It takes real resolve to remove these tough stains

Only one of the pretreatment stain removers in Consumer Reports tests worked well on the six stains in our Ratings and no product was excellent at removing cocoa. Resolve Laundry ably attacked coffee, blood, wine, sebum, grass and motor oil but two varieties of Shout couldn't get the wine stain out.

In our tests, we took swatches of stained polyester/cotton fabric, applied the same amount of each stain cleaner, let the swatches sit for 5 minutes, then washed them in a mediocre detergent. For comparison, we also washed them in a highly rated detergent (Tide 2X with Bleach Alternative), using no laundry pretreatment. Eleven of the 14 products worked better than Tide detergent alone. 1069339566001

—Mary H.J. Farrell