We love our white clothes – they go with almost everything in our wardrobe and often exude an effortlessly chic vibe. But they’re also the hardest apparel to maintain; any stain that we get onto it look super obvious and is extremely hard to get rid of. If you can resonate with this problem, you’re on the right article. We’ve consolidated some of the best ways to remove stains, especially on white clothes, that you should remember by heart (or simply bookmark this page!) for the next time you do your laundry.
1. Fruit juice stain
No matter what you do, don’t expose it to a soap-based product. Instead of removing the stain, the cleaning agent could make the stain permanent. Instead, run it under the highest possible water temperature for the fabric, you can add some detergent if it’s available. If the stain remains stubbornly intact, soak the area in warm water for 30 minutes and add a teaspoon of enzyme presoak product in the water. If all things fail, treat it with bleach if it’s safe for your fabric. Take note that the sugar from the fruit juice has to be thoroughly dissolved before you put the clothes into the dryer or iron. Otherwise, you’ll get a brown stain on your clothes as the sugar caramelised.
2. Ice-cream (and other dairy product) stain
Those with kids are probably most familiar with this scenario: your kid asked for an ice-cream on a hot day, you give in, and next thing you know, half the ice-cream lands on his/her white t-shirt. For dairy product (like ice-cream) stains, soak the item in cold water, then wash it as per normal. If the stain has already dried, scrape it off first, then soak it in cold water. After soaking, launder it in warm water.
3. Grass stain
You are wearing a brand new white romper out for a picnic with your loved ones. And then you got carried away and sat on a grass patch – and that’s it, stubborn grass stain all over your bum. For grass stain, avoid hot water. The heat will coagulate protein present in grass, making it even tougher to get rid of the stain. Instead, soak it in a solution of cool water and detergent that contains enzymes for 30 minutes and more (depending on how long the stain has been there for). Continue soaking until you can no longer see any sign of stain. Then, launder in warm water as you would normally.
4. Mud stain
What could be worse than grass stain? We think it’s mud stains. Thankfully, while they look gross, they’re not impossible to remove. First, allow the stain to dry so you can brush off the soil first. Then, soak it for at least 15 minutes in a solution consisting of the following: 1 litre of warm water, 1 teaspoon of liquid dish detergent, and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. Rinse it with water. If the stain doesn’t go away, sponge the area with rubbing alcohol, then rinse with water.
5. Coffee stain
Mishaps can happen before we get our morning cup of joe, and this is when we suffer coffee spills. For fresh stain, rinse immediately with cold water. The stain probably won’t be removed totally, but this step will prevent it from sticking. when you get home, apply laundry detergent directly onto the stain (yeah, like how you see it in certain detergent commercials) and rub the cloth together with cold water. Soak the clothes while rubbing the cloth together every five to 10 minutes. After 30 minutes, wash it in the hottest possible water temperature that’s safe for your fabric. You have to make sure that the stain is gone before you put it through the dryer.
Other tips that can save your white clothes
1. Don’t wait
Attend to the stain as soon as you can and don’t let it sit. This is because fresh stains are easier to clean than aged ones. You may not have any cleaning detergent with you, so one quick thing you can do is to press a moist paper towel onto the stain with sustained pressure (much like what you’d do to stop bleeding) for about two minutes. This step helps absorb as much as the substance as possible before it dries, and also help prevent it from spreading.
2. But don’t blot
Avoid blotting the stain excessively because it could actually make the substance embed more deeply into the fabric.
3. Don’t apply heat
Some of us may be tempted to wash the stain with water and then blast it under the hand-dryer to dry out the moisture. Heat can make the stain set into clothing faster, so you should avoid doing that.
4. Wash immediately
As soon as you can, wash it. The faster you attend to the stain properly, the easier it will be to get it out.
5. Check your care label
Finally, before you go ahead and treat the stain, remember to find out the highest temperature the fabric is able to withstand and whether it is okay to apply bleach. The last thing you want is to get rid of the stain but ruin the rest of your apparel.
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