How To Get Dried Grease Stains Out Of Clothes

Grease, oil and fat stains, they’re the worst, they’re so sneaky. You often don’t even realise they’re there until after you’ve washed and dried the item they’re on. Plus, once they’ve been dried, they can be even more difficult to remove.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, you can remove these pesky stains with just a few helpful substances that you probably already have in your cupboards. By the time you finish reading this brief article, you’ll be armed with all the information you’ll ever need to remove grease or oil stains from your clothes.

Does Grease Permanently Stain Clothes?

We’re not going to lie, grease stains are hard to remove because oil and water don’t mix. The problem is that grease, fat and oil cling onto the fibres of the fabric and water isn’t enough to remove them. Which generally means that just washing them in the washer won’t get them stains out.

But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible, it just means you might need to use a different approach.

How To Remove Grease Stains From Your Clothes

There are plenty of expensive laundry products designed for the specific task of removing grease stains from clothes. Most will work really well but in all honesty, you probably have the most effective grease stain remover in your kitchen already.

We’re talking about washing up liquid. We’ve all seen the adverts about how a particular washing up liquid is great at removing oils and grease from pots and pans, right? Well, those same grease removing properties will work on your clothes too!

So, How Do You Get Grease Stains Out Of Clothes?

The best and most effective way is to get on to it straight away. If you attack that grease before it sets, you’ll have a much better chance of removing it. All you need to do is;

1. Blot The Stain
   As soon as you spot a grease (or oil or fat) stain on your clothes, use kitchen paper or a clean dry cloth to blot away as much as possible.
2. Treat With Washing Up Liquid
   Once you’ve blotted as much of the stain as possible, rub washing up liquid into the affected area. You can even use a scrubbing brush or old toothbrush to work the liquid into the stain. This will start to break down the grease (fat or oil) and help remove the stain.
3. Rinse
   Once you’ve rubbed the entire area with washing up liquid, rinse the clothing under warm water. Make sure you remove all of the washing up liquid.
4. Rub Liquid Detergent Into The Affected Area
   Then rub liquid detergent into the stain to help target the stain during the wash cycle.
5. Wash on A Hot Wash
   Place the item in the washer adding the normal amount of detergent and wash on a hot wash. You will need to check the wash care label to find out just how hot the temperature of the wash can be. But you need the cycle to be as hot as possible.
6. Air Dry The Garment
   It’s important that you don’t tumble dry the affected item as the heat from the tumble dryer can bake the stain, making it really difficult to remove.

If the stain proves to be tougher than you thought, you can repeat this whole process.

How To Get Dried Grease Stains From Your Clothes

So far, all we’ve looked at is fresh grease stains, which are easier to remove. Dried on grease stains are much more of a challenge to remove. You’ll need to use more household items for this task.

What You’ll Need

To remove stubborn or dried on grease (oil or fat) stains from clothes you will need;

• WD40
• Bicarbonate Of Soda (Baking Soda)
• Washing Up Liquid
• A scrubbing brush (Or Toothbrush)
• Cardboard

How To Remove Dried On Grease Stains

To remove stubborn grease oil or fat stains from your clothes simply do the following;

1. Separate The Front From The Back Of The Garment
   Place the cardboard underneath the stained area between the front and the back of the garment. This is to prevent the WD40 from causing another stain on the other side of the garment.
2. Spray WD40 Onto The Stain
   Carefully spray a little WD40 onto the centre of the affected area. You only need a little as it will spread.
3. Sprinkle Bicarbonate Of Soda Onto The WD40
   Sprinkle a generous amount of bicarb onto the WD40 and rub it in well using your brush. Keep brushing until all of the large clumps have been removed and you’re left with a fine dusting.
4. Cover The Affected Area With Washing Up Liquid
   Pour washing up liquid onto the affected area and rub in using your brush.
5. Give The Washing Up Liquid Time To Work
   Allow the washing up liquid to soak into the fabric for around 30 to 40 minutes.
6. Wash In The Usual Way
   Once the washing up liquid has soaked in for the full amount of time, place the item in the washer and wash in the normal way. Add as much detergent as you normally would and run a regular wash cycle.
7. Air Dry
   Once again, it’s vitally important that you don’t tumble dry until you’re 100% certain that the grease stain has completely gone. It’s really difficult to tell whether the grease has been removed completely until the fabric has fully dried. But drying it in a tumble dryer can bake the stain into the fabric.

If the stain remains, you’ll need to repeat this whole process again.

Using Enzyme Based Cleaners To Pretreat Grease Stains

If the stain is stubborn and doesn’t go away even after using the above method, we recommend using an enzyme based cleaner. Products like oxygen bleach and Napisan are great enzyme based cleaning products that will help remove grease stains as long as they are used according to their packaging instructions.

Check the care label to ensure that the fabric can withstand these treatments. Then pretreat the stain with the enzyme based cleaner before washing in the normal way.

Other Methods For Removing Grease Stains From Clothes

Like pretty much every cleaning problem out there, the internet is full of useful and helpful tips on how to solve problems. We looked at all of the most popular ideas and found those listed above to work the best.

But for those of you interested in alternatives, keep reading.

Using Hairspray To Remove Grease Stains

This one sounds wacky and to be honest wasn’t really very effective at all. But in the interest of fair play we’ve included it so that you can decide for yourself.

What You Need:

• Hairspray
• Cardboard

What To Do:

1. Separate The Fabric
   Place the cardboard inside the item to separate the front from the back.
2. Spray The Stain With Hairspray
   Completely saturate the stain with hairspray
3. Allow The Hairspray To Soak In
   Let the hairspray soak in for around 30 to 40 minutes.
4. Wash In The Usual Way
   Check the wash care label and wash on the hottest cycle your fabric can withstand using your regular detergent.
5. Air Dry
   As with all grease stains, it’s important that you don’t tumble dry because the extreme heat can bake on any remaining grease stain.

If the stain remains, repeat the process, but to be honest, this isn’t a really effective method at all, or at least it didn’t work for us.

Using Chalk To Remove Grease Stains

This one worked better than the hairspray but still wasn’t as effective as the top method. All you do is;

1. Rub chalk over the grease stain. 
2. Allow it to soak up grease for around 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Then wash in the usual way.

Maybe we used the wrong type of chalk??? But this wasn’t really effective, in fact, it seemed to make the stain larger! The chalk appeared to be soaking up the grease (well, it turned a nasty brown colour), but all it did was spread onto more of the shirt.

Once washed the stain appeared to be gone but once dried it was as bad as before.

So, There You Have It

We have listed our best tried and tested ways to remove grease, fat or oil stains from your clothes. Do you have a favourite method for removing grease stains from clothes? Have you tried one of these methods?

Let us know in the comments and share this article with your friends if you’ve found it helpful.

SEE ALSO: The Surprising Reason Why Smalls Load Are A Big Problem

Frequently Asked Questions

Also, follow us on Pinterest ...