10 Quick Ways to Remove Stains From Your Clothing: Experts Advice

You’re out to dinner, and you stain your white dress with a sauce-covered fork. You notice that your knees are stained with grass while playing outside.

You give your sweetheart a couple more kisses, but you accidentally kiss his collar with lipstick.

It’s unthinkable that we won’t ever, ever dirty up our beloved garments because we spend so much time wearing them. Despite the fact that you never see stains coming, they always seem to be aiming for you.

Don’t let out a frustrated sigh just yet, whether it’s your favorite top, that dress your best friend doesn’t know you borrowed, or your son’s brand-new shorts.

When you approach those stains from the appropriate angle, such as red wine, blood, or tea, they don’t seem to be as difficult to remove. For removing those unsightly stains from your materials quickly and effectively, here are 10 techniques and tricks.

1. An Emergency Spotter

Simply said, the suit you meticulously put together for that special evening doesn’t go with red wine or tomato soup.

Don’t freak out if you spill something on your clothes when you’re out and about. Just adhere to a few straightforward instructions to get rid of that annoying stain!

A spilled substance should never be scrubbed or rubbed. Instead, use a white towel to gently dab. Lacking a white cloth on hand? A piece of white bread will do in a pinch, which is a trick that is very useful at restaurants!

Tableside ingredients can also be used to remove an oil-based stain, such as one caused by salad dressing. Just season it with salt, let it lie for a little while, and then brush the seasoning away from the clothing. Voila! Oil ought to have been absorbed by the salt.

After that, keep treating the stain by spot treating it with whatever you have on hand. A stain pen would be ideal, of course, but club soda or regular water both work well.

Apply sparingly; alternatively, use a napkin corner. Once the stain is totally gone, keep blotting.

If you’re close to a washing machine, such after a romantic supper at home, you can mix lemon juice and cream of tartar to make a cheap but effective stain remover.

Those marks you believed would remain there forever will be completely removed with a regular wash.

2. Grass Marks

Unattractive grass stains are one of the worst things that may happen during a pickup baseball game.

If the notion of your children playing rough in the yard makes you squirm because of the work you’ll have to do to their clothes later, you need not worry.

Grass stains are not as impervious as they appear to be.

We all have toothpaste, which is one of the coolest ways to remove grass stains. Use an old toothbrush and plain white toothpaste to remove grass stains off clothing; make careful to use the paste version and not the gel variety.

Apply a little amount of toothpaste on the spot, then use a toothbrush dipped in clean water to scrub the stain away. To eliminate the stain entirely, repeat this procedure as necessary.

Clean up the area with water and wash the clothing as usual. You can now take home plate without thinking twice. By the way, toothpaste works expertly to get rid of ink stains as well! (Baker, source) The unknown

3. Blood Stains

If you cut yourself, your attention is probably diverted from keeping your clothes spotless to obtaining a bandage and perhaps avoiding passing out.

Once you’ve been cleaned up and the chaos has subsided, a soiled item of clothing only serves to make matters worse. But you don’t have to spend all day working to remove the blood stain.

Just employ our simple technique to make the discomfort a distant memory!

Use 3 percent hydrogen peroxide, which is available in the pharmacy’s first aid area, to get blood stains out of clothes.

Use hydrogen peroxide to soak up the stain, then use a butter knife or your fingernail to gently loosen and scrape away the blood before rinsing it away with more hydrogen peroxide.

Then wash as usual. If you remove stains as soon as they occur, before they have a chance to dry, you will typically have more success eliminating them, particularly blood stains.

But don’t worry too much if you can’t get hydrogen peroxide right away. Whatever you want to call it, cola, soda, or pop can quickly remove blood stains. Simply let the stain soak in the soda, ideally overnight. Next, wash as usual.

Another technique for getting rid of blood stains on clothing involves wetting the stained area of the fabric with water, sprinkling it with regular table salt, and rubbing one half of the stain against the other to work in the salt and remove the stain. After that, wash the item as usual.

4. Stained Collars

To get rid of ring around the collar, you don’t need a specific stain remover or washing pre-treater. Instead, something you undoubtedly already have in your shower will take care of the situation!

Stains around the collar can be readily removed from both work shirts and Sunday finest with a little shampoo, which you are almost certainly already own.

Simply apply a small amount of shampoo on the collar, rub it together to let it absorb, let it sit for 15 to 30 minutes, and then thoroughly rinse. Launder the garments as usual after that.

Any shampoo should work, although some professionals advise using one made specifically for oily hair because it is made to dissolve body oils, grit, and other substances that move from the skin to the collar [source: Taylor].

Bring home the complementary shampoo bottles from hotels in exchange for a free box of ring-around-the-collar remover for a handy and cost-effective twist on this conventional advice!

5. Lipstick Smudges

We have the perfect laundry tip for you if your significant other has been receiving too many kisses on the collar! Since there are so many different colors and formulations of lipstick, experts claim that it is frequently one of the hardest stains to remove.

