Can you remove old grease stains from clothing

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As you know by now, we are officially in burger season. And that means every last one of us is bound to end up with a grease stain or three on our favorite summer pieces. It’s a dance you’re familiar with: Overjoyed with excitement, you take a bite into a fresh-off-the-grill burger that’s stacked high with all sorts of fixings. You get a mouthful. And, out the opposite end, drips some grease. Right onto your best summer dress! But it’s not like you’re gonna stop eating burgers.

The good news is that you don’t have to. And you don’t have to resort to wearing a poncho, either. Because there are three very simple tricks to getting grease stains out of clothing.

Our Favorite Method for Getting Grease Stains Out of Clothes: Dish Soap

This method makes perfect sense when you think about it. Liquid dish soap was designed to cut through grease, so what’s stopping it from cutting through grease on a shirt versus a baking sheet? Nothing! Just squirt a bit of dish soap right onto the stain and let it sit for a little while before washing. Once the wash cycle is done, check for the stain. If you don’t see it (you likely won’t!), you’re clear to send the item through the dryer. Bonus: This trick even works for old stains. Ones that have been washed and dried repeatedly!

We’ve had great success with this method, but in case you want others, here goes.

Credit: Ghazalle Badiozamani/Kitchn

Method 2: Baking soda

If the stain is fresh — like, just-happened-kind-of-fresh — baking soda can its part to absorb and lift the stain. Just sprinkle the baking soda on top of the grease and wait for five to 10 minutes. Then, use a brush to scrub the baking soda into the stain. The baking soda will change color (read: turn brown). Once it’s all brown, scrape the baking soda away and repeat until the stain is lifted and the baking soda no longer changes color. You can then do the dish soap trick from above to be extra thorough.

Method 3: Salt + Stain remover

Consider adding a can of Shout Advanced Grease-Busting Foam to your laundry line up. Buy it now and you’ll have it on hand when an emergency strikes. While you’re eating, sprinkle the stain with salt (it works like baking soda to absorb and lift the stain). When you can do the laundry, spray the stain with this foam wash the garment in the hottest water that’s safe for the fabric and make sure the stain is gone before you dry the item.

More on Stains

Do you have any sure-fire tricks for removing food and grease stains from clothing?

Do your clothes have oil stains that are still there after washing them? Or did you find grease stains fresh out of the dryer? This is the easiest way to get oil out of clothes, and you already have these ingredients around your house.

Have you ever sat down to fold laundry fresh out of the dryer only to find oil stains or grease stains on your clothes?

No matter how hard you try sometimes, food with cooking oils can ruin our clothing.

oil stains on T-shirt

Today, we’re going to get stubborn oil stains out with just a few supplies you probably already have around the house.

And don’t worry if you’ve already washed and dried those stains. While it’s true that a dryer will “set in” those oil stains, you’re going to learn the trick on how to “revive” the oil stain and wash it out for good.

It took me a few years to learn to check for stains before putting them in the wash, but for years, I dealt with set in oil stains. I came across this method when I found myself without a stain pre-treater or spot remover.

I’ve tried this method on cotton and polyester, and this method works best on cotton. On synthetic fabrics, you may have to repeat the process OR allow the detergent to work longer before putting it in the wash.

Disclaimer: Do not attempt this on “dry clean only” clothing. Use your own judgment before proceeding.

Supplies needed for oil stain removal

You will need to prepare your workspace with a few items. Make sure you have plenty of natural light, as overheard artificial lighting can make it hard to see the oil stains.

WD-40
Q-tips (optional)
baking soda
scrap of cardboard
Dawn liquid soap (or any other liquid detergent on hand)
a sturdy brush
your regular laundry routine after stain removal

Why this method works

In searching for ways to remove oil stains, I remember I read somewhere that you can “revive” old oil by adding a little more oil.

I tried vegetable oil and olive oil, and the only thing I accomplished was making the oil stain worse. It got larger and more apparent.

A neighbor recommended I try WD-40 to remove oil stains. She said she used it all the time.

WD-40 might be a tad extreme, but since we already WASHED and DRIED these oil stains on high heat, what do we have to lose?

It’s unconventional, and probably not something you’d call non-toxic, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

1. Reviving the Oil Stain

Preparing the clothing

If your stains are on a shirt, shorts, dress or any article of clothing that doesn’t have buttons to open, don’t skip this step.

Place your scrap of cardboard underneath the stains, between the front and back of the t-shirt (or other article of clothing).

