Getting a Clean Sweep, Not Just a Brushoff

Patricia Willard of Hollywood would like to light a fire under some of our readers. She is trying to replace the brushes on the broom of her solid-brass fireplace set ; the broom now has natural bristles, but she will settle for synthetic fibers. Can you help before Willard is fired up, or will she sweep the whole matter under the rug because she has been given the brushoff?

Lois Montgomery of Hemet is willing to pay a stiff price for some plastic starch , known also as Permastarch; she likes it for starching cotton items. Can you help Montgomery by being flexible about a source or two, or will your failure take all the starch out of her?

Clarence Pauli of Banning is on the lookout for heavyweight Birdseye cotton , which many mothers use for diapering youngsters. Can you help, or will you put a damper on the question, forcing Pauli to resort to the old-fashioned way of rearing children?

Muriel Dandy of Bakersfield complains that her hair is full of electricity these breezy spring days and would like to get her hands on some spray cans of Static Control , made by Tresemme. Can you help before the sparks start flying, or will Dandy know that things are out of control because there is no current source?

Reader-to-Reader Help Line: Helen at (619) 245-4548 is looking for some greeting cards from the Virginia Slims Collection called “The 12 Avenues of Bliss” ; all she has is Avenue 9, which is about tolerance. Please help before Helen stops being tolerant and considers seeking happiness elsewhere . . . . Jim at (714) 682-3432 would like to find a Webcor wire recorder , so that he can listen to some 30-year-old recordings. Please help before this goes right down to the wire.

Note: The Reader-to-Reader Help Line is only for one-time items and for products no longer available in stores. And you must give us written permission to publish your telephone number, so that others may contact you directly.

If Sue Guilford of Orange is still looking for plastic sun visors, we can now shed some light on the subject. Coby Foley says El Peon Shop in San Juan Capistrano carries a visor that fits over glasses and sunglasses. Fran Davison of Westchester says these visors can be purchased in various colors at Justin Staff Gifts, Fisherman’s Village, Marina del Rey, or in Target stores. Eula Bryant of Oceanside bought a Solarshield visor for $8 at the Palm Springs Braille Institute. Joyce Davis of Long Beach, E. Trinkle of South Gate and Robin Brisco of Tustin suggest sporting goods stores or golf shops. And Rose Stein has a mail-order source: Gambit Corp., 174 E. Bellevue Drive, Pasadena, Calif. 91105, sells a Sport Visor for $1.75. And one Long Beach reader says she will part with her sun visor.

Margaret Vietmeier of Azusa, who was looking for a head covering for a bouffant hairdo, need no longer tear her hair out. The source closest to her, according to S.R.C., is Barbara’s Beauty Supply, 127 South 1st Ave., Arcadia, (818) 446-7107. Another hair protector (or perhaps it’s the same one) is made by N. Seligman Co. of Chatsworth, (818) 998-4660; a call to them will provide the name of a nearby source. (According to Dorothy Sullivan of Escondido, the Seligman hair protector is available at Thrifty Drugs.) And Lois Montgomery of Hemet says Gallaher Beauty and Barber Supply, 190 S. Arrowhead Ave., San Bernardino, also carries such an item.