Another important consideration is the kind of stained fabric. In fact, it’s usually advisable to choose expert cleaning if the stain is on a piece of clothing made of cashmere, wool, or silk.

You should carefully scrape any leftover lipstick off for anything else. After that, spread some paper towels out on a sturdy surface.

The stained side should be facing down as you place the affected area on the paper towels. Next, apply a dish detergent with grease-attacking qualities to the stain’s back. Next, turn the item so that the stain is on the outside. Use a clean toothbrush to gently scrub the region.

Rinse the piece only once. Instead, use the gentle cycle in the washing machine and proceed with the regular cleaning. Follow the instructions again and again until the stain is gone [source: Gibbs]!

6. Oily Stains

If the folks pitter-pattering around your home prefer to wipe their hands on their clothes rather than the perfectly nice napkins you provided, you probably have your job cut out for you on laundry day.

This is especially annoying when oily, delectable dishes like fried chicken are presented. You can’t just pretend that grease stains aren’t there because they not only frequently resist removal but also never seem to disappear into the cloth.

If this sounds like your life, don’t stress too much about it. Go to the pantry instead, and try this ruse: Cornstarch should be applied to the area.

After giving the cornstarch some time to absorb the grease, brush it away. You can resume trying to persuade everyone to use napkins instead of their garments until the grease spot easily lifts off.

WD-40 is yet another excellent grease spot treatment. Yes, the spray used to silence door hinges and other noises.

Spray the substance directly onto the stain and allow it to sit there for up to 30 minutes. After that, apply some liquid laundry detergent or dish soap and let it sit for an additional 30 minutes.

When all is said and done, wash it as usual, then hang it to dry naturally because using a dryer to remove stains almost guarantees that they won’t ever go away [source: Kerr].

7. Oil Smudges

Don’t panic if your pillowcase has unattractive stains; you are most definitely not alone. Sweat and natural body oils are notorious for staining pillows.

Sometimes, simply throwing them in the washer will work and immediately remove the stain. However, if this tried-and-true solution isn’t working and your frustration is keeping you awake at night, it’s probably time to try a different approach.

Oily stains on pillows can be eliminated with liquid dish detergent or even regular shampoo. Simply apply, massage it in, and let sit for a short while. Clean it with water, then wash it as usual. It’s that simple!

Another entertaining fix includes white chalk, which is something that every parent keeps on hand. Simply apply the chalk on the oil stain and let it sit for around 15 minutes.

Remove any additional chalk by shaking or brushing, then wash normally. (Staffing: SFGate)

By taking a few precautions on laundry day, you can prevent the issue from getting worse in the future. Just pre-treat any oil stains with liquid washing detergent before putting the items in the machine.

After that, be sure to wash with hot water and an enzyme-containing detergent. Additionally, it’s suggested to add 3/4 cup of bleach for extra strength when washing lighter-colored linens. (Referral: Dr. Laundry)

9. Ink Smudges

You undoubtedly already know that there is nothing safe about ballpoint pen ink exploding all over your clothes if you have ever been foolish enough to do it.

Don’t give up on those jeans just yet; they might yet be salvageable. The treatment differs in accordance with the fact that not all ink kinds are equivalent.

Put a paper towel under the stain if ballpoint pen ink gets on an item of clothing. Apply some regular rubbing alcohol to the troubled area after that.

Larger stains could require up to 15 minutes of soaking. With a clean cloth, blot or sponge at the stain until you see that ink is not being transferred any longer.

Apply a pre-treatment if necessary, then rinse before washing as usual in hot water.

Although the ink from a felt-tip pen is frequently a little harder to erase, it is still quite achievable. The discoloration should be completely cleansed with cold water, according to experts. After that, soak the item in hot water that has been prepared with liquid laundry detergent.

If you have some, add a little ammonia as well. Make sure everything is combined, add the object, and gently rub the stain. If the stain truly doesn’t want to come out, let it soak for up to 60 minutes or even overnight. Rub in a bit extra detergent after it seems to be gone, then wash [source: Smith].

10. Red Wine

The red wine looks far better in your palm than it does on your outfit! Fortunately, that awful stain may be removed with a little elbow grease and some basic home materials.

If the red wine stain is still wet, quickly sprinkle baking soda on it to absorb the spill. To absorb wine, gently dab the stain with a clean, moist cloth. Never rub or scrub!

Stretch the stained fabric over a big basin or kettle as quickly as you can, fasten it (a big rubber band is best), sprinkle salt on the stain, and let it sit for about five minutes. The fabric should then be carefully covered with boiling water.

To ensure that the water has sufficient force to effectively remove the stain, experts advise doing this from a height of around eight inches above the spot. Last but not least, throw it in the washing machine with the highest water temperature.

Conclusion

Stains on clothes can be annoying, especially when you don’t know how to get rid of them. But luckily, there are some quick and easy ways to remove stains from your clothing, and these have been discussed. So take advantage of this advice and use specialized techniques like using a stain remover or a steam cleaner to keep your clothes looking fresh and clean.