This is important because you do not want the WD-40 to spread through the stain to the back of the shirt and create a new stain.

Carefully apply WD-40

If your stains are super tiny, try spraying some WD-40 in a shallow bowl (or a spoon) and use Q-tips to dab it on stains.

Same goes if your WD-40 does not have a sprayer attachment.

If your can of WD-40 does has a spray attachment, this will be pretty straight forward.

Gently spray the center of each stain. Less is more. The WD-40 will spread!

Even if your squirt doesn’t cover the whole stain, give it a minute, especially if the stain is on the smaller side. It will spread and cover the entire stain.

2. Lifting the Stain

Sprinkle with baking soda

I read that baking soda is great at just about 1,000,000 different things.

So I wondered…would it work to remove oil stains?

Pour a pile of baking soda on the oil stain. Make sure you add more than you think you’ll need!

Brushing in baking soda

Bring out the toothbrush and spread the baking soda into the stain.

The baking soda will absorb all of the oil that the WD-40 helped revive. It’s important to brush the baking soda well into the fabric to get all of the oils out.

Continue brushing until you end up with slightly lumpy chunks of soda. Dust off the excess baking soda into a sink.

Repeat

Next, we’re going to repeat the process of scrubbing baking soda. Pour more baking soda on the grease stains and brush the baking soda into the fabric.

You want to see the same lumps of baking soda as the last step, but they should be smaller this time.

Repeat this process until you have next to no lumps of baking soda. Some stains are bigger than others and you might have to repeat a third or fourth time.

You will then have something that looks like the image below.

Notice the fine powdery baking soda everywhere. This is what your baking soda should look like when you’ve taken out most of the oils: a fine, dry dusting with no major lumps.

Also, look at how the oil stain transferred to the cardboard scrap.

Had we skipped the cardboard, this would’ve transferred to the other side of the clothing as well!

3. Pre-treating the Stain

After we are done soaking up the oil or grease by brushing baking soda into the stain, we move on to the liquid dish soap or laundry detergent.

Pour the liquid detergent directly to the stain.

Using the toothbrush, brush the pre-wash treatment into the stained areas.

Allow the liquid soap to sit on the stains from 30 minutes to overnight.

4. Wash and Dry as Usual

Add the stained clothing to the wash, following the instructions on the garment tag for water temperature, wash cycle, and the dryer.

If you followed all of the instructions, you won’t need a longer wash time, heavy wash cycle, OR an extra rinse cycle.

Before putting the shirt into the dryer, take a look at the stained spots. You might not be able to see them when the clothing is wet. If you can see them, add more liquid detergent to the spot with the toothbrush and launder again. Be sure to use wool dryer balls for quicker drying time.

5. Finished

If you still have the oil stains in the fabric after drying, repeat the steps above. For these particular stains, I had to repeat the process after washing the first time. Oil stains, man.

I have done this numerous times with different types of fabrics and have found it works best with cotton and cotton blends. Click below for the full video tutorial on YouTube, and find printable instructions below.

Materials

oil-stained clothing
WD-40
baking soda
scrap of cardboard
small bowl or ramekin

Notes

If stains still persist, repeat from step 1.

Also, look at my Dryer Efficiency post for a tutorial on how to remove a film from the lint catcher that can be making you spend a longer time (and more money) drying your clothes!

Download the free Laundry Symbols Printable

Not sure what those laundry symbols mean? Head to this post for a free printable!

How do you get grease stains out of clothes after they have been washed and dried?

Douse the stain with white vinegar, then apply a paste made of equal parts baking soda and vinegar. If this doesn't work, immerse the item overnight in a bucket of water containing a few tablespoons of detergent and vinegar. Rinse and wash the following morning.

How do you remove old dried grease stains?

How to remove old grease stains from shirts & pants.

Scrape and blot liquid dish soap (for handwashing), stain pretreatment or liquid enzyme detergent into the stain and let sit for 10 minutes. ... .

Soak in warm or hot water for at least 30 minutes. ... .

Wash in the warmest water recommended on the care tag..

Line dry..

Can you get dried grease out of clothes?

Blot away as much oil as possible. Apply an absorbent powder, such as cornstarch or baking powder, and let sit overnight. Gently brush off, and reapply if necessary. If the stain persists, dab on a small amount of clear, grease-cutting dish detergent.

Can you get grease out of clothes once its been a whole?

Pour dish detergent onto the stain area and rub in with the brush. Allow the detergent to sit for 30 minutes. Wash as usual. Air dry, again to make sure the oil stain is actually gone.