Whether it's an ink stain on their school shirt, mud on their football shorts or paint down their top, kids are always getting into messy situations.  But despite our washing machines permanently spinning, and our laundry looking 'stain-free' at the end of the cycle, our children's clothes may not be as clean as they appear to be.
 
We can all imagine the scenario: the laundry basket's overflowing, the bed sheets need changing and the kids clothes need washing. So you throw everything into the washing machine and are done with it. But this is no quick fix, as just by washing the wrong items of dirty laundry together we could be paving the way for bacteria lurking in our seemingly 'just washed' clothes.
 
Research from Vanish Extra Hygiene has shown that many of us wash our dirty bath mats with other items including our kids clothing and underwear, and some of us even wash our smelly gym clothes and our children's clothes together. So how can we ensure our clothes are hygienically clean?
 
It is often said that we learn our cleaning habits from our parents, and just as we know to separate our colours from our whites to avoid any washing mishaps, it is wise to ensure we're also clued up on washing correctly.
 
Join us now on our live WebTV Show where we will be delving into the laundry habits of the nation to provide some top tips on how to ensure you have hygienically clean laundry. From how often you wash your tea-towels to separating your bedding from your kids clothes, TV presenter Ruth Langsford and Dr Ron Cutler have all the answers to your laundry questions.
 
Ruth Langsford and Dr Ron Cutler join us live online at www.webchats.tv on Tuesday 23rd March at 2pm to show time to discuss cleaner clothes.

For more information visit www.vanish.co.uk

Vanish Webchat

H: Lis Speight

A: Dr Ron Cutler, deputy director of Bio-medical sciences, Queen Mary London

B: Ruth Langsford, TV presenter

H: Hello I'm Lis Speight and welcome to the Lifestyle Show. Now then us Brits are a nation obsessed with washing but despite our reliance on our washing machines – although I have to say mine is broken at the moment – new research has discovered that our fresh smelling and visibly clean clothes may in fact be harbouring a wealth of bacteria

Titles

H: Well joining me to discuss this and to offer advice on how to minimise the health risks associated with bacteria living in our clothes is Dr Ron Cutler, deputy director of Bio-medical sciences from Queen Mary London – welcome along Ron

A: Hi Lis

H: Really nice to see you today. And also mum of one and TV presenter Ruth Langsford, hello Ruth

B: Hello Lis – your washing machine's broken, how annoying!

H: It's broken I know, how horrendous! The man's coming on Friday to sort it out so don't panic

B: That's a long time 'till Friday!

H: I know

A: You could buy one

H: But we are live today as you may have noticed, so if you'd like to get your questions in to Ruth or Ron about washing, how to get the stains out, or if you have any really great tips about how you cater for your washing with a big family then do get them into us. All you have to do is type your name and your question in the box that's on the screen, press submit, it'll come through to us here in the studio and we'll try to get through as many as we can during the course of the show. But let's talk a little bit first about doing our washing and lovely clean clothes, they come out of the washing machine, but Ron – they're not quite as clean as we might hope they are, are they?

A: Well today now we've got washing machines that are extremely efficient and systems that are very nice for cleaning clothes at something like 30, even 25 degrees centigrade. It saves energy, helps save the planet. The problem is that in the past when we used to boil clothes, in Victorian times, the clothes were put in a big boiling vat, it killed absolutely everything in there. Today that doesn't happen because at 30 degrees centigrade most bacteria can survive that without any problem at all

B: Yes and your clothes would come out like dolls' clothes

H: Yes exactly. Not quite as robust these days are they the clothes?

A: No I don't think I'd put some of our clothes and boil those but – nice and clean for sure

H: But Ruth research commissioned by Vanish Extra Hygiene discovered that we probably aren't really aware of the risks of mixing clothing –

B: I wasn't at all

H: No

B: I was really interested to read that, because I'm quite a clean freak actually and I wash probably too much. My washing machine's always –

H: I think we probably all do

B: Going

H: Don't we?

B: The study said, you know ¾ of us do at least three loads of washing a week, often more than that. You know some households with lots of kids and things, it's – the washing machine's going all day, but what I'd never thought about was although I separate the kind of coloureds from the whites because you don't want an old black sock do you in with your white underwear and things

H: That's a nightmare when that happens isn't it?

