Tips for Removing Oil Stains from Clothes

It's aggravating to wear a new shirt and spill food on it. What's more aggravating is when that food leaves an oil stain. If you toss the shirt into the washer, and then into the dryer, you have a nicely set-in oil stain. This has happened to me more times than I can count. Every time, I think washing it again is the answer. I've washed shirts up to 3 times in a row to get out oil stains, but without success. Here's what I did that finally achieved success. Plus, find several more tips for removing oil stains that others have used successfully.

Soap it up. Just about any type of soap applied directly to the oil stain achieves a measure of success. What finally worked for me was a combination of powdered laundry detergent and water that I made into a paste and smeared onto the spot. I let it pre-treat for half an hour and then laundered the shirt in HOT water. When I took the shirt from the dryer there were no more oil stains!

Shampoo it. Apply a small bit of shampoo directly onto the oil stain, and then launder the garment in hot water. Again, this application of soap should do the trick. Just launder your garment in the hottest water the fabric can safely handle.

Powder it. Here's a tip I've not tried, but others testify to its working. On a fresh oil stain, pre-treat the stain with baby powder, talcum powder, salt, or cornstarch and leave it overnight. The powder absorbs the oil, and then you can dust off the powder and launder the garment.

Use Dawn dish detergent. Dawn dish detergent used as a pre-wash is another form of using soap, but the unique thing about Dawn is this. It's made to lift grease and oil from dishes. So it stands to reason; it should lift oil from clothing too. Simply apply a bit of Dawn to oil stains on your clothes, launder, and you should see those oil stains lift right out.

Consider these unique tips. Although I can't speak for the effectiveness of the following tips, others have tried them with success. Toss the contents of a can of Coke into your wash water or pre-treat stains directly with Coke and let it activate for half an hour. Other tips include applying hairspray, aloe Vera gel, Simple Green, or Grease Hand Cleaner from the garage. Who know? You might just find your favorite among one of these.

When cooking, you can always wear an apron to guard against cooking oil stains. But when eating out, you either have to lean over your plate or take a chance of oily things falling off your fork and down your front. If you do end up with an oil stain on your clothes, just pre-treat with one of these products, and you should be good to go.