I have a huge problem here re bloodstains. I was at work and got a nosebleed, and now I have bled all over my office chair and desk. I was able to wipe off the desk and the arms of the chair, but there is a blood stain on the chair's seat that I need to get rid of before work on Monday. (I am writing this Saturday night.) My boss and I have our huge deal, once a month meeting then. I have looked at websites that recommend Oxiclean, but I am not sure that you can get it in Canada where I am. The other option is hydrogen peroxide, but would that work? I am afraid it would bleach the chair- which is dark grey.
first rule for bloodstains: always use COLD water!!! hot will set it & it will be there forever.
what i'd try, since you're in a rush & can't risk making the chair worse by accidentally bleaching it: apply cold water to the spot, & then use a folded towel (or similar), _with pressure_ (press down onto the spot as hard as possible), to soak out the water & blood from the spot. repeat, repeat, repeat using different dry areas of towel. try not to get the water anywhere but on the spot, or your whole chair will be wet. of course, the spot will be wet anyway until it dries, but i think you want to minimise that ;-) using a knee for pressure will probably draw up more water faster than using hands.
when the water is coming out as un-bloody as you can get it, you could either let the chair dry to see if there's still a stain on the fabric or not (it may have gone), or you could at that point use soap & a brush to remove any traces from the surface of the fabric, wipe off any surface soap, then use the same method of pouring on water (as little as possible!) & then soaking it up with the towel again. (keep in mind that soap will "set" a bloodstain as well if you've not removed the blood, so this must be the final step, and also that a spot with soap remaining will attract dirt to it later).
if the stain is quite small, you might even want to go straight to the second step, but if a lot of blood went into that spot it will want to come out with the water & you'll just be making work for yourself, which is why i'd soak as much of it out first as possible.
if the chair is padded with foam, use pressure afterwards to dry it as much as possible & leave it (hopefully) in a warm or sunny spot. if it's padded with cotton shreds or something like that (if it is "hard"), don't even go there with the water - it will never dry & will just go mouldy & revolting. i'm assuming it's a foam-padded chair with a synthetic covering...? one of these will dry out quite quickly in a warm spot if you soak up all the loose water & try to stay off it till it dries. the dark grey will hopefully not show any surface stain which remains anyway.
if you by any chance have access to a carpet/upholstery cleaning machine, i'd do the first step using that (with cold water) & spray/suck using the machine for the first step, just because there's less risk of water going everywhere & soaking your chair to the point where it's hard to dry later. good luck. kylie
"Peroxide" has been suggested. In case you have access to a chemical stockroom, make sure it is *"hydrogen peroxide". I'm not sure anything is better for this task.
Just put a few drops on the blood, and it will begin to fizz. A second application might be necessary in three or four minutes. A little agitation will help the process, but is rarely required. The entire removal will only take five minutes or so.
I wash a blood spot with cold water as soon as possible. Then I pour on a capful of ammonia followed by a capful of peroxide. The ammonia helps the peroxide work fast. I don't remember any trouble where the mixture discolored fabric, but it would be wise to turn the chair upside down to test an inconspicuous place.
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