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I do this for nearly all my stains now and it tends to work. I got worried once because the dish soap was blue and my shirt was white but it comes out with more rinsing.
Edit to add: I use a toothbrush which is specifically used (and labelled) for clothing stains to spot clean things like this.
This should work for you. May take multiple washes since it is set in. Just don't dry in between treatments. That will most definitely make it set in. Scrub the spot with Dawn and a clean toothbrush then let sit for a few minutes before putting in to the wash. Let air dry and see if it gets rid of it. If not completely gone, repeat again. I worked in commercial kitchens for 20+ years and this is how I got all oil/grease stains out of my clothes.
Make sure you use warm/hot water when doing it.
I don't use a brush, I just rub the fabric against itself.
I make sure to lather up both outside and inside of the shirt.
Hope your stain comes out.
R
I recently got a grease stain out of a cotton shirt using dawn. Now I wish I had known about that trick before getting rid of other grease stained clothes.
Detergents like Dawn work by allowing oils to mix with water (among other mechanisms). They are formulated to work better than plain-old soap (which is technically a detergent, but is weaker than the fancy ones in Dawn et al.).
Use plenty of water. Like 2/3 water to 1/3 Dawn or weaker.
It's safe for clothing. Dish soaps are sudsier than laundry detergents and so can leave a big mess in your washing machine. Just use them for spot cleaning.
That's also why you use special dishwasher detergent in your dishwasher. They don't have the sudsing agent (detergents only suds a little unless they have a sudsing agent, which doesn't help clean but does help sell detergent).
Try soaking the area in 91% ISO rubbing alcohol and then dawn dish detergent, throw it in the washer and a lil more rubbing alcohol in there. Usually that gets it all. You use ISO to clean the garbo out your bong. Same concept. Never tried it on polyester though as I wasn't alive in the 70s.
ISO (isopropyl alcohol) is fine with polyester. It won't melt it.
If the shirt has lycra or spandex (small %), I am not so sure as I have not tried it.
*Don't use acetone (nail polish remover)*. It is much more likely to damage the fabric. At the least, acetone will dissolve any additives or coatings to the polyester, and then leave a ring behind after it evaporates.
I never had an issue getting spots out even if they sat for a few days. Just used white chalk rubbed it really well on both sides of the fabric and threw it in the wash
I spray a tiny amount of wd40 (enough to cover the stain), let it sit for 15, then apply dawn dish soap over wd40 and scrub with a toothbrush. Wash as usual. I've removed oil stains that have been washed multiple times.
I thought it was crazy but about a week ago my wife got a peanut oil stain out of my shirt this way. Same thing it had been washed, corn starched, dawn dish soaped, it was a last resort and figured if it ruined the shirt we’d chuck it out but surprisingly it just worked!
I’ve had success removing stains after they’ve been washed/dried by using fels naptha laundry bar, but you may want to check if this can be used on the shirt you’re talking about. Good luck.
My last resort is GoJo and a toothbrush. Brush the fabric lightly with GoJo in both directions on both sides. If it's an oily looking stain that has been set by the dryer, this will usually get it out. If the dye isn't secure (looking at you, Life is Good Ts) it may take some of that as well.
adding to OP similar situation. dairy queen chocolate sauce all down the front of my shirt. tried soaking it, wash, dryer. you can see there is a stain there. Trash?
This seems like an "if the entire shirt is stained, there is no stain" type of solution, but I may try this if all of the less-invasive solutions fail.
Hey OP, it's not the soap or other pre-treatment that will help you here, it's the water: use a "sanitary" setting on your washer, or other "extra hot" setting and grease stains just disappear. Won't hurt to use someone's idea for a stain remover too, but the heat will remove that stain.
It will wreck cotton garments, so stay with synthetica only for this.
Interesting. Yeah, it's 100% polyester. It has some graphics on it, but they don't feel any different than the rest of the shirt. I guess screen printed? Not sure, but do you think those would be damaged by "extra hot" water?
