period the day before and it was my first time attempting to wear a pad. It had shifted because I had worn it wrongly and the brand was horrible (got to find out much later). Luckily for me, this happened at home. I had stained my underwear, my dress and my sheets. At this point I’d like to let you know that I am “HAEMOPHOBIC” and so I panicked. It felt like I was going to die.
Out of panic, I removed my dress, put on a towel and ran to the kitchen to boil water. “Hot water solves every problem”, I said to myself. I mean, back then we used to soak whites in hot water- coloured kitchen towels, bedsheets and towels too, to make the washing process easy and fast. In my head, that was the way to go. I stood there in the kitchen and watched the water heat up. I got a bucket, poured out all the water from the kettle and filled it up for round 2. From my calculations, two kettles of water would be enough to soak the life (and blood) out of my underwear, the dress and the bedsheet.
Immediately the 2nd kettle of water was ready, I turned it into the bucket, added more than enough detergent to the water and threw in the items. I left it to do the “magic” while I went to clean myself up NOT knowing I had made a HORRIBLE mistake. Fast forward to an hour later, I went to check on the clothes and I saw that the blood hadn’t moved. I thought, maybe it needed “a little washing and scrubbing”. I promise you I had never washed clothes as hard as I washed those items but the blood stains DID NOT MOVE. If I had gone any further with the washing, my already reddish palms would’ve peeled off. It was then I remembered “google”.
I typed in “how to get rid of blood stains fast” and I saw things like “distilled vinegar” “hydrogen peroxide”. If I had stayed there long enough, I’d have seen something like “the head of a giraffe from Sambisa forest”.
Apparently “YOU DO NOT USE WATER TO REMOVE BLOOD STAINS BECAUSE IT WILL COOK THE PROTEIN IN THE BLOOD INTO THE FABRIC. USE COLD WATER INSTEAD.” I really wish I had known it was this easy. I couldn’t believe I had gone through all that stress only to find out the answer was “cold” water? “Normal” water ??. It really can’t be that easy. I was sure I would get stained again, either later that day or the following day so I waited patiently for that to happen and when it did, I knew I had to try out this “experiment”. I fetched clean water from the tap, added enough detergent and tossed my “bloody” underwear into the mix. It was already late so I went to bed and when I woke up the next morning, I went to check on my “experiment” I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was ABSOLUTELY NO TRACE of blood on the underwear, the water however wasn’t clear anymore. It had worked like magic.
A lot of people actually think if you wash off the blood almost immediately, it would take the blood off “faster” but the truth is soaking the stained clothes in cold water + detergent will have the clothes looking as good as new. Handling period blood can be really overwhelming and disgusting if you’re haemophobic like me. This method will save you time and the stress of coming in contact with the blood in the process of “washing and scrubbing”. No matter how big or heavy the fabric is and the amount of blood spilled on it. I assure you; just soak in a mixture of cold water and detergent for a couple of minutes or hours and when I tell you “ALL OF IT” I mean, ALL OF IT will be gone like it was never dead. Also, this works on dried up blood too. You’re welcome!