B: Yes so I've always separated colours, I was kind of taught to do that by my mum, but what I haven't thought about is washing what with what, and so the research shows that you know we're putting dirty old bath mats in with children's clothes and we're putting our sweaty gym kit in with our tea towels, and worst of all, you know underwear – dirty underwear and you're washing it with a flannel. So actually when you think about it logically it is –

H: All that's going round and round together in the water

B: Yes and as Ron said, you know because we are washing at lower temperatures because you can't do everything at high temperatures, the bacteria aren't being killed off and you can transfer it can't you Ron –

A: It can be transferred at that sort of temperature, and – what you've also got to think about is baby clothes, do you wash baby clothes with the same clothes as adults? I mean there are certain things that you don't want babies to catch, so maybe we should actually separate off the clothes according to whether there's a young child in the family or not

H: Because we're so obsessed aren't we, when you've got a baby and sort sterilising everything, everything they touch – oh better sterilise that, better sterilise that – and all the clothes you bung them in the washing machine, you just assume that they're coming out clean. So Ron are you telling me that they're not clean?

A: Well it's difficult to tell nowadays because basically you're putting so many fragrances and that sort of thing in it, so the clothes come out, the stains may be gone, and they smell brilliant, but they're certainly not – at the same temperature as we normally treated clothes to get rid of bacteria, so if there are any nasties in there then they could easily survive in those sorts of clothing

H: So what sort of bacterias could be left in the clothes then, I mean what sort of things are we talking about?

A: Well the classic example to talk about at the moment is things like the winter vomiting virus

H: Right

A: It's easily –

B: That goes round and round and round doesn't it with kids

A: Round and round, it's all over the schools, I mean schools have huge problems with it when it happens, we sort of predict when it's going to come and you know it's every year, and it's not going away and I think maybe we should consider the fact that there may be problems related to different methods of transferring it, because you do transfer it on your hand, you do transfer it in other ways. These organisms can survive quite happily in the environment for some period of time, so we need to think about how we're actually going to mix clothes, that maybe someone's vomited on

H: Lovely

B: Just after a night out!

A: What you do, you don't throw them away, it's a very nice little – for a baby or something you're not just going to chuck it away

H: No

A: You either put it in the washing machine or you wash it separately

H: Yes so you –

B: The new Vanish have got this product called Extra Hygiene

H: Right

B: So they said we know with Vanish it's good stain remover and things but this is saying that this new product actually does kill 99.9% - I think you said you can't kill absolutely everything

A: No

B: But it's doing a pretty good job. But I do – I just the more I think about it, I'm sort of going actually I do put things like tea towels in, so it might be a kind of light coloured tea towel and put it in with pants

H: Yes well exactly, we all do and on that note actually we have a really nice question in – Rosie from Worcester, she says "I'm a busy mum." Aren't we all? "And sometimes I put all my kid's washing in with my towels and bedding." Is that really that bad? Is she a bad mother?

A: She's not a bad mother. She's a busy mother obviously

H: Of course

A: All of you are, but basically what you've got to do is you've got to think a little bit about what's on the towels and what's on the clothes before you actually mix them together, unless it's obvious with soilage on these clothes, and it might not be a good idea to mix it with something you're going to put on your table or wash your dishes with

H: Ok. So does this mean we're just going to end up doing loads and loads more washing though?

B: That is the worry though isn't it? Because we're sorting it into colours now

H: Yes

B: But now you're going to have the colours and then go oh yes but that's pants and that's you know tea towels. But I think oh I don't know probably if you probably pile it carefully

H: Save it up

B: Save it up, exactly for a couple of days you might be alright. You might be alright

H: You can get round it. Another question in from Helana, or Helena, she says "I'm a mum of a young child who often wets the bed. Should I wash the sheets separately?"

A: Well I mean wetting the bed isn't necessarily related to any sort of disease or infection, but –

H: If you leave it moulding in the washing –

A: If you leave it to moulder a little bit then bacteria can grow and I mean it's just ordinary skin flora initially and it might not be a good idea to have those there, so yes I mean –

B: So straight into the washing machine, don't let it dry?