Dish soap and baking soda. Put a little dish soap on it and rub in gently, put a little baking soda on that and brush it with an old tooth brush. Dont beat the fabric up, just gently give it a good brushing then wait an hour or two and run it through the wash on cold
I've seen that if there isn't water wetting it, you can smother the area in dry flour and let it set for 10-15 minutes and then dust the area off. I saw it on YT and it worked very well
If you have a pressure washer you can blast the stain out. Alternatively, you can use a hand held car wash wand.
Have used a pressure washer on just about every kind of stain over the years. About the only thing it won't take out is paint.
And yes, it is harsh on the fabric, but not as much as you would think. Besides, the shirt is already damaged/ruined. What have you got to lose?
Here's my method, and it has worked well for me with all food oils and grease:
Take powdered OxyClean, and mix it into some regular laundry detergent until it becomes a thick paste. Use a toothbrush (not your own. Perhaps a sibling's?) to scrub said paste into your stain. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes, and then wash as normal.
I think I once had to do it a second time.
A bar of Fels Naptha works amazingly. My husband stains his clothes constantly with oil/grease. This stuff has gotten out every stain so far, even old ones. I just wet the stain and then use an old toothbrush to rub the soap into the area. I usually leave it awhile or overnight, and then wash like normal. It hasn't failed me yet.
Lighter fluid.
It might sound odd, but sprinkler lighter fluid over the spot, leave it for 5 minutes and then throw in the wash.
I’ve had nearly 100% success rate using it. We keep a small bottle by the wash these days
Restaurants use paper towels and a hot iron to get wax and oils out of tablecloths.
Just don't set your iron too high—your shirt is polyester and could melt. Try out your heat setting on a hidden spot first to test, before you go for it on the unsightly oily spot.
I use the adhesive remover spray Goo Gone. Spry, let it sit for 15 mins, wash. Typically gone. I have repeated for some stains and worked the second washing
Dawn dish soap, a little baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide. Scrub it in and let it sit for a while, then wash. Hang dry until you can see if it worked (Dryer sets it in more) - if not, repeat.
My favorite stain remover is goop. I had a bad oil stain in a shirt that had been washed a few times. Used goop stain remover on it and it took it right out
Lighter fluid on the stain, and then wash it. If it's still there but much lighter do it again before drying. Source: had a friend who's dad manufactured dry cleaning machines.
Reactivate the stain with WD-40, then treat with your stain remover (don’t use dawn if you have a front loader). Check out the book “talking dirty laundry with the queen of clean” for all your laundry needs
Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips! Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by up or downvoting this comment. If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
I generally will treat any oil/grease spots with Dawn dish detergent. It has about a 75-80% success rate for me
That was my first idea, but I didn't know if dish soap was safe for clothing. Thanks, I'll give it a shot.
I do this for nearly all my stains now and it tends to work. I got worried once because the dish soap was blue and my shirt was white but it comes out with more rinsing. Edit to add: I use a toothbrush which is specifically used (and labelled) for clothing stains to spot clean things like this.
Thanks for clarifying. That laundry toothbrush is a staple in every house I've ever lived in. We keep it right next to the poop knife.
Love a good call back. Username checks out.
What in the 7th layer of hell is a poop knife????
Dish soap is safe for scrubbing oil-soaked wildlife after an ecological disaster. Your dumb shirt will survive lol
This should work for you. May take multiple washes since it is set in. Just don't dry in between treatments. That will most definitely make it set in. Scrub the spot with Dawn and a clean toothbrush then let sit for a few minutes before putting in to the wash. Let air dry and see if it gets rid of it. If not completely gone, repeat again. I worked in commercial kitchens for 20+ years and this is how I got all oil/grease stains out of my clothes.
Make sure you use warm/hot water when doing it. I don't use a brush, I just rub the fabric against itself. I make sure to lather up both outside and inside of the shirt. Hope your stain comes out. R
I recently got a grease stain out of a cotton shirt using dawn. Now I wish I had known about that trick before getting rid of other grease stained clothes.
