I ask you, the smartest people I know.

[butterflydreaming]

Salt is used to set dye (a mordant) in a fabric, such as when tea dying muslin. Salt is also one of the #1 suggested methods for removing a fresh blood stain from fabric.

This is breaking my brain. Why?

My guess is that dyes are not protein-based. Does that sound right?

Comments

[adventurat.livejournal.com]

I think the person suggesting salt as the #1 method for removing a fresh blood stain has not heard of the cold water approach. Which is a bit astonishing.

Your theory sounds right to me, but that's a wild-ass guess on my part.

[shadow-and-veil.livejournal.com]

I poked around online and found the salt suggestion in several places. It varied from being used dry, in combo with hydrogen peroxide, to soaking the fresh stain in a cold salt water, changing the water until the stain came out.

The other popular fix is to use saliva! Which completely makes sense to me. The good "pet" stain cleaners use enzyme to break up the stains, also destroying the accompanying odors.