Having worked as a dry-cleaner for many years, I’ve probably come across just about every stain there is. Mustard is one of the worst stain culprits to remove. Mustard is a plant based or tannin stain. It tends to dye clothing, making it harder to remove. Nevertheless, it’s possible to remove mustard if you know what to do.
I worked for a chain dry-cleaner with 20+ locations. Mustard was a common stain there, but not an easy stain to remove. We once had a challenge to remove a mustard stain. A mystery customer brought us all identical stained polyester blouses, asking us to remove the mustard stain. I was lucky enough to be trained by a guy that could remove the stripes from a zebra. I was one of the two managers able to successfully remove the mustard stain.
Mustard is a pretty unsightly stain. That yellow brown mustard stain can make a real mess on a white blouse or shirt. Not only that, if you approach a mustard stain in the wrong way, the dye will spread and become impossible to remove. I learned to remove a mustard stain with formulated dry cleaning chemicals. My stain guru taught me the base of those chemicals. I can translate them to home use fairly easily.
When removing a mustard, or any other stain in the dry cleaners a special piece of equipment called a spotting board is used. This wonderful invention is especially useful when attempting to remove tough stains like mustard. It consists of a vacuum board and a steam/air hose. The vacuum board and hose work together to flush the mustard stain through the garment to limit spreading.
The stained garment is placed on the vacuum board. Stain remover is applied and rubbed in. The vacuum is turned on so when steam is applied it sucks steam and chemicals right through the fabric, taking the stain along with it. The air drys the garment so that it’s ready to go into the dry cleaning machine. Stains must be removed prior to dry cleaning. Always point out stains to the dry cleaner. Stains or even invisible spills can caramelize in the dry cleaning machine. This causes permanent damage.
At home there’s no real substitute for the spotting board. Removing a mustard stain becomes a bit of a challenge. Always start with the gentlest method to remove a stain. Proceed to more aggressive and dangerous methods only when needed. Test each method on an inside seam for colorfastness or garment damage prior to using on the mustard stain.
The first step to remove a mustard stain at home is plain liquid dish or hand soap. In the dry cleaner we would use a tannin based stain remover. Do not use water before the soap. This will set the mustard stain. Put a small drop of soap directly on the stain. Rub gently with a dry wash cloth. If the stain is out, rinse with water. If the stain does not come out, do not rinse.
The second step to remove a mustard stain involves white vinegar. In the dry cleaners we would use acetic acid which is a stronger version of vinegar. Pour a small amount of vinegar on the now soapy mustard stain. Rub very gently as before with the dry cloth to remove the stain. Add more soap for lubrication if needed. Once the stain breaks up, or if it is clearly not going to, it’s OK now to rinse out the soap and vinegar with water.
The last attempt to remove a mustard stain is to bleach it out. We’re not talking about chlorine bleach here. In the dry cleaner we use a bleach for tannin stains called sodium perborate. It can only be used on white clothing as it’s very strong. It works best when heated. The active ingredient used in Clorox 2 and Oxi-Clean is the same thing but in a weaker concentration.
Remember to test this method on an inside seam of the garment before proceeding.
Make a paste of Clorox 2 or Oxi-Clean using hot water. Apply this to the mustard stain. Many times this will immediately bleach out the stain. If not, apply heat to the paste with a blow dryer. This will accelerate the chemical. In the dry cleaners we would use the steam gun for this, so add a few drops of water as you go. If the mustard stain does not remove itself from the premises after this, consider it hopeless and buy a new blouse.
Mustard is a tannin stain. The above is the process to remove all tannin stains. Another tough tannin stain is Kool-Aid. Kool-Aid also contains a dye and is probably the worst stain to remove. Red wine is another. Never remove a red wine stain with white wine unless it’s on a garment that can be washed in hot soapy water to remove the white wine. White wine will caramelize on a garment in the dryer or dry cleaning machine and leave a permanent stain no-one can remove. In addition to mustard and the others, grass and vegetable or fruit stains are also tannin stains.
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