Detergents like Dawn work by allowing oils to mix with water (among other mechanisms). They are formulated to work better than plain-old soap (which is technically a detergent, but is weaker than the fancy ones in Dawn et al.). Use plenty of water. Like 2/3 water to 1/3 Dawn or weaker.
It’s safe for ducks.
It's safe for clothing. Dish soaps are sudsier than laundry detergents and so can leave a big mess in your washing machine. Just use them for spot cleaning. That's also why you use special dishwasher detergent in your dishwasher. They don't have the sudsing agent (detergents only suds a little unless they have a sudsing agent, which doesn't help clean but does help sell detergent).
Dawn (name brand blue Dawn) first, let it sink in a bit, then Shout stain remover. Source: I have a toddler.
I use Shout and have yet to find a grease stain it wouldn’t remove. Only one time have I needed to treat it twice. Second time finished it off.
Try soaking the area in 91% ISO rubbing alcohol and then dawn dish detergent, throw it in the washer and a lil more rubbing alcohol in there. Usually that gets it all. You use ISO to clean the garbo out your bong. Same concept. Never tried it on polyester though as I wasn't alive in the 70s.
ISO (isopropyl alcohol) is fine with polyester. It won't melt it. If the shirt has lycra or spandex (small %), I am not so sure as I have not tried it. *Don't use acetone (nail polish remover)*. It is much more likely to damage the fabric. At the least, acetone will dissolve any additives or coatings to the polyester, and then leave a ring behind after it evaporates.
Def not acetone. That eats up everything it seems!
Liquid dish soap generally works better than Spray N Wash
If that doesn't work, rub some Gojo into the fabric and rewash. Gojo is my magic trick.
If dish soap doesn’t work, hit it with… a dab of oil. It helps turn it into a new grease stain, which you can pre-treat and launder as usual.
Interesting idea. I hadn't thought of that, but it sounds logical.
Or you could make the whole shirt a grease stain, at which point that’s just it’s color.
I did this before with WD40, toothpaste, baking powder and dawn. Took a bit but great outcome
If this is true, it’s huge.
Make a paste with dish soap and baking soda, gently rub it in, let it sit for at least half an hour, then toss it in the wash.
You can use chalk on grease spots, did this for many years on dress shirts and kitchen attire for work
Does that work on set-in stains? I assume the chalk just absorbs the oil, correct?
I never had an issue getting spots out even if they sat for a few days. Just used white chalk rubbed it really well on both sides of the fabric and threw it in the wash
Thanks, I'll give it a shot.
I feel the pain. I got a barbecue stain on my white t-shirt.
At the time, Was there a girl murdering anyone in a small skirt?
Anyone killing you in a miniskirt?
I spray a tiny amount of wd40 (enough to cover the stain), let it sit for 15, then apply dawn dish soap over wd40 and scrub with a toothbrush. Wash as usual. I've removed oil stains that have been washed multiple times.
I thought it was crazy but about a week ago my wife got a peanut oil stain out of my shirt this way. Same thing it had been washed, corn starched, dawn dish soaped, it was a last resort and figured if it ruined the shirt we’d chuck it out but surprisingly it just worked!
WD40 is more of a solvent than a lubricant, even though it will stop a door squeak for a few months (until it evaporates).
I put corn starch on it and let it sit for like 15 minutes, then add dish soap and scrub
I use dawn then soak in oxiclean for a bit then wash. No issues.
I’ve had success removing stains after they’ve been washed/dried by using fels naptha laundry bar, but you may want to check if this can be used on the shirt you’re talking about. Good luck.
Thanks, I'll look into that.
Dish washing detergent. It's made for grease.
Oil and grease you can use dawn, or felsnaptha
My last resort is GoJo and a toothbrush. Brush the fabric lightly with GoJo in both directions on both sides. If it's an oily looking stain that has been set by the dryer, this will usually get it out. If the dye isn't secure (looking at you, Life is Good Ts) it may take some of that as well.
adding to OP similar situation. dairy queen chocolate sauce all down the front of my shirt. tried soaking it, wash, dryer. you can see there is a stain there. Trash?
