\nGrease and oil stains are some of the peskiest. Not only do these spots seem to stand out like a sore thumb on your clothes; they\u2019re also notoriously difficult to remove.\n
According to Laura Goodman, senior scientist at Procter & Gamble, you have basic chemistry to thank for these stains\u2019 resilience. Most greases and oils are semi-solid or solid at room temperature, which means removal requires warm or hot water. It also depends on the fabric: Goodman says synthetic fibers like polyester are especially tough to treat because grease and oil are attracted to them. And since synthetic fibers are becoming more and more popular, you may find yourself struggling with these annoying stains more often.\n
And yet, removing oil stains from clothes definitely isn\u2019t impossible if you time it right. The key, Goodman says, is to act as quickly as possible\u2014ideally, as soon as the stain happens. Once it dries or sets, that annoying oil stain will be a lot harder to get out.\n
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If you\u2019re hoping to get an oily stain out of your clothes\u2014whether fresh or set-in\u2014here is everything you need to know, according to laundry experts.\n
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Laundry expert Patric Richardson, owner of the Minneapolis-based boutique Mona Williams, says baking soda works by pulling oil out of fabric and into itself. If you can\u2019t wash something\u2014like a heavy coat or a piece of furniture\u2014Richardson recommends using baking soda as a first line of defense before you treat the stain. Here\u2019s how:\n
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Technically, Richardson says, chalk should remove oil from your clothes the same way baking soda does: by literally pulling the oil from the fabric and into itself. But he doesn\u2019t recommend chalk for large or set-in stains. Instead, try this trick on small grease splatters, like if you\u2019re cooking and a dot of grease ends up on your shirt.\n
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Set-in oil stains can be intimidating\u2014and, admittedly, they do require some work (and the right ingredients) to remove. If you didn\u2019t have a chance to remove your oil or grease stain immediately after it happened, follow these steps:\n
It\u2019s not a good idea to rinse your garment with water before you work on the stain. \u201cIt\u2019s much easier to work on a dry fabric because oil and water don\u2019t mix,\u201d Richardson says. \u201cSo when you wet the fabric, what happens is the water coats all the fabric around the oil so you don\u2019t have anywhere to move the oil away.\u201d\n
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Putting a piece of cardboard between layers of your garment will help you avoid transferring any oil to other parts of the fabric. Upcycle something around the house, like an old cereal carton or delivery box.\n
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You want to try and remove as much excess oil as possible. Blot carefully to avoid spreading the oil to unaffected parts of the fabric. If you don\u2019t have a cloth, a napkin, tissue, or paper towel will also work.\n
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Liquid dish soap is effective at cutting through grease on clothes, just like it does on your dishes. As a pre-treatment, apply a few drops of liquid dish soap to the stain and let it soak in, rubbing gently with fingers, a clean, soft-bristled toothbrush, or a cloth to help work it in. You\u2019ll want to let the dish soap soak in for about five minutes.\n
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Wait five minutes after applying the dish soap, then rinse with warm water. Wash the item in hot water with your normal detergent plus either bleach (for white items) or a color-safe laundry booster (like OxiClean or The Laundress\u2019 Bleach Alternative, for colored items).\n
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Since grease stains are hard to see on wet garments, Goodman recommends waiting to machine dry until you\u2019re sure the spot is actually gone. If any stain remains after air drying, repeat the dish soap treatment and launder again in hot water. Don\u2019t machine-dry your item because the high temperature could set the stain, making it even more difficult to remove.\n
It\u2019s not the ideal scenario, but Richardson says you can remove oil stains on fabric even after it\u2019s washed and dried, it\u2019ll just require an additional step. The heat involved in a dryer cycle essentially \u201cbakes\u201d the oil into the fabric, which can result in discoloration. So you\u2019ll need to pre-treat it again, but this time with an enzyme-based cleaner and your normal pre-treatment. \u201cI just treat the stain again like I did the first time, let the pre-treatment dry, then use the enzyme-based treatment,\u201d he says. \u201cThen I\u2019d just launder again as normal.\u201d\n
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Strangely enough, WD-40 can remove oil stains from fabric. In general, Richardson says, oily will remove oily. \u201cThe problem is, then you have to get the WD-40 out, too, since it will sometimes leave its own residue,\u201d he says.\n
Since WD-40 isn\u2019t all that eco-friendly of a stain-removal option, Richardson suggests using an oil-based soap instead, whether dish soap (just note dish soap is acidic and can be hard on clothes), Murphy\u2019s Oil Soap, or Stain Solution from The Laundress.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Grease and oil stains are some of the peskiest. Not only do these spots seem to stand out like a sore thumb on your clothes; they\u2019re also notoriously difficult to remove. According to Laura Goodman, senior scientist at Procter & Gamble, you have basic chemistry to thank for these stains\u2019 resilience. Most greases and oils\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Grease and oil stains are some of the peskiest. Not only do these spots seem to stand out like a sore thumb on your clothes; they\u2019re also notoriously difficult to remove.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[61,124,159,46,31,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-16111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tie-life-style","8":"tag-cleaning-tips","9":"tag-clothes-tip","10":"tag-laundry-tips","11":"tag-life-hacks","12":"tag-tips","13":"tag-tricks"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/remove-oil-from-clothes.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}