Get Grease out of Clothes

Did you splash a little bacon grease on your sleeve this morning while making breakfast? Perhaps your bike chain left a grease mark on your pants, or you accidentally spilled a bottle of baby oil near a pile of your toddler's laundry. The same stain-busting techniques work for almost all types of grease. To get grease out of clothes, pre-treat the spot with an absorbing powder (e.g., baby powder or cornstarch) before soaking the garment with detergent in the hottest water it can handle; rinse and repeat as needed. For extra-tough grease stains, try using a baking soda paste and grease-fighting dish soap instead.

Steps

Pre-Treating the Stain

  1. Sprinkle the grease with powder. You can use baby powder, talcum powder, baking powder or cornstarch - whatever you have on hand. Cover the grease spot completely, and don't skimp. The powder will begin absorbing the grease.
    • Leave the grease to sit and absorb the grease for at least half an hour.
    • In instances when there's a big, wet spill to clean up, pat the grease off with a paper towel before covering it with powder.
  2. Use a soft-bristled brush to brush away the powder. With short, swift strokes, brush the powder from the affected area of your fabric.
    • Don't use a hard-bristled brush, since it might damage the fibers of your fabric. Use an old soft-bristled toothbrush or a basting brush.
    • Examine the stained area after you brush away the powder. Can you still see a lot of wet grease? If it still looks wet, repeat the process once more.

Washing Out the Stain

  1. Rub dish soap into the grease spot. Use your fingers, or for thicker fabric, an old soft-bristled toothbrush. Make sure the grease spot is thoroughly soaked in soap.
    • Laundry detergent should also work for most stains.
    • Whatever soap you use should be colorless, just in case your fabric would be susceptible to a dye.
  2. Place the garment in hot water for 20 minutes. Fill your sink, a bucket, or another container with hot water. Completely submerge your garment in the water, making especially sure that the grease-stained part is underwater.
    • Read your garment's care instructions if you need to double check that hot water won't cause it to fray or shrink. Use warm water if the tag instructs you to do so. If the tag instructs you to only use cold water, skip this step.
    • If you're concerned about completely submerging your clothing in hot water, try submerging only the spot with the grease stain. If the grease stain is just on a sleeve or one corner of the garment, weigh that part down with a stone or another heavy waterproof item to keep it underwater.
  3. Remove the garment from the water and rinse it. Place the part with the grease stain under room temperature running water.
    • Examine the part of your clothing that was stained. Is the stain still there? If so, you'll need to continue treating it.
    • If the stain seems to be gone, you may hang your article of clothing to dry, or place it in the dryer.

Taking Out Extra-Tough Stains

  1. Apply a paste. Make a paste from baking soda and a little water, and rub it into the grease spot. Allow it to sit on the grease until it is totally dry.
  2. Remove the paste. Use a soft-bristled brush to brush the paste from your fabric. Examine the area that was stained; if you can still see the grease spot, proceed to the next step.
  3. Douse it with grease-fighting dish soap. Give it another soap treatment by rubbing dish soap into the stained spot, soaking it in hot or warm water for another 20 minutes, and rinsing your garment in room temperature water. If the stain is gone, dry the clothing as usual.
  4. Take it to a professional. For the toughest stains, it's best to turn to a professional. Instead of trying stronger chemicals and risking harming your fabric, let someone with the right training, tools and equipment remove the stain for you.

Removing Grease Stains from Delicate Fabrics

  1. Use cornstarch and vinegar on suede. Treat suede very delicately at every step of the process, since it is easily damaged.
    • Pour cornstarch over the grease spot and let it absorb the grease for half an hour. Use a suede brush to brush it off.
    • Dab a microfiber cloth (the type you use to clean sunglasses) or another lint-free cloth into white vinegar. Gently rub the greasy area until the grease is removed.
    • Allow the area to dry, then use the lint brush to buff up the suede.
  2. Use baby powder and dish detergent on silk. Grease stains on silk look like they'll never come off, but the baby powder and dish detergent trick works in most cases.
    • Soak up the grease with baby powder for half an hour, then brush it off.
    • Rub dish detergent into the grease spot. Allow it to sit for half an hour, then rinse it out.
    • Dry the garment on a hanger.
  3. Take satin and leather to a professional cleaner. These materials retain grease easily, and they are more prone to damage from home solutions than other fabrics. It's best to take them straight to the dry cleaners.

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Things You'll Need

  • Baby powder, talcum powder, corn starch or baking soda
  • Dish or laundry detergent
  • Soft-bristled brush
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