A: Yes I think basically before it dries and all the rest of it. I mean what we call faecally contaminated material really should be separated off

H: And what about pre-wash, would that sort of sort the problem? I never use that button on my washing machine actually, the pre-wash button

A: I don't think anybody does

H: No exactly. But I always sort of think that that gets some of the gunge off before the proper wash happens, that maybe it's –

B: It's the anti – you need something that's anti-bacterial don't you, like this product really

H: To know

B: Because we're saying – yes to know that it's really getting to the bacteria, that's what I was surprised at that you think it's clean, it looks clean as Ron says it smells clean, but it actually it's the bacteria –

H: It's lurking

B: It's lurking

H: And you notice that don't you if you're sort of standing next to someone on the tube and they've got a really nice, clean shirt on and it looks lovely, really nicely ironed, but as they sort of warm up, this pong emits from the armpits, and I suppose if there's bacteria in there it's – the washing machine is not getting it out

B: Well do you know was it – 36% of people they surveyed

A: Yes

B: Men probably, let's face it Ron – don't wash or dry clean their suit, their business suit that they wear to work. Don't clean it at all, and when you think that's in the trouser department, that's not nice is it? And was it 26%

A: 26% yes

B: Never, never wash their gym kit!

H: Oh yuk

B: So they're sweating and then they put it all – sweaty clothes in a bag must be festering, are they?

A: Absolutely are, bacteria love that sort of environment. But I mean I think one of the major issues is that today we really don't know for something like Norovirus, the real role that clothing and everything actually plays in that sort of situation, especially since I mean it's only in the last year that the temperatures, the washing temperatures have suddenly shot down from 50 right down to room temperature, literally 25 degrees centigrade

H: Because we do have to think of the environment don't we?

A: Absolutely

H: We're trying to do our bit on every front aren't we?

B: And we're encouraged to do that aren't we and we like to do our bit for the environment

A: But in that situation you really have to think about what's happening, and you know what's happening with potentially with organisms that before we would have easily got rid of at those temperatures, or high temperatures but nowadays they may not go

H: So a hygienically clean wash needs a hygienic product, which is the way to go by the sounds of it. Ok another question from Mrs Owen – "I like to wash my dishcloths and tea towels regularly, but normally just bung them in with everything else. Should I do a separate wash, if so it would be a very small wash unless I wait all week and use them all up in one go."

B: But do you know that's an interesting – who was that, what was that lady's name?

H: Mrs Owen

B: Hello Mrs Owen. It's interesting you mention dishcloths because I said to Ron this morning, I do my tea towels and things, but actually the dishcloths and sponges I never put in the washing machine.

H: My mum bleaches them

B: Yes sometimes I do a bit of that but I don't think of washing them. A) Should you wash them and should you be putting them in with other things?

A: Tea towels are a huge problem. They're well recognised in restaurants and things as being a spread, a factor that will spread diseases, so yes they should be washed. Whether you wash them in bleach as your mum did, which is an excellent anti-bacterial agent, or whether you actually put them in with the other clothes, I mean you don't want to mix them with nappies, you don't want to mix them with underpants

H: It's obvious but –

B: Acutally everything you say you don't really want to mix those with do you? Washing the dishes

H: It's obvious but you do think you shut that door on your washing machine and you just assume everything comes out clean don't you?

B: Yes, yes

H: We've bee nassuming that haven't we but that's not the case

B: Yes. I'd never have thought would you, made that connection –

H: No

B: Of you know –

H: Not at all

B: Dirty pants and -

A: But it's all in the last few years when all the washing temperatures have – for totally valid reasons – have come down to save the environment - and that's terrific, but you've just got to think about the fact that sometimes you're washing clothes to actually get rid of potential problems, especially if you've got organisms in the family like Norovirus that have infected the rest of your family, it would be quite easy to spread – I mean ok it's spread through other things, apart from just clothing, but it could be quite easy to spread through the family with infected clothes

B: And do you know my son was car sick on me recently

H: Lovely

B: And I'm just thinking what did I put – and I think I shoved that all in probably with other things that were in there

H: Lovely, moving on

B: Yes sorry. Sorry to be disgusting, it's got me thinking now

A: Did you wash them first?

H: Sandra Kelling – "my children are very active and play a lot of sport. The one issue I have is grass stains. How do I ensure that they come out as sometimes I have to wash their football kits twice to get the dirt out."

B: You know grass is a real problem actually and I do – because my son has white sport shorts which get grass stains, and I do pre-soak those

H: Right

B: Because you know I've tried the stain sprays and things which for me are never quite enough, it comes out and they're kind of alright and then there's just that little pale green stain

H: Yes

B: So o do find the pre-soak for that is probably the way to go

H: Yes. And if it's a football kit does it really matter if they've got a bit of a grass stain on it? Really?

B: Well we're very proud us mums, we don't like sending our children out with stains on their clothes. People talk in the playground!

