Many of us know it all too well – your favorite trousers, kids’ clothes, white tablecloth…all of it can be completely ruined by just one small stain. And you wash and wash and it’s still there. So how to remove a stain really efectively?
That’s a question the humanity has been asking for centuries. Well, maybe not so long and not the whole humanity but many of us for sure. Sometimes we just have to accept the fact that there are stains which can’t be completely removed from certain materials. However, sometimes we can get rid of a stain even if we’ve lost hope. Remember, the success in stain removal repends not only on the material but also on the time it’s been there for. Here are a few basic rules:
- Act fact and take care of the stain as soon as possible.
- Dry the excess fluid, rub off the solid part of the stain.
- If you can’t start washing immediatelly, at least soak the stain. If you’re unsure about the correct temperature of the water use cold water as hot water causes some materials to coagulate.
- Remember that sometimes you’ll need to repeat the process to remove the stain completely.
- Some cleaning products aren’t suitable for certain materials. Before you use a products, you have to consider the material and if you’re completely lost, you can always buy a product for your specific material.
Table of Contents
Supplies
You can buy a stain removal product at a drugstore, however, I would like to talk about a more natural a ecological stain removal. These little helpers will come handy:
- lemon
- salt
- baking soda
- gall soap
- vinagre
- dish soap
- rubbing alcohol
- ammonia
By the way, most of these things are also great for cleaning your kitchen.
How to remove a stain
Coffee
Soak the stain in lukewarm water. Mix some dish soap with vinagre and rub tit gently into the stain. Rinse.
Grass
There are several ways to clean grass stains. If you have some rubbing alcohol, rub it into the stain and let it work for a while. Then soak the stain in soap water and wash normally. Lemon is another great way – rub the stain with a lemon half and then wash. And what our great-grandmothers used to do was to soak the stain in milk over night, the stain should (mostly) disappear.
Ketchup
Gall soap is the best for ketchup stains. Soak the stain in warm water and then apply the soap, let it work for 30 minutes and rinse. Repeat.
Blood
Soak the blood in cold water. I can’t stress enough the word cold because if you use warm or hot water the bloog will coagulate. The rub plenty of gall soap from both sides of the stain and let it work for at least 30 minutes. Then rinse and repeat if needed. If the stain is dry, don’t rinse after applying the soap and wash the fabric directly in your washing machine.
Dinginess
Soak the dingy white laundry in water with several lemon slices over night and then wash. I recommend also putting half a cup of vinegar directly in your washing machine (the best is white wine vinegar but you can use usual kitchen vinegar as well). And, if you have ammonia at home, you can soak the white laundry in water with ammonia before washing.
Ink
I find rubbing alcohol to be the best for ink stain removal. Some people even use hair spray for ink but I haven’t tried this yet.
Berries
Soak the stain and then rub gall soap on it and rinse. Apply the soapk again and rub. If you don’t have gall soap at hand, you can use also lemon. Cut it in half and rub the lemon juice onto the stain from both sides. Rinse.
Wax
Rub off as much wax as you can. Then place the stain on a paper kitchen tower (stain down) and put a hot iron on it. The wax will melt and soak into the towel. Then apply some gall soap and wash.
Make-up
Rubbing alcohol works well for make-up stains. Of you can use a mixture of vinegar and dish soap. Rub the stain gently with a sponge and then wash normally.
Lipstick
Gall soap will be great even here, especially if the stain is fresh. If it’s dry, use some rubbing alcohol. If you don’t have rubbing alcohol, just mix some soap dish and vinegar, apply on the stain and rinse. And you’ll probably have to repeat it.
Grease
Soak the grease and oil stain in warm water and apply plenty of gall soap. Rub and wash. You can also mix some baking soda with a little water and apply the mixture on the stain, then rub and rinse to remove the stain
Wine
While the stain is still fresh, pul plenty of salt on it and let it soak in the fluid. Then soak the stain in vinagre or rubbing alcohol and wash.
Nail polish
Place the stain on a paper towel and soak the stain in rubbing alcohol and rub.
