It's the time of year when kids start heading back to school. As part of the ritual, parents go out in mass and buy their kids new jeans. New jeans, and any other denim article for that matter, tend to be scratchy, stiff, and just plain uncomfortable especially at the beginning of the school year when the temperatures are higher and the denim is the stiffest. If you want to help your kids, you can soften the jeans by breaking them in with salt. To do this, turn the jeans inside out (so that the colors don't bleed or run) and wash them with detergent and one cup of salt. Set the wash cycle so that the jeans are in the salt/detergent solution for as long as possible. This soft-water wash usually helps stiffen new denim jeans.