H: Ok now we have another question in, Gemma from Carlisle, she says she's a stressed out mum – we can relate to that can't we really?

B: Yes. Join the club

H: "How clean is clean?" she says and how often should we be washing our clothes? That's a good question. "I have four kids and always wash everything after just one wear which causes a mountain of washing." With four kids you can imagine that. So Ron how often should we be washing our clothes? Are we washing them too much?

A: well I really – yes in that scenario you could probably have got away with wearing them more than once, especially with young children who don't necessarily sweat a lot

H: No

A: And if they're wearing their own clothes they're not going to spread it to somebody else if they've actually got anything. So yes maybe wash it slightly less, as long as the kids are happy with it, but I mean you know from going to school with kids – when they go to school and they come back their shirt looks as if it's been on them for about a week

H: I know, boys particularly

B: I suppose it's common sense. I think I probably do wash too much, just because it's easy for us now isn't it to throw things in the washing –

H: Well exactly

B: Unlike our mums and our grandmothers, like you said they had to boil everything up, but I suppose it's common sense, you know if your child's been sick, or they've had diarrhoea or obviously you've got to be very careful with that because that is bacteria. If it's just they've worn their school trousers for a day and they're fine, you could probably get away with less

H: Scrape the mud off, send them off the next day.

B: What sort of mother are you?

H: Exactly. Well I've got a little girl and she's always filthy, I don't know, I wasn't quite expecting that but she's a real tomboy, so yes all her clothes tend to go in the wash every night I have to say. Katie W sent a question in – "we are traditionally told to separate by colour, darks and whites, is this still the way to do things?" Because we're washing at low temperatures now, does it really make a difference Ron?

A: Personally at low temperatures it shouldn't make a difference

B: Not as much now does it

A: It's only really with the high temperatures that the colours tend to run, but I mean then again you take someone with a nice bright red piece of clothing then you put it in with a white shirt, would you actually take the risk?

H: You wouldn't would you?

B: No. I'm so engrained in that sort of whether it's low temperatures or not I go I'm sorry it's not right putting black socks in with my white underwear, because I don't want grey knickers so –

H: No I wouldn't do that, but stripes, I still have a big problem with stripes

B: Yes

H: I've got this lovely red and white stripey top – what do you do with that? It's a nightmare

B: Medium – that goes in my medium colours

A: Medium colours yes

H: Medium – oh dear, all these different types

B: Don't wash it with your pants

H: Yes exactly. We're almost out of time actually but before we go, top tips on washing, you know Ruth how do you manage, you've got a little boy haven't you, he's 8 I think is that right?

B: Yes, yes

H: So how do you get all your washing done? Any top tips?

B: Well you know I – it's easy because I don't have a huge family like the lady there with four children, my goodness I can imagine your washing pile. I probably do wash too much but I certainly, after talking to Ron today and looking at this research I will definitely, definitely be thinking about what I'm washing

H: Yes

B: For example just saying actually what about that time my son was sick and I put it in you know with the towels, so I do think there is a hygiene issue, there's a bacteria issue. There's a fantastic website actually where we do have more information which is www.vanish.co.uk and there'll be lots more information about what you should be washing with what and how careful you should be. But it's definitely something I'll be thinking about.

H: Yes

B: Don't wash your pants with your tablecloths

H: No

B: No

H: Disgusting when you think about it isn't it?

B: Yes. You wouldn't want to come to dinner at mine –

H: No you wouldn't

B: Would you if you thought that

A: You've also got to think about when these things occur because basically if you think you've got a problem in a larger family with either Norovirus or some sort of other virus, then you don't really want to mix contaminated clothes together if you wash them at 20 degrees centigrade because it's potentially not going to get rid of all the pathogens that may be in there

B: And the Vanish Extra Hygiene of course has got this anti-bacterial agent now that will kill –

H: At low temperatures

B: Most of those at low temperatures which will help

H: So you can help the environment and know that you're washing is hygienically clean as well which is good

B: Yes

H: Well Ron and Ruth that's all we've got time for I'm afraid so thanks so much for coming in

B: Thank you

A: Thank you

H: And sharing your tips with us, and if you'd like any more information about how to get your washing hygienically clean you can go to the website which is www.vanish.co.uk. And I never put my husband's socks in with my washing, because he does all his own washing so there we are

B: How do you manage that?

H: That's my secret. What a star I am! Well that's all from the Lifestyle Show for today. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time, bye bye

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