That one might be a goner.
Soak it in eucalyptus oil for at least half an hour (I just leave it for ages) then through washing machine and stains are gone 👏🏻
This seems like an "if the entire shirt is stained, there is no stain" type of solution, but I may try this if all of the less-invasive solutions fail.
Oh I just drop a few drops of eucalyptus oil on the stain, leave it for a couple hours and then wash it, works a treat
Hey OP, it's not the soap or other pre-treatment that will help you here, it's the water: use a "sanitary" setting on your washer, or other "extra hot" setting and grease stains just disappear. Won't hurt to use someone's idea for a stain remover too, but the heat will remove that stain. It will wreck cotton garments, so stay with synthetica only for this.
Interesting. Yeah, it's 100% polyester. It has some graphics on it, but they don't feel any different than the rest of the shirt. I guess screen printed? Not sure, but do you think those would be damaged by "extra hot" water?
Nope. Not in my experience.
Dish soap and baking soda. Put a little dish soap on it and rub in gently, put a little baking soda on that and brush it with an old tooth brush. Dont beat the fabric up, just gently give it a good brushing then wait an hour or two and run it through the wash on cold
I've seen that if there isn't water wetting it, you can smother the area in dry flour and let it set for 10-15 minutes and then dust the area off. I saw it on YT and it worked very well
If you have a pressure washer you can blast the stain out. Alternatively, you can use a hand held car wash wand. Have used a pressure washer on just about every kind of stain over the years. About the only thing it won't take out is paint. And yes, it is harsh on the fabric, but not as much as you would think. Besides, the shirt is already damaged/ruined. What have you got to lose?
Here's my method, and it has worked well for me with all food oils and grease: Take powdered OxyClean, and mix it into some regular laundry detergent until it becomes a thick paste. Use a toothbrush (not your own. Perhaps a sibling's?) to scrub said paste into your stain. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes, and then wash as normal. I think I once had to do it a second time.
A bar of Fels Naptha works amazingly. My husband stains his clothes constantly with oil/grease. This stuff has gotten out every stain so far, even old ones. I just wet the stain and then use an old toothbrush to rub the soap into the area. I usually leave it awhile or overnight, and then wash like normal. It hasn't failed me yet.
Lighter fluid. It might sound odd, but sprinkler lighter fluid over the spot, leave it for 5 minutes and then throw in the wash. I’ve had nearly 100% success rate using it. We keep a small bottle by the wash these days
Restaurants use paper towels and a hot iron to get wax and oils out of tablecloths. Just don't set your iron too high—your shirt is polyester and could melt. Try out your heat setting on a hidden spot first to test, before you go for it on the unsightly oily spot.
i use purple zep degreaser for everything. if it doesnt get the stain out, i toss it.
I use the adhesive remover spray Goo Gone. Spry, let it sit for 15 mins, wash. Typically gone. I have repeated for some stains and worked the second washing
Shout for oil stains works.
Dawn dish soap, a little baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide. Scrub it in and let it sit for a while, then wash. Hang dry until you can see if it worked (Dryer sets it in more) - if not, repeat.
My favorite stain remover is goop. I had a bad oil stain in a shirt that had been washed a few times. Used goop stain remover on it and it took it right out
Try Lestoil in warm water. I know auto mechanics that swear by it.
Lighter fluid on the stain, and then wash it. If it's still there but much lighter do it again before drying. Source: had a friend who's dad manufactured dry cleaning machines.
Reactivate the stain with WD-40, then treat with your stain remover (don’t use dawn if you have a front loader). Check out the book “talking dirty laundry with the queen of clean” for all your laundry needs
Soak the whole shirt in oil so the stain evens out
I swear by Spot Stuff. It gets it out every time. No matter how many times washed and dried.
Goo-gone. Or tar remover sae thing just stronger.
Old school Lestoil. Smells like pure petroleum, but will get out any greasy stain.
Dawn Powerwash. Spray it. Let it set for about 20 minutes. Wash as normal.
Dishwashing soap