Here's How to Never Worry About Grease Stains Again
Jolie Kerr is a cleaning expert and advice columnist. She'll be here every week helping to answer your filthiest questions. Are you dirty? Email her.
About a year ago, I dripped some pizza grease on my favorite shirt. I applied dish soap to the spot, lathered, and rinsed it with cold water in the sink before throwing the shirt in the wash. It came out stained. I tried washing it once more to no avail, and when that didn't work I put it aside to take to a dry cleaner. But it never made it there, and after catching sight of it for weeks (months) and feeling shame/guilt about my clumsiness and inability to deal with the stain, I got rid of it.
Fast forward to last night, when after a long day I sloppily dropped a greasy take-out noodle on my latest favorite shirt. I once again immediately took it off, applied soap to the spot, added a bit of water, and worked it into a lather with my fingertips. I left it for about 20 minutes before rinsing it and hanging it to dry.
Not sure why I expected different results from doing the exact same thing, but of course I woke up this morning to find that the dark stain is still there, as is a lighter patch around it, where I guess the soap didn't rinse out all the way.
Jolie, what am I doing wrong? What do I do now, with my no-longer-fresh stain? Should I just take it to the dry cleaner? What do I do the next time I get grease on my favorite shirt, because I'm clumsy and it will happen again? A magical solution to stop getting grease on my favorite shirts would also be appreciated.
I have a magical solution! Actually, I have, like, five magical solutions (for getting grease out; can't help you stop the grease there in the first place, sorry). But before we get into what they are, let's talk about the dish soap approach for a second.
You didn't do anything wrong. You used a tried-and-true and oft-recommended method for treating a fresh grease stain. It just didn't work for you! That's just a thing that will happen, I'm sorry to report. That's a general bit of advice to bear in mind when it comes to stain removal and even other kinds of cleaning-sometimes a product or method that one person swears by simply won't work for someone else. Who knows why? Maybe it has to do with differences in the water supply, maybe a product is old and has lost some of its efficacy, maybe the wind is just blowing in the wrong direction or you've been cursed by a powerful witch. The instinct to try something else (in this case, dry cleaning) was spot on. I am, however, a little concerned that in the course of laundering your pizza-befouled shirt, you may have put it in the dryer still stained, in which case it was probably a goner because heat will set a stain, making it unlikely to come out even with repeated treatments. So, the fact that you never made it to the dry cleaner doesn't much matter.
That brings us nicely to one of the most vexing things about grease stains: Of all the stains in all the lands and all the seas, it's the one most likely to look like it's been removed in the wash, even if it's still there. The nature of grease stains is that they generally darken the fabric they're soiling, which means when you take, say, a grease-stained shirt out of the wash, the wet fibers can obscure the remaining stain. This is an entirely infuriating fact of life and the reason why I want to strongly encourage you to always allow a garment that's been stained with oil or grease to air dry post-washing, rather than tossing it in the dryer. Better to be safe than sorry.
With that general advice out of the way, let's talk magical solutions.
Lestoil or Pine Sol
This is my personal favorite, and the one that I personally use when a grease stain sullies an item of clothing in my care: Dab the stain with a bit of Lestoil or Pine Sol, and then launder as usual, remembering to pull the garment out of the wash to air dry before transferring the rest of the load to the dryer.
It's weird, to be sure, to use a product most of us think of as the stuff with which we clean the floors, but both Lestoil (which is my poison) and Pine Sol work exceedingly well as grease- and oil-stain removers. Both are made by the same company (Clorox), and they are similar but not identical degreasers. I swear by Lestoil but it can be harder to find than Pine Sol, so if you can't locate Lestoil grab a bottle of Pine Sol and stash it with your laundry supplies.
Cornstarch
Cornstarch is another great solution to your grease-stain woes, and can be used effectively even on older, more set-in stains. I have personally witnessed a pile of cornstarch remove an older oil stain caused by a samosa from a silk sari, so I speak to this from a place of deep understanding.
To use cornstarch as a stain removal agent, lay the garment flat in a place where it can sit, undisturbed, for at least an hour. Pile cornstarch atop the stain and walk away. That's all! After an hour, or more if you feel like it/have left the house/are lazy or forgetful, brush away the cornstarch and remove any residual powder using a damp sponge or rag. If there's still a trace of the stain, treat that using a good grease-cutting dish soap like Dawn, Palmolive, or Seventh Generation-or just use any one of the other options presented here.
WD-40
God bless WD-40, seriously. The stuff does everything and if don't currently have a can in your home you should run out right now to get one. I'll wait.
OK, everyone's got their WD-40 in hand? Marvelous! For grease stains, spray the WD-40 on the stained area (using the straw will help you control how much you're applying to the fabric) and allow it to sit for 15-30 minutes. Next, rub a small amount of liquid laundry detergent or dish soap into the stain and allow that to sit for another 15-30 minutes, then launder as usual and air dry to ensure that the stain is completely gone before the garment sees the interior of a dryer.
Shampoo for Oily Hair
Much like grease-cutting dish soap, shampoo that's designed for use on oily hair can be put to good use when it comes to removing grease and oil stains from clothing. This trick works best on a fresh stain, and is as simple as massaging a bit of shampoo into the stain with your fingers, flushing with cold running water, and then laundering as usual.
Mechanics Soap
You know what mechanics frequently find themselves needing to clean up? Right! Grease and oil. So it stands to reason that mechanics soap will work wonders on those kinds of stains; some brands to look out for are Lava and GOJO. To use them, apply to the stain and allow the product to work for 15-30 minutes before laundering separate of other clothes (this is a good time to wash cleaning rags or old towels) so that the mechanics soap doesn't cause an entire load to smell of that product. This is an especially good product for people who ride bikes or motorcycles to know about, as it will treat those horrible black stains caused by grease on chains.
OK! So there are all of my magic tricks, or at least some of them-I mean, I didn't even mention the one about the Coca-Cola.
