HELOISE: Combs can help clean brushes

Dear Heloise: Do you or your readers know of a good way to clean brushes and combs? The hair seems to cling to the bristles, and it takes forever to get it loose.

Nancy, via e-mail

Sure do, and here’s the hint: Use a wide-tooth comb, scissors or a seam ripper to loosen the hair.

Next, to clean the brush itself, add a couple of tablespoons of baking soda to a large jar of warm to hot water. Soak the brush for 30 minutes. (Don’t do this with wooden-handled brushes.)

Be sure that the bristles are completely submerged in the solution, and scrub with another brush to clean. Rinse the brushes thoroughly. For more environmentally friendly baking-soda hints in a handy six-page pamphlet, please send $5 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (61 cents) envelope to: Heloise/Baking Soda, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. You can add a squirt of hair shampoo to the jar of water for extra cleansing.

Heloise

Dear Readers: Nonstick vegetable spray is not just for pans! Here are some other uses:

Spray a cheese grater prior to grating.

Spray measuring cups before measuring sticky things such as honey and molasses.

Spray on candleholders to keep dried candle wax from sticking.

Heloise

P.S.: Don’t use it for a sticky key lock! This type of spray is a no-no, because it will cause dirt and dust to gum up the workings over time.

Dear Heloise: I always had a problem with white flakes when using spray starch on my jeans. Finally, I decided to turn them inside out and spray the jeans. I then ironed them, being careful not to press the crease. Once I had pressed them, I turned them right side out. The starch being dry now, I was able to press the crease in without any flaking.

Annah, via e-mail

Good idea! This happens because there is too much starch on the clothes; the fabric is overwet. To prevent this, apply lighter layers of starch, or give the material time to absorb the starch before ironing by running your hand over the material.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: My parents, having lived through the Depression, passed on a thread of “thrift” that I cannot shake. Here is an example: I save the bath-soap bar remnants when they get too thin to soap up the washcloth. When I have three or four, I put them together with a small rubber band.

A Reader in Garden Grove, Calif.

This is an old hint that many people do, but our testing showed that once the bar gets wet, it’s pretty messy.

Heloise

SOUND OFF

Dear Heloise: Why don’t manufacturers come up with either round plastic wrap or more choices of square holiday plates so goodies can be easily covered? Regular-size plastic wrap never covers a round paper plate well enough.

Janice Rahn in Grant, Neb.

Send a hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, fax it to 210-HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com.

King Features Syndicate