As the mother of two little boys, I have seen my fair share of dirt, grime, food and other stains on clothing. There have been times that I have actually "retired" some clothing because things do not come out after using our normal strain removing tactics.

Last Friday, when NHL got home from school and took his coat off, I noticed something on his back. Check that, it was all over his back, and something else was on the sleeves. I asked him what had happened. He told me that they had Art class that day and had been painting. Ugh! Typically, I remember Art day and would not send him to school in a lighter colored outfit. I am the mother that sent her child to daycare years ago in menu coordinating outfits to try to hide stains the best. I asked how the paint got there, but only received shrugs. No doubt in my mind that NHL’s shirt was the project of another child in the class. *sigh*

Friday night, when NHL took off the shirt I sprayed it with our usual stain spray. This is one that can be left on for a while before washing. Sunday, I did the laundry. When I pulled it out of the wash, some of the paint was still there. Can you see fumes coming from my ears? Well, that is when I kicked myself. I had just received some new samples of OxiClean Max Force Pre-Treater Gel Stick and Oxi Clean Max Force Laundry Strain Fighter & Booster Power Paks.  Ooops!

So, yesterday morning, I decided to try an experiment. Would the soon to be released (mid-February) products by OxiClean get rid of the paint that did not come out previously? Here are the before photos:

I opened up my pre-treater, read the directions and set to fight that stubborn stain. I really liked that when you pushed down, just the right amount of gel came out. The nubs on top were great for helping to rub the gel into the stain. Then I went to the basement to change from cold water to warm (instructions said that works best) and waited to see what happened.  BTW – Another brain issue. I goofed and turned on the machine and forgot the Power Paks upstairs. Oy!

More about the new OxiClean Products:

This winter, OxiClean announced two new products to add to your stain-fighting arsenal: OxiClean Max Force Power Paks and the Max Force Gel Stick Pre-Treater. You can use the Power Paks to give any load of laundry – whites and colors both – a boost, without dealing with messy liquids or powders. The Gel Stick Pre-Treater works best on tough stains – even ones that set-in on clothes for a week! Just rub the gel into the fabric and let it sit for a few minutes before throwing it into a normal load of laundry.

Each of these new products contains OxiClean’s "4-in-1 stain fighting power" so whether grease, oil, blood, or dirt, appears on clothing, you know that dabbing with OxiClean will leave the garment looking new again after just one wash.

When I took NHL’s paint stained sweatshirt out of the wash, the stain had faded more. Much less noticeable, but still there. I can not fault OxiClean at all since the item had previously been washed and dried. Next time, we have another stain pop up I will be sure to use the Max Force Pre-Treater directly on the item and toss the Power Paks (now downstairs so I will not forget). I will update how that goes in my comments here.

I know one thing, we will be buying more OxiClean because I liked that there was not a harsh scent, it worked to reduce already set in stain and has worked well on carpet stains over the years. Oh, I will also be tossing the OxiClean Pre-Treater in a bag to go to Disney World with us. Quick and easy vacation stain fighting is what I am all about!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of OxiClean and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.