Oftentimes, that one pesky stain that won’t come out ruins an otherwise perfectly nice outfit. Store-bought stain removers only work to a certain degree, everyday stains and spills can usually be treated with these before being thrown in the wash, but what do you do with those impossible to remove stains?
There are a few general stain removal tips that should be followed for all stains.
There are certain types of stains that will need to be scrubbed but the rule of thumb has always been to blot rather than scrub as scrubbing tends to push a stain deeper into the clothing. Treat the stain as soon as possible, they will be harder to remove the longer they have set. Once you have treated a stain the garment needs to be laundered as soon as possible, some of the cleaning solutions used to remove a stain can themselves harm the garment if left on to long.
Try some of the solutions below for different stains.
For wax or crayon try placing a piece of wax paper both under and on top of the garment, iron on a medium setting. If wax remains in place try putting a towel on the top piece of wax paper and turning the iron up to the hottest setting recommended on the garments care instructions. The wax should be transferred to the wax paper.
For permanent marker use a dry erase marker. Get to this one as soon as possible. It may or may not work depending on what you got permanent marker on but it’s worth a try. Color over the permanent marker with the dry erase marker, then pre-treat and launder as usual.
Wine can be removed by using equal parts hydrogen peroxide and dawn liquid soap. Mix the soap and peroxide in a small bowl and bloat the stain with paper towels. This works great on cotton based garments, not so well on silks. Try it on nylon fabrics, depending on the severity of the stain and how long it has sat it may or may not work. For nylon fabric you can also try removing red wine with white wine. Dry clean only garments should not be treated; simply drop it off at your cleaners as soon as possible and make sure to tell them about the stain.
For ink stains from ball point type ink bloat the stain with a damp sponge or rag until no more ink is transferred. Allow garment to air dry and then spritz with hair spray. Sandwich the garment between to paper towels and blot for the back side of stain. When ink is lifted treat with a laundry pre-treat and wash.
For felt tip markers lift as much ink as possible by blotting with paper towels. Using a cotton swab gently (no rubbing) apply denatured alcohol to the stain until lifted.
There are a few different methods for removing bubble gum. I’ve had equally good results with them. Never try to pick it off; this just makes a bigger mess! Ice cubes rubbed gently over the gum will freeze the gum and make it very easy to simply pop the gum off the garment, if you don’t want to have cold fingers simply stash the clothing in your freezer for awhile.
WD-40, a common lubricant found in the automotive section in stores works well also. Spray the gum with wd-40, let sit until gum can easily be lifted from clothing.
Chocolate stains are the one time you will hear me say “rub it out”. First carefully scrape off and excess chocolate ( if it started life as solid candy then chill the clothing to allow the chocolate to re-harden) Once this is done rinse the stain from the back with cold water until you have removed as much chocolate as possible. Gently Rub undiluted liquid detergent into the stain, let stand 5 minutes, and then soak in cold water for 10 to 15 minutes. Repeat this step until no chocolate remains. Chocolate stains sometimes leave and oily residue behind, these re easily treated with you normal laundry pre-treat. Let sit for a few minutes but do not allow you pre-treat to dry before laundering.
Grape juice, I think every item in my kid’s closets has been stained with grape juice at one point or another. Surprisingly grape juice stains are fairly easy to remove if you get to them in time. Rinse the garment in cold water, sprinkle with lemon juice and toss in the sun. Repeat as needed. If the sun is not shinning, sprinkle the stain with lemon juice and then using a toothbrush work that lemon juice in as deep as possible, allow to air dry. After using either of the methods above launder as normal but do not put the clothing in the dryer, instead allow it to air dry again. If any stain remains repeat the treatment and launder again. Putting the clothing in the dryer will set any remaining stain so be sure you got it all before placing in the dryer.
