One thing about cooking is it sure is messy! Even when wearing an apron, we still wind up with splatters all over our sleeves. The very worst are the grease stains, which always seem totally impossible to get out.
Well, at least they were until we learned a very simple trick!
Once when I was complaining about grease stains ruining all my clothes, a friend of mine suggested simple dish soap. She's an artist and she said that dish soap is the only thing that will consistently get oil paint splatters out of her clothes, short of using expensive products.
So I gave it a try!
I rubbed a little dish soap right onto one of our most recent stains and let it sit for a little while before washing. I sent the shirt through the wash and didn't see a stain, so I went ahead and dried it too. Like magic, the stain was gone.
I even tried this trick on old stains — ones that had been washed and dried repeatedly — and the clothes came out as good as new. I could hardly believe it!
I think it must be something about the grease-busting properties of dish soap that makes this work. Whatever it is, I'm glad to know about it.
Do you have any sure-fire tricks for removing food and grease stains from clothing?
Related: Creative Ways to Store Dish Soap
(Image: Flickr member Robert S. Donovan licensed under Creative Commons)
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i'm so excited! i have many, many shirts that have those little spots from grease pops. nothing ever worked on them.
can't wait to try this.
sprinkle talcum/baby powder over a fresh oil stain and it'll come out later with ordinary detergent. I don't think that'll work with older stains though
Eucalyptus oil works really well. I put some on (a few drops) a wet washcloth and then pat the stain and then wash. Takes it right out and your laundry will smell reallly good.
The dish soap method works like a charm, but for some reason I always seem to get grease stains on dry clean only stuff. It's like they have a grease magnet and I'm nervous to try this on them.
Be careful, some dish soaps will lighten clothing - my mom learned this the hard way. We use Lemon Sunlight.
Unfortunately, this works only with petroleum based dishsoap. That's why when there's an oil spill clean up at the beach, they specify that you bring petroleum based dishsoap.
I use the plant based ones, and so they don't take the stains out. Whenever I cook now, I wear aprons, and change out of my silk blouses, dresses, or nice tops. I've ruined way too many articles of clothing to not learn my lesson.
I have been using Dawn dish soap for two years to get grease stains out of clothes. Works like a charm. Just put it on the stain and wait no less than an hour and wash. I put the Dawn on the stains when I take my clothes off at night and have washed the clothes as much as a week after and it still works beautifully.
Oh, if I learn nothing else on this site, all my hours spent perusing will not be wasted! I can't tell you how many of my husband's shirts (I always wear an apron) have these little grease spots. I can't wait to try this. As always-thank you for the great hints and tricks!
Lestoil is a miracle product. I heard about it and tried it on grease stains that were months old - worked like a charm. Now I swear by it.
My auto mechanic father taught me this great trick- brake cleaner! Go to your local auto parts store and pick up a can. Spray it on the grease spots (in a well-ventilated area!), and then launder- it may take 2-3 washes to get the smell of the cleaner out, but your clothes will be saved!
sooo you think this will work on baby formula stains?? i figure its grease in the milk that stains all my babys clothes... i duno.
My mom does awesome fabric painting on clothes, so when I got grease stains on a shirt, I just give it to her to paint. She paints over the stains, and gives the shirts back to me for gifts. The dish soap does sound like a good idea though, and I'll give it a try.
I have plant-based dish soap at my sink - but I keep a small bottle of Dawn with my other laundry items. Works like a charm every time!
deebo,
baby formula stains are generally protien based. Try dabbing some salt into fresh stains. Spray with water, dab with a cloth, and repeat as needed until the stain is gone. This works for blood and breastmilk stains.
You should use an edwardian style pinny with sleeves! I'm going to try the dish soap though.
Can't wait to try this on my son's shirts - that perpetually get grease stains.
Milk stains are terrible to get out. I used to work in a coffee shop, and was perpetually bleaching my white shirts to shreds. Eventually I gave up and just only wore black to work. Even that got stained though. I've never successfully gotten it out. I'll have to try the salt.
coca-cola works wonders on grease and oil stains. there's some crazy enzymatic action going on there that will remove axle grease even...
