I don’t normally think of sheets as a guest amenity. But my discovery of the joys of bamboo sheets has me rethinking that attitude. I bought some bamboo sheets at Inn Style during the PAII conference in Phoenix this last April, and I feel like royalty.
I have enjoyed the silky feel of satin sheets, but hated the way nothing, including me, stays put during the night. I love silk, but it can be too warm, even though it breathes. A love the feel of high quality Egyptian cotton sheets, but hate the price. Bamboo sheets give me the satiny touch, without the slipping, the feel of cotton without the price, and the draping of silk without the over-heating.
And they launder well too. You can read my article about them at The B&B Lady’s Innfo about natural fiber bamboo sheets.
Your guests deserve the best, especially if it doesn’t cost you the “castle”. See what Inn Style has to offer with bamboo sheets
Good question, Steve.
You’re right that you need to remove the stain before laundering, but then that’s really the best way to *really* clean stains anyway. Bleach is so hard on the environment, and the people using it, that we really need to get rid of it from our lives.
Vinegar is a stain remover, but stubborn stains deserve more attention before laundering. The two ingredients I continually run across for this department are hydrogen peroxide and ivory soap. Apply the product to the stain, blot, and let it sit for half-an-hour or so before tackling it again. Don’t scrub because that frays the fibers. Use an absorbent fabric — like a towel — on each side of the stained fabric and gently rock your finger tip or knuckle so the towel moves lightly, helping lift the stain as you blot. Rinse and repeat. (and if that doesn’t work, maybe you should die your sheets with tomato sauce to get a new color in your collection!)
Chlorine bleach actually contributes to the graying of fabrics. Hydrogen peroxide or baking soda and vinegar help not only remove that graying, but keep it away. You’ll ultimately have cleaner looking sheets by not using chlorine bleach. StainSolver brightens whites and colors much better than chlorine bleach, but I’m not sure if it’s safe on silk or bamboo either. I’ll check with the manufacturer.
Don’t you just love considerate guests? We should all have more of them, and be rid of the thoughtless ones who stain sheets with tomato sauce, chocolate, candle wax, rose petals, and the like.
I contacted the manufacturer of StainSolver, an oxygen bleach I highly recommend, about the problems with using this with bamboo sheets. He said that he didn’t know of any problem with bamboo sheets.
He went on to comment that oxygen bleaches with silk fabrics is a problem only if the silk isn’t washable. And I know that some silks don’t wash well and need to be dry cleaned, so that makes sense to me.
I’ll give it a try soon and let you know how it fares. That will give you an option of getting pizza sauce out of your laundry, and other things guests leave behind (like body fluids). You can order StainSolver through this link.
BTW, I took my sheets out of the dryer a bit early the other day, and hung them to finish drying; they came out more wrinkled than I thought they had before. I’ll keep you updated. This isn’t an issue for me, but it might be for you.
I love my bamboo sheets.