Keeping Your Jacket Clean

[halogenic]

I would like some tips on keeping my jacket white enough to blind people in direct sunlight. I have been using Shout Gel and it works for most things, but it's not as effective as I would like. I would use a higher concentration of bleach, but I'm afraid of ruining the logo on the chest. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Chris

Line Slave

[Peter Green]

"Wear your food with pride" says I.

[Peter Green]

Yoonhi says, "If it's cotton, use bleach. If it's sythetic...... we're coming up with terms like "blue rinse" "rinsing blue" and things like that (Don't use bleach on synthetic, it'll turn it yellow)"

I've got some chef whites, but with patches (don't ask). She recommends removing the patches (or whatever), bleach the living sin out of it, and then put the bling back on.

Hope that helps.

[kbjesq]

Using dishwasher detergent on stains works well (use the liquid type, I think that Cascade now makes one with bleach added). Fels naptha is a laundry bar soap that also works well on stains.

Any of these techniques will dramatically shorten the life of your garments, but you should have success in removing at least 90% of stains. Also, old stains are much more difficult to remove, so try to get them in the washer or at least pre-treat the stains asap.

[LaurieB]

Oxyclean. It's a miracle product which I use not only on my white jackets, but have used to get red wine stains out of colored napkins.

[turkeybone]

Ive found much success with the above mentioned items -- at school we would soak in the tub for a few days in an oxyclean/cascade solution, with spot treating using anything from zout to pens to my favorite -- ivory soap and a spoon (works well on the horrible sheet-pan stains, but it does wear down the coat).

We could always tell the bleachers because they would be EXTREMELY yellow, especially compared to the rest of us, who were almost blue-white.

Then there were the days when we worked the US Open and got the jackets sent out. I bet I could've painting the Sistine Chapel in sharpies and blood on my back and it would have been perfectly done.

[Melanger]

If you're not concerned with having your jackets forever wash them in the machine with tri sodium phosphate (the stuff that you use to degrease your driveway before tarring it) and then again with bleach and laundry soap. Just make sure to complete the first wash (tri sodium) before starting the bleach cycle. Combining the two can result in some dangerous fumes.

The best answer is professional washing but whatever industrial grade soap they use generally limits the lifespan of a jacket to a year to 18 months. Happy washing!!

Edited November 28, 2007 by Melanger (log)

[HKDave]

I pre-soak with powdered dishwasher detergent (which seems logical; it's food stains, after all), then wash in hot as usual. Seems to work well enough (65 poly / 35 cotton blend).

I've also tried bleach pre-soak with similar results.

Neither has affected the embroidered logos.

[Chef Fowke]

One word: Borax. More info at About.com: How Borax Works

[Daniel Rogov]

Do as nearly all French and Italian chefs do - let your jacket get as dirty as necessary and have to completely fresh and well starched jackets within quick reach so that you can switch when you walk from kitchen to front.

As to cleaning those that have become stained, simply through the wash. Whatever stains remain will be "clean" and should be worn as badges of honor.

[RAHiggins1]

Let your apron cover more than 6 inchs of your waist when you tie it on

Back in my kitchen days, Marines especially, we learned to cook without getting the food on us. Marines as you might guess are trained to be somewhat metrosexual in the keeping of their appearances, even in the galley. Now when i cook at home my wife gives me grief because all my good shirts have "Badges of Honor" on them.

Edited November 28, 2007 by RAHiggins1 (log)

[Daniel Rogov]

Once a Marine, always a Marine. I still suffer from anxiety when my shirt or trousers wind up with a sauce or wine stain. After all, the Inspector General might show up a any minute.

[Peter Green]

Let the stains fall where they may.

It just shows you're comfortable with wet work.

[halogenic]

One word: Borax. More info at About.com: How Borax Works

←

I forgot about the box of Borax I have under my sink! It was a handy weapon in my war on fleas (which I won). I guess I'll give that one a go before I try the dishwasher detergent.

Thanks for all the advice!

[cookaburra]

another thing to consider is that the sunlight often helps whiten the jacket after a good wash in whatever you chose

[Saltydog]

Your linen company will probably clean it for you. How they get some stuff white again is beyond me. I don't think I want to know.