Katie received her new sparkly, metallic, dark blue gymnastics leotard today and insisted on trying it on... just for a few minutes... before I had a chance to wash it. OK, you all know where this is going... 20 seconds... 20 freakin' seconds! She didn't even get the sleeves pulled up! Now her hands and thighs are purple! I've tried Dawn dish soap & Simple Green - no results. Mineral/baby oil took a little bit of the dye out, but not much. Mineral spirits (paint thinner) did almost nothing. Anyone got any ideas? I've read that the TPE Stain Remover cream that WM sells is just 10% benzol peroxide, i.e. Oxy10..."zit cream". Has anyone tried it? What about OxyClean?
Glad it’s working out. You can reapply some more to the finger tips, it still may fade more. The material is very thin there and the stain doesn’t have anywhere to go.
It will fade eventually.
Update:
Anyone who recommends any other product for removing fabric stains hasn't tried 10% benzoyl peroxide. This stuff works! Two days ago, Katie's right hand was as blue as the Na'vi. Today, it's almost completely normal. There's still a bit of blue in the tips of her fingers, and I've noticed a bit of orange staining here and there. But I can live with that. I've been working on the right side of her body. Today, I applied the cream to her left side. Hopefully she'll be good as new by Monday. Here's the "after" shot of her hand for comparison.
Thanks for the product recommendations and advice! Heading to Walmart tonight. I'll let you know how it goes. FYI: I only spot-tested the other cleaning methods with a cotton swab on a small stripe she got on her foot. So none of them should be an issue. Meanwhile... gotta find a better gymnastics leotard for her. Katie is a kiara-71 with the dark blue eyes and short red wig. She's got the perfect build for it. And who hasn't wanted a gymnast girlfriend since 1996?
@Katie's Guy I have a Dark Blue Leotard, that Stained one of My Girls, exactly the same way....I had even washed it in hot Water, already...
I also recommend the inexpensive Acne Cream, from Walmart. Slather it all over the stained area...leave it on overnight, usually the stain is gone. Deep or dark Stains may require more than one “Treatment.”
I use this...about $5.00, at Walmart. It works great!
@Katie's Guy I think is safe to state that most of us have gone true this experience unfortunately, keep in mind that TPE acts like a sponge so any chemicals you use will get absorbed into it, I would not recommend using any "heavy duty" chemicals on a case like this one, like @Fantastic Plastic mention it was a very brief exposure and the color usually does not soak too deep into the TPE in such a short time, I would personally recommend trying out the acne cream since some members have mention they have had success with it and it is also a light compound, you do not want to use anything that may be unsafe or toxic to you since it will soak into the TPE and will be a source of exposure to you, of course there are exceptional cases but yours seems to be on the lighter side, also keep in mind that cleaning stains such as this one sometimes takes several applications over days or weeks but you should see some progress over time.
If the acne cream does not fully do the job of removing the stain or if the color got pushed in by the chemicals you mention then another option would be using baby oil, I once got a stain on one of my dolls that cover her whole butt, hips and pelvic area, that stain was much darker than your doll's stain and the exposure time was several days not seconds and eventually I was able to remove it with baby oil, but give the cream a try first and keep us updated.
Don’t use any solvents!
TPE is actually very forgiving when it comes to staining.
Since this is a very brief exposure it should be able to be removed quite easily.
I used Walmart brand acne cream with 10% Benzoyl Peroxide with excellent results.