Old blood stains can be especially difficult to remove, however it's not always impossible. If the blood stains have been washed in hot water or put through the dryer, this could have set the stain and made them permanent.
The trick to removing dried blood is trying a simple method (soap and water) and moving on to more complicated methods if needed. If at first you do not succeed… Use an enzymatic cleaner. If soap and water do not adequately remove the stain, move on to an enzymatic cleaner, which will biodegrade the stain.
A blood stain is an organic stain, which means it's full of proteins, and proteins are programmed to bind together when heated, making them set fast into our clothes. This means it's important to resist the temptation to wash blood stains out with hot water and instead approach with slightlmore caution.
Finding and documenting blood residue
Freshly dried bloodstains are a glossy reddish-brown in color. Under the influence of sunlight, the weather or removal attempts, the color eventually disappears and the stain turns grey. The surface on which it is found may also influence the stain's color.
Heat activates the proteins in blood, causing it to set quickly and permanently stain.
Even when you can't treat a stain immediately, the five powerful Stain Fighters in OxiClean™ Max Force™ Spray tackle tough stains like dried-in blood. Rinse blood stain in cold water. Spray directly onto the spot or stain until saturated.
Dawn. If you have some Dawn dish soap, you can also use that to help remove blood stains. Dawn recommends applying a few drops of dish soap directly onto the fabric, covering the entire stain, and then rubbing it in with your fingers.
The types of cleaning solutions used to remove blood stains are upholstery cleaner, hydrogen peroxide, water and soap mixtures, and rubbing alcohol.
Are Dried-in-Blood Stains Harder to Remove? Yes, unfortunately they are, and this task often needs something stronger than soap and water. The most effective method is to use hydrogen peroxide, an oxidizing agent that removes old blood stains via a chemical reaction, breaking it down.
These stains are removed by using a bleaching agent, for example, hydrogen peroxide. These oxidizing agents break down the color-causing components of chemical structures so that the stain becomes invisible!
We learned that most fresh blood stains vanish with cold water and inexpensive household cleaning products, and that acting fast is a crucial part of the process.
Natural products like vinegar can actually help get out blood stains from clothing. To use vinegar to remove blood stains, all you need to do is pour the vinegar over the stain until it is completely covered and start gently blotting at it with a clean cloth or sponge.
Laundry products: Use a laundry detergent that contains hydrogen peroxide, such as Clorox formulas to remove the stain. Hydrogen peroxide oxidises blood stains, leaving your fabric stain-free! Vinegar: White vinegar can break down blood stains while also disinfecting the area.
Ammonia. Rub out blood stains on clothing by dabbing the area with a half-strength solution of ammonia and water before laundering. This is a great method for how to remove blood stains, but it can also help get rid of perspiration and urine.
First, scrape off all the remnants of dried blood over the garbage can or sink with a dry sponge or scrub brush. Cover the discolored area with hydrogen peroxide. It will bubble up as it attacks the stain, just like it does with fresh blood.
Prepare a thick paste of salt and cold water.
Apply it onto the stain. Let it stay like about 10-20 minutes. Salt has strong dehydrating properties and will lift up the water and the blood. After the time is up use more cold water to rinse the stain.
Wash the stained clothing in cold water with a natural bleaching agent like hydrogen peroxide, distilled white vinegar, or baking soda. Let the clothing air dry and then see if the stain is gone. Don't dry your clothing after the wash; the heat could set any remaining stain.
To get at particularly stubborn stains, like an accident from your pet, your parents may use one of these new products called “oxy” cleaners. These cleansers use oxygen and water to attack stains, including blood.
In recent years, several novel techniques have been explored to determine the age of bloodstains with predictive power from a few hours up to four months, including raman spectroscopy [8,9], ATR-FTIR spectroscopy [10,11], fluorescence lifetime imaging [12,13], vibrational spectroscopy [14], infrared spectroscopy [15], ...
Luckily, salt water or saline can come in handy in a pinch. Plain old table salt and cold water do really well for getting period blood out of clothes after the stain has dried. If you're a contact lens wearer, you can use your saline solution to the same effect, which is pretty handy when you're traveling.
"On the whole, dried blood remains stable at ambient temperatures much longer than wet blood," adds Dr. Rudge. "Dried blood samples usually stay viable for a few weeks at room temperature.
Why does blood stain so badly? Due to the hemoglobin that's present in blood, it stains very easily. This is because hemoglobin and other coagulating agents bond with anything they can when exposed to air — including fabric fibers.
In addition, bloodstains can harbor harmful blood borne pathogens such as HIV and hepatitis. This is why it is so important to get those stains cleaned thoroughly. Since blood can carry so many different types of disease, it is essential to keep safety in mind first. Be sure to wear gloves when cleaning up bloodstains.