Day 83 | Oil stains

As I said yesterday, I want to have a look at how to remove stains from clothing. There's a lot of information out there, but I found some that I think I'll try when I have to. It's going to take a couple of days to cover all the information, so for today we'll look at oil based stains. The best solution as always is obviously to try and not get the stain in the first place, but we all know we don't live in a perfect world.

To remove stains from clothing, you have to first determine what created the stain. Fortunately we usually know what we have spilled, dripped or dumped on our clothes, but it's the times when you get home with something on your clothing, that it gets a little more difficult. Reading the label of the product that created the stain, should help in narrowing down your cleaning methods. Below is a list of some common stains and general removal tips.

Oil based stains:

• Automotive oil
• Hair oil
• Bacon fat
• Hand lotion
• Butter/margarine
• Lard
• Car door grease
• Mayonnaise
• Collar/cuff greasy rings
• Salad dressing
• Cooking fats and oils
• Suntan oil or lotion
• Face creams

"Always try to treat an oil-based stain as soon as it is noticed. The longer you wait, the longer the oil and stain have to set into the deeper layers and threads of the fabric."

"First lay the stain face up on your workspace and sprinkle liberally with baby powder. Let the powder sit on the stain overnight if possible. If you can’t leave it sit over night leave on for several hours. In the morning shake off the powder, then with your hand brush the fabric to remove the remaining powder. If the stain is still very visible re-apply powder and let set another couple hours. Again shake off then brush off remaining powder. This will have absorbed the oil from the fabric."

"Now place your spot on an absorbent towel or paper towels with the stain facing up. Next apply a grease cutting dishwashing liquid directly to the spot with HOT water. Fingers or a toothbrush work well on most fabrics to get the suds into the fibres. The suds will lift any remaining oil from the fabric. Blot with a clean sponge, absorbent towel or paper towels until all of the stain is removed."

"Wash as usual. After washing check the stain. If it is still visible repeat scrubbing with the dishwashing detergent. Do not dry in an automatic dryer until the stain is removed to your satisfaction since drying the garment in an automatic dryer will set the stain."

Tomorrow I'll look into protein and dye stains. Hope this was helpful. I just hope I'll never have to go through this with any of my jeans.