May 2022 – The Stanley Keg

Have you gotten a little bit of blood on your jersey? Do you not want to keep it to intimidate your opponents? I get it, you want a fresh jersey and you are wondering how to get dried blood out of your hockey gear. The best way to get dried blood out of your hockey gear is to rinse with cold water as soon as you get in the locker room. After that, use a tide stick as soon as possible. Cold water helps with removing blood stains from your hockey jersey. Hot water actually makes blood stains harder to remove. Other methods that work well are hydrogen peroxide, a salt and cold water paste, white vinegar, or even toothpaste. Let the stain soak in whichever method you choose and then thoroughly rinse with cold water. Never machine dry, always hang dry your jerseys with blood stains. Blood is difficult to remove from your hockey jersey because it is doing its job by clotting. Clotting blood helps stop the bleeding and heal cuts, but it also causes blood to bind to fabrics. Read on to find out some other methods of blood removal and how to make sure your jerseys come out as fresh as the day you bought them. The best way to remove dried blood stains from hockey jerseys The best way to get blood out of a hockey jersey is to act quickly. rinse the stain with cold water and dab at the stain, never rub it. Use the locker room sink as soon as you get in there. After you have thoroughly rinsed with cold water, use a tide stick on the bloodstain as soon as possible. It’s not a bad idea to keep one in your bag just in case. When you guys get in the locker room go ahead and throw the tide stick on the bloodstain right away. You should let the tide stick soak for at least ten minutes, but let’s be real, You will be at the bar for much longer than that after the game. After it has soaked on your jersey for at least 10 minutes it's best to scrub it in the tub or a utility sink with COLD water by hand before throwing it into the wash. Coldwater is important. Using cold water helps release the stain instead of setting it further into the jersey. If you use hot water you risk locking the stain into the jersey. So be sure to wash both by hand and machine with cold water with fresh bloodstains. Avoid heat with bloodstains. Hot water or drying with heat can cause the bloodstains to set in the jersey and make them difficult to remove. Can You Use Hydrogen Peroxide To Remove Blood From Your Hockey Jersey? Hydrogen peroxide is something that ER nurses swear by when it comes to getting blood stains out of their clothing. Hydrogen peroxide is said to help remove dried blood stains. It is also a mild bleach, so if you have a really dark jersey test iron a small spot in the armpit or something first to see if it will change the color of your jersey at all first. If you would like to use hydrogen peroxide to remove blood from your hockey jersey first rinse with cold water like before. Next soak the stain with hydrogen peroxide and let soak for at least 5 minutes. After soaking be sure to blot the area with a paper towel or sponge. Never rub, always dab. From here rinse with cold water and add your jersey to the washing machine on a cold water cycle. Again, do no put your jersey in the dry, hang to dry to avoid heat. Does Vinegar Remove Blood Stains? Some people have had great luck removing set-in blood stains with vinegar. You should use the highest-strength white vinegar you can find. Really, the regular white vinegar that you can get from the store for the cost of a beer will do but if you want to be extreme you can get pickling vinegar. Pickling vinegar is a higher strength vinegar and it will help remove those stubborn blood stains that that goon gave you and you just can't stand them. Like everything else dealing with removing blood stains, always rinse your jersey with cold water first. Second, soak the stain in white vinegar and let set. You can use a soft brush to gently scrub the area and work the vinegar into the stain. Let the vinegar soak on the stain for 5-10 minutes and rinse with cold water. Launder on a cold cycle and again, always air dry. How To Use Salt To Remove Blood From Your Hockey Jersey Salt seems like a strange one to remove blood. Salt has a strong dehydrating ability so it is able to soak up all dat blood! Lemon juice can assist salt in removing blood very well. Start like always by rinsing the stain with cold water. Next, make a thick paste with salt and cold water. Rub this onto the blood stain. Let that soak for ten minutes. From here cut a lemon in half and rub it onto the salt-covered stain. Be sure to squeeze while you go in a circular motion, getting all that lemon juice out of the lemon and onto the stain. Let that soak for 5 more minutes and rinse your jersey with cold water. Launder on the cold cycle of your washer and hang to dry. Always avoid heat. Other Ways To Remove Blood Stains From Hockey Jerseys There are some other off-the-wall ways to remove blood stains out there. I have read toothpaste, cola, and even cornstarch. Some people say that colegate toothpaste is effective at removing blood stains by rubbing it on the stain and letting it dry. And then cold washing your jersey after. Other people say that they have poured coke onto a blood stain and let it soak for over an hour, repeating until the stain is gone. That seems strange to me, wouldn’t the coke stain your jersey? And the last weird one for me was a water and cornstarch paste. People make a thick paste, apply it to the stain, wait for it to dry, and then rub off the crusty cornstarch. Repeat as many times as necessary. These last few seem a little weird to me and I believe any of the previously mentioned ways of removing blood stains from your hockey jersey would do a better job. Getting Blood Out Of A Hockey Jersey The best way to remove blood from your hockey jersey is to rinse the stain with cold water as fast as you can. Once your blood begins to clot into the fabric it begins to get more difficult to remove. If you rinse with cold water in the locker room and happen to have a tide stick in your bag (not a bad idea to always have one) You should spot treat immediately with that. However, I know we are beer league hockey players so we probably aren’t all carrying around a tide stick, so the next best thing is to spot treat with hydrogen peroxide. ER nurses use this trick all the time. Hydrogen peroxide is a mild bleach so be sure to spot test first on a hidden area like your armpit. Soak the blood stain with Hydrogen peroxide and let it sit for at least 5-10 minutes. For any blood removal from fabric avoid heat. Coldwater is your friend when it comes to removing blood stains from your hockey jersey. Always machine wash on cold and never throw your jersey in the dryer if you are trying to remove blood stains. Hang to dry. Repeat the process until the stains are removed. If one way didn’t work try any of the other 5 that are mentioned here. Let us know which one worked the best for you!