AHEAD OF THE CURVE CHRONICLES №19
KEEP IT CLEAN
’Tis officially the season for a good old Spring Clean. While I’m not sure many of us bother with the wall washing and hardcore brass-buffing of a hundred years ago, the arrival of Spring does make many of us want to spruce up our homes a bit, after the dark, dusty, depressing winter months. So this week, I asked the HS team to share their best cleaning hacks.
Ben, HS Sr. Art Director: Ben is our resident oracle on sartorial issues, so has more tips for cleaning items of clothing than you can shake a Vanish stick at. 1) For ultimate stain removal, massage dishwasher soap into any greasy stains, leave for ten minutes, then put on a cool wash; 2) To get rid of any lingering smells on clothing, pre-wash them for 1 hour with white vinegar in the washing machine; 3) Use your own saliva to remove your own blood from clothing; 4) If you get ballpoint pen stains on fabrics, you can spray hairspray on them, leave them for half an hour, then put them in the washing machine on a cool wash.
Guillaume, HS Creative Director: To remove crayon and pen marks from floors and walls, rub toothpaste on the stain with a damp toothbrush. Thanks to our son Oscar, I can testify that this works like a dream!
Leah, HS Managing Director: My tip is for any oil or grease marks on your silks. Dust them with a thick layer of talcum powder (or flour) and compress with a towel and a weight on top, such as a book. Leave overnight and dust off completely, before you hand wash.
Katinka, HS Operations Manager: To remove stickers that won’t budge, dab any kind of cooking oil onto some paper towel then lay it over the sticker (or sticker residue). Leave it for a few minutes while the oil dissolves the adhesive, then wipe it away with a clean paper towel.
Kym, HS Senior Account Manager: One hack I use a lot in my life is piling salt on top of spilled red wine to prevent staining! Another good one is to add a big splash of cleaning vinegar to your kettle, boil it, empty it, and admire the beautiful, limescale-free, results.
Julian, HS ECD: I recently spent hours putting togther a new chest of drawers for my son. When it was finished, the drawers didn’t come out smoothly - they jolted and squeaked - so I rubbed a candle along the runners. It worked like a treat.
Jamie, HS Senior Creative: A new favourite is one a friend told me recently. It sounds super basic but by loading the dirty cutlery in allocated sections of the dishwasher (knives together, forks together, etc), when you then stick them back in the kitchen drawer, it takes seconds as they are already neatly packed together for you.
Sylvan, HS Creative: I don’t have a hack as such, but I do have a new cleaning product which has changed my life: a squeegie (a scraping tool edged with rubber which removes water/soap from windows/glass/shiny surfaces). What’s special about mine is that it has it’s own built-in cleaning spray, so you can squirt and squeegie simultaneously. Ground-breaking.
Lydia, HS Jr. Creative: Add some of your favourite essential oil to some white vinegar in a spray bottle and boom, you’ve got yourself a multi-purpose cleaner for literally ANYTHING (apart from wooden floors).
