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How to Remove Stains from Clothes

If your standard approach to clothing stains is to toss your stuff into the washing machine and hope for the best, you may be pleasantly surprised once in a while—but most of the time you won’t be. Your success rate with clothing stains will be much higher if you treat stains on the spot with the correct technique. Here’s how to do it.

Before Treating the Stain

Most clothing stain removal attempts happen in a panic. Though it does pay to act quickly when taking action against stains, it doesn’t help to act without assessing the situation first.
  • Read the label: Clothing labels indicate the type of laundering the clothing requires (e.g., dry cleaning or hand washing) and the composition of the material (e.g., 100% cotton or a cotton-polyester blend). Labels also include warnings, such as “No Bleach” or “No Fabric Softener,” if a material cannot tolerate specific cleaning agents.
  • Do it yourself or use a pro: Based on the information on the label, you should decide whether to try to remove the stain yourself or take the garment to a professional cleaner. In general, if the material is delicate, such as silk, leather, or suede, you should bring it to a professional.

How to Remove Stains from Cotton Clothing

Most clothing is made from cotton or some blend of cotton and artificial fibers. In terms of stain removal, this is good news: cotton is a sturdy fabric that can handle most cleaning agents (though you should still always read the label, even on cotton clothes, before treating). The general method for cotton clothing stain removal is:
  1. Take it off: You’ll need to access the stain from both sides, so remove the garment if you’re wearing it.
  2. Treat the stain above the surface: Remove any portion of the stain above the surface of the clothing. For solids, use a butter knife or similar blunt object to scrape up and away as much of the solid material as possible. For liquids, blot with a dry white cloth to absorb any excess moisture.
     
     
  3. Set up a stain removal station: Cover a flat surface with dry, absorbent white rags.
     
  4. Work on the back side of the stain: Lay the stained material on the station so that the stain is face down on the rags. Working on the back side of the stain makes stain removal much easier, since you’ll be pushing the stain out of the fabric. (If you work on a stain from the front, you’ll be pushing it into and through the fabric.)
     
  5. Blot the stain: Blot the stain with a cleaning agent applied to a white rag. Blot from the edges of the stain and move toward the center. Use the proper stain removal agent for the type of stain you’re removing (see The Six Types of Stains and The Most Common Household Stains).
     
  6. Drain the stain: As the cleaning agents penetrate the stain, the stain’s contents will break up and transfer to the dry white rags below the clothing. Be sure to keep shifting the stained fabric to fresh, dry portions of the underlying rags; the clean and dry portion of the rags will absorb better than the soiled areas. Continue blotting with the cleaning agent and shifting the garment until the stain has transferred completely to the rags.
  7. Toss it in the wash: When the stain is completely gone, wash the stained clothing as you normally would, ideally as soon as possible. If you can’t launder the stained clothing immediately, apply a pre-laundry stain stick directly to any portion of the stain that remains visible and wash later. Inspect the garment before putting it in the dryer. Never put a stained piece of clothing in the dryer, even if most of the stain has been removed from the heat could cause the remaining stain to set.

How to Remove Stains from Other Clothing Materials

If a piece of clothing isn’t made from cotton, it’s probably made from acrylic, leather, polyester, rayon, silk, suede, or wool. If you’re treating clothes made from more than one of these materials, such as a cotton-polyester blend, always default to the needs of the more delicate fabric.

 
Fabric
  
Care and Cleaning Instructions
Acrylic
  
Stains on acrylic usually wash away with a mild detergent and warm water. One note of caution: acrylic is heat sensitive, so it’s best to let acrylic clothing air dry after attempting to remove stains.
Leather
  
For basic spills, such as foods or drinks that don’t set into the leather, apply a dry white towel and blot away the stain. Tougher stains (such as grease or blood stains) and any stains that have set into the leather should be cleaned by a professional dry cleaner. If the high cost of dry cleaning is prohibitive, try applying a commercially available leather cleaning solution, which you can find at supermarkets and hardware stores.
Polyester
  
Polyester resists stains from water-soluble substances (those that dissolve in water) but is vulnerable to oil-based stains, such as grease or butter. If your polyester clothing has an oil-based stain, use an absorbent to suck up as much of the stain as possible. Next, apply a liquid detergent or a pre-laundry stain stick to the stain and launder according to the directions on the label. If the stain remains, bring the item to a dry cleaner. Note that some types of “cotton” clothing, such as fleece and velour, also contain polyester.
Rayon
  
Rayon is extremely absorbent, making home-based stain removal from rayon clothing next to impossible. Most rayon clothing should be dry cleaned by professionals, whether for regular laundering or for stain removal.
Silk
  
Stains on silk can be cleaned at home with lukewarm water and a mild detergent solution. Because silk comes in dozens of varieties, always test a small, inconspicuous area of the fabric for colorfastness before taking on a large stain. There are three specific cleaning methods you should never use on silk: bleach, enzymatic cleaners, and dry cleaning. Bleach and enzymatic cleaners can destroy the fabric, while dry cleaning tends to dull silk’s shine.
Suede
  
Though suede is a type of leather, it is more susceptible to all types of stains than other leathers. Before you wear suede, make sure it has been treated with a leather and suede sealant, which you can buy online or at most shoe stores. Surface stains on suede can be brushed off with a suede brush, a stiff bristle brush with metal bristles that help maintain suede’s nappy texture.
Wool
  
Wool is naturally resistant to moisture and therefore to water-soluble stains as well. This resistance will give you a bit of time to blot spills away with a white towel if you act immediately. If a stain does penetrate the surface of your wool clothing, you can try to remove it using normal stain removal agents. However, keep in mind that too much moisture and pressure can cause wool to mat. Always blot gently around the stain to remove moisture; never rub cleaning agents into wool. In addition, avoid cleaning wool with enzymatic cleaners (which can destroy the fabric) or chlorine bleach (which can yellow the fabric or weaken the fibers).
 
 
 
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