Stains happen every day and in every household. Ideally you should treat them right away, but sometimes they soak in or dry before you get a chance to remove them. For those times, we lab test stain removers to find out which ones are best at tackling common stains like oil, grass and sweat. Here's what goes on in the lab.
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Our expert testers
While we do a lot of product testing in-house, we send stain removers to an external laboratory with specialist equipment to measure soil removal so we can determine which stain removers work best in real-world situations.
How we choose what we test
With this type of consumer good, our aim is to try to cover the whole stain remover market, especially what you're most likely to see in major supermarkets.
We start off by surveying manufacturers to find out about their range of products. From this information we put together a final list that goes to our buyers. They then head out to shops and buy each product, just as you would. We do this so we can be sure what we're testing is the same as any consumer would find, and not 'tweaked' in any way for better performance.
How we test stain removers
In order to fine-tune our testing and make sure it's as relevant as possible, we conduct product use surveys to find out which stains are most common in Australian households. Our experts then put each stain remover to the test to find out how well they remove:
- sweat
- grass/mud
- olive oil (cooking oil)
- blood
- tomato
- mineral oil
- chocolate ice cream
- baby food
- make-up
- ground nut oil (which simulates collar grime).
Soakers (powders) are tested differently to pre-treaters (sprays) in terms of the amount applied to the soiled swatches we use to test stain removal. We use cotton material swatches that have specific formulas of these stains applied to them.
Pre-treaters
Before washing, we apply a set amount of each stain remover to the stained swatch and let it sit for five minutes.
Soakers
For soakers (powders), we follow the manufacturer's instructions for the dosage of each product. We stir the soaker into a bucket filled with 7L water at 40°C until it dissolves, then submerge the stained swatches and leave them to sit for two hours.
For both pre-treaters and soakers, we use a front loader washing machine on a cold wash cycle with a laundry detergent from our laundry detergents test.
Following the wash cycle, we measure the degree of stain removal. We also test how well stain removers compare to washing with laundry detergent only as well as with water only.
Home recipe
We also included a home recipe in our testing which consists of mixing the following ingredients in a spray bottle:
- 200mL hydrogen peroxide
- 100mL dishwashing liquid.
Test criteria explained
The CHOICE Expert Rating, our overall score which determines the products we recommend, is based on how well the products remove the following stains:
- sweat (25%)
- grass/mud (20%)
- olive oil (cooking oil) (20%)
- blood (5%)
- tomato (5%)
- mineral oil (5%)
- chocolate ice cream (5%)
- baby food (5%)
- make-up (5%)
- ground nut-oil (which simulates collar grime (5%).
Weightings are in brackets. Survey feedback from CHOICE members tells us that sweat, grass/mud and cooking oil stains are the most common household stains, so we've weighted these more highly in the CHOICE Expert Rating than the rest.
We're on your side
In more than 60 years of making a difference for Australian consumers, we've never taken ads or sponsorship.
Instead we're funded by members who value expert reviews and independent product testing.
With no self-interest behind our advice, you don't just buy smarter, you get the answers that you need.
You know without hesitation what's safe for you and your family.
And you'll never be alone when something goes wrong or a business treats you unfairly.
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Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
