Grease stains happen to the best of us. Whether it’s a few splatters of cooking oil jumping from the stovetop to your t-shirt, a stray spaghetti noodle that lands on your lap, or a mysterious stain on your sleeve after brushing up against something in the garage — we’ve got the tips to make that grease lightnin’ GO-go-go (away).
Timely treatment
The first step is to act quickly. The sooner you try to get a grease stain out, the more likely you are to have success in removing it. Even if the stain has dried already, there’s still a good chance you’ll be able to remove it — but the longer it sits, the harder it will be to remove. So if you have any other greasy garments in your wardrobe that you’ve been avoiding wearing, make sure to grab those and add them to the grease treatment laundry pile. It’s better to try and remove an old grease stain 2 weeks after an incident than 2 months after.
Choose your cleaning solution
Once you’ve gathered all the garments you’re looking to treat, the next step is to buy or create a cleaning solution. Popular options include a pretreatment spray, a heavy-duty liquid detergent, or a homemade paste using equal parts powdered laundry detergent and water. Liquid dish soap is also a great cleaning agent that can help remove grease and oil stains.
Apply pre-treatment
Before applying your preferred cleaning solution, you can take an extra step to help try and extract some of the grease before washing it. Sprinkle either regular table salt or baking soda on top of the grease-stained spot and let it sit for a few minutes. This process will help to draw some of the grease out of the garment. Then take your preferred cleaning agent and gently rub in the solution with your fingertips or a white cloth. Let the solution sit for 10 minutes to break down and extract the grease.
If you decide to hand wash the garment using liquid dish soap, make sure to thoroughly rinse the spot where dish soap was applied. It’s important to make sure all of the liquid dish soap is removed from the fabric before machine washing.
Warm wash and repeat
Place your soon-to-be-grease-free garments in your Speed Queen® washer, setting the water temperature to the highest recommended temperature on the fabric tag. After running a regular wash cycle, examine the stains to see if they’ve been slightly or entirely removed. If some of the stain remains, repeat the same process.
One of the most important things to remember when treating a grease stain is to never put the garment in the dryer until the stain is completely gone. Heated drying cycles can make grease stains set into clothes even further, so we recommend letting the recently treated garments air dry in case any trace amounts of grease remain.
For more cleaning and laundry tips like how to wash a dirty sports jersey or the best ways to wash your favorite pair of jeans, be sure to check out our other great Speed Queen® blogs on The Laundry Scoop.