Simply sprinkle baking soda onto a wet stain, leave it overnight and you'll be surprised by the results. Not only will the stain likely be gone, but so too will any related odors – no need for an additional paste.
Grease stains- apply baking soda onto stain and leave for 30 mins to 1 hour. Sweat stains- rub paste on stained area and let sit for a few mins. Blood stains- rub paste on stained area and let sit for a 1 hour. Vomit stains- apply baking soda directly onto stain and leave for 1 hour.
Baking soda is an alkali that interacts with acidic ingredients or stains — including coffee, condiments, and body fluids — to help remove them. In fact, sodium bicarbonate is added to many laundry detergents as a “builder” that softens the wash water, which improves the overall effectiveness of any detergent.
Sprinkle baking soda on the affected fabric and allow it to sit for 24 hours. After a day passes, vacuum or brush the baking soda away. Spray the affected area with a solution of vinegar and water. Scrub with soap and a brush, then rinse.
Baking Soda to Remove Oil Stain
Use a toothbrush to scrub the stain. Let the baking soda sit for as long as you can. Overnight is best. Scrub the baking soda again with the toothbrush.
The method: Immediately sprinkle salt on the grease stain (it works like baking soda to absorb the grease). After the salt absorbs the grease for a few minutes (or once you make it back home) use Shout Advanced Grease-Busting Foam as a spot treatment before laundering the garment in hot water.
Delicate fabrics such as wool, cashmere and silk are sensitive to the pH level so using too much baking soda can cause colours to fade and in turn, makes removing stubborn stains like coffee more difficult. In addition, over-using baking soda can cause fabrics like wool and fabrics to go coarse.
The acetic acid in vinegar acts as a disinfectant and reacts with the baking soda to lift stains. This combination is also great for brightening whites. With a little bit of scrubbing and leaving the paste to set for 30 minutes, I was able to almost remove the stains completely from my white jeans.
Which natural detergent comes out on top? Well, that would depend on its intended use. For instance, vinegar is potent at fighting mold while baking soda is great at fighting wine and coffee stains. The former is a better disinfectant but the latter is a phenomenal deodorizer.
Tips for more delicate fabrics
Use an absorbent powder like baking soda or talcum powder to help remove butter stains from delicate clothing. Sprinkle the powder onto the stain to absorb as much of the butter as possible. Ideally, leave the garment to sit with the powder overnight, or at least 2-3 hours.
The most common technique for stain removal is rubber cup polish called Motor Driven Coronal Polish: It is a slow-speed hand piece with attached rubber cup and polishing paste.
Add your stinky clothes and allow them to soak overnight and then wash as usual. If you have garments that need refreshing and they are not washable, place them in a sealable container like a storage tub with an open box of baking soda. Leave them for at least 24 hours—longer is better—to help remove odors.
In this case the baking soda could affect the fibres in the material and could weaken and/or discolour the delicate fabric. If you have doubts about leaving your clothes submerged in water and baking soda overnight, you should perform a patch test on the fabric to see what happens.
Lauren explained: “Depending on what wood you have, the baking soda can have a chemical reaction with the tannins in the wood. “This chemical reaction darkens the wood, causing stains which you can't get out.”
Create a paste with baking soda and a small amount of vinegar, then work it into the stained carpet fibers with your fingers. Allow the mixture to sit and dry overnight, then vacuum up any remnants. Before trying out this tip on a large area, test it on a small, out-of-sight patch of carpet first.
Is Using Baking Soda and Vinegar Together a Good Idea? The short answer is no. And the long answer goes like this: When used together, baking soda and vinegar will neutralize each other, effectively canceling out the benefits of low pH for vinegar and high pH for baking soda.
For most purposes, Harris recommends combining one part baking soda with two parts white vinegar. That combo can cut through grease and lift stains, sometimes better than store-bought cleaners, she says. Important: Never combine vinegar with bleach.
But common pantry essentials that are often used for cleaning — like baking soda and vinegar — shouldn't be mixed either. Unlike the bleach-ammonia mixture, combining soda and vinegar won't hurt anyone — but don't expect the mixture to do a good job cleaning, either.
Treat stain immediately. Soak 30 minutes or more in cold water. Rub detergent into stain. If stain persists, place a small amount of household ammonia on the stain and rub again with detergent.
Stains happen to the best of us. But with Dawn® Platinum, it's So Dawn Easy to pretreat most stains—like tomato sauce, blueberries, and grease—giving your clothes a fighting chance.
"Don't worry—there are methods to remove old grease stains from clothes, even after they dry," Buurstra says. Here's what she suggests: Scrape and blot liquid dish soap into the stain and let sit for 10 minutes. Soak in warm or hot water for at least 30 minutes.
Start by blotting any excess oil with a paper towel. Sprinkle a light layer of baking soda onto the spot, and let it sit for 30 to 60 minutes. Next, use your toothbrush to scrape off the powder. (If it comes off in clumps, that's a good sign—it means it's absorbing the oil!)
Baking soda helps absorb excess oil. Sprinkle it on and blot to dislodge soaked-in grease. Skip the dryer until you've successfully removed the entirety of the stain.