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This is the biggie we learned at work last week: If you get ballpoint ink on the new shirt your honey got you for Christmas and you really quickly saturate the stain with alcohol-based hair spray . . . it doesn’t always work.

We got the hair-spray tip from www.chemistry.co.nz/stain.htm in a moment of panic, but the site, even as it doled out advice, said the effectiveness of this popular method varies from ink to ink. The site gives tips for getting out stains made of everything from vomit to blood.