I got a grease stain on my shirt at work today (from a filing cabinet, no less!) and used the dish soap in the kitchen because it was the first thing I could think of. It did a pretty good job, but I'll still be running it through the wash with some Spray and Wash tonight!
I also use baby/talcum powder. Put a little pile on the stain and let it sit for a day or two, then discard powder and wash as usual. It's worked like a charm for me, even on old stains that have been through the wash.
What about on upholstery? I stupidly moved some freshly made mini chicken and leek pies to my kitchen table and one dripped a bit of buttery/oily sauce on an upholstered chair. It doesnt have a removable cover so I can't put it through the wash. Will try the talcum powder for now.
Be careful using dishsoap, it can bleach the color right out of your clothes, so you end up with a big white spot!
I have plain old lemon Ajax and two t-shirts with oil spots. I think I'll give it a shot. If it bleaches it, oh well, it was already ruined from the grease spot.
Whatever you do, never use dishwasher soap, most of them have bleach in them. Seltzer is good for immediate use on stains, though, and soaking in salt-water gets red-wine stains out amazingly well, even if they dried.
There's a bar soap, available in most grocery stores in the laundry aisle, called Fels Naptha that works like a charm on new and old greast stains (and even on chocolate stains and reportedly for poison ivy) but the problem is it contains animal ingredients so it's not suitable for vegetarians or vegans (sodium tallowate and tallow acid which are derived from beef fat).
Wow! I use a natural soap but I will get a small container of the stronger stuff and try this on a lot of old stains. I was about to retire a ton of clothes for this very reason.
Nope, it's the protein in the milk that makes the stain (although the fat doesn't help.) Cold water and lots of scrubbing, because if you cook the protein, it's there for good - or until you dry clean it.
I used baking soda to get out a blood stain recently, and it worked fantastically. Sprinkle a little on, let it sit, rinse, and do it again if need be. It's also kinda cool to see the blood soak into the baking soda, but maybe that's just me.
Try 409. I use it to take makeup stains out of costumes but it might also work on food grease. It breaks up the "grease" -whatever the binder is in lipstick and foundation. You want to move fast on lipstick because the pigment can stain but I've had pretty good luck. I keep a bottle of 409 and a toothbrush by the washer. Spray on, scrub out, toss in washer.
My mom always used lighter fuel to remove grease stains, and it works like a charm. (I use Ronsonol lighter fuel, usually available in whatever section of the grocery store carries charcoal for your grill.) Squirt a little on the stain, followed by whatever stain remover you usually use (for me, Simple Green), then run through the wash. Presto.
QUOTE: Whatever you do, never use dishwasher soap
Back in the day, I desgned kids' t-shirts by painting or stamping on a colored tee using gel dishwasher detergent. It effectively removed the color leaving a negative image.
Dawn liquid dish detergent is safe for laundry stains. Works like a charm. It's the ultimate grease cutter. There's a reason it's used to rescue birds & animals caught in oil spills.
Yes some dishwashing detergents do contain bleach but not all do. Just look at theingredient labels.It will tell you wetherbleachi aningredient or not. Its actually a law that items cotaining bleach or amonia mustbe clearly labeled as such. Sometimes it willbe onthe front of the bottle near the bottom or in the directions where it will say "do not mix with......"
Reason items containing one of the 2 must be labeled is that if you mix bleach with amonia you get a very deadly gas and people have died because of this. Now I know some of you will say but ive been doing this for years without a problem..Youve been lucky..The gas is colorless and you cant smell it. If you want to continue to use it keep this in mind..Even in small doses that dont kill you they will damage your lungs...
I have 'eco' dish liquid, so it's probably plant-based (doesn't say). I'll buy some of the other stuff to keep for stains. We're always getting grease stains on things, and it's so frustrating.
Also, akbuilt, thanks for the salt tip! discerning, that's a cool technique for painting fabric, I've got to try it!
Whatever you do DO NOT use brake cleaner for anything other than cleaning brakes! It releases phosgene gas when heated, which is extremely toxic. It will get our stains out (so will benzene and other "garage remedies of yesteryear", but it could very well kill you in the process.