1. Chlorine Bleach and Color-Safe Bleach. Diluted household bleach is one of the most effective stain removers for clothes and linens.
Our top pick for the best laundry stain remover is the Shout Advanced Grease Busting Foam. This affordable stain remover received perfect scores for ease of use, effectiveness, and value. It features stain-removing ingredients that dissolve tough grease stains, and it's safe to use on machine washable fabrics.
A mixture of dishwashing liquid and hydrogen peroxide is an effective homemade laundry stain remover. The dishwashing liquid contains ingredients to tackle greasy stains and the hydrogen peroxide helps remove discoloration.
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.
“A paste of vinegar and baking soda can remove even the toughest stains,” she says. There's a misconception that vinegar will remove color from clothes but in fact, it's gentle enough to use on most fabrics, vinegar can actually restore and brighten color in fabric and can also prevent fading.
The longer a stain is left untreated, the less likely it is to be removed. When a spill first occurs, it sits on the surface of the fabric, but over time, that spill can start to react with the fabric causing the fabric to actually change colors.
The best overall stain remover for most fabrics and stains is a 50-50 mix of white vinegar and water.
Try one of our alternative stain removers for dried-on, tricky marks that don't come out in a regular wash: Baking soda: make into a paste with water and scrub into stains. Leave for a few minutes then rinse. White vinegar: soak clothes in water then scrub with a solution of a equal parts baking soda and white vinegar.
Soak the stain in a solution of one cup of liquid laundry detergent and a few drops of ammonia (Caution: Never mix chlorine bleach and ammonia - the resulting fumes are hazardous) for at least 30 minutes. Launder using liquid laundry detergent.
Hydrogen peroxide works differently than vinegar and is better at removing different types of stains. Hydrogen peroxide doesn't actually remove stains—it just makes them invisible! It breaks up strong chemical bonds in stains including ink, and in doing so it makes the stains colorless—but they're still there!
Richardson recommends The Laundress' All-Purpose Bleach Alternative, which you can use as a pre-soak or as a laundry boost in a normal load (just follow product instructions). Other options include Nellie's Oxygen Brightener Powder or Branch Basics' Oxygen Boost, which you can find in the brand's laundry starter kit.
By comparison, OxiClean suggests that you don't leave it on a garment for more than six hours, because it can start to damage the fabric.
Unfortunately you can't treat every stain immediately so sometimes they set. But OxiClean™ Max Force™ and its 5 Powerful Stain Fighters, can help you get out old stains.
Unfortunately, some stains are permanent, and not even the best cleaning methods can remove them. If you notice a stain on your clothes, do not try to remove it yourself. Washing a stain or attempting to remove it with a home remedy can actually ingrain it further into the fabric and make it permanent.
“Use a solution of 50 percent vinegar and 50 percent water on the stain. Apply liberally and then treat with laundry soap and water.
Cocoa is made up of some of the world's toughest stains. It is essentially made from chocolate, which by itself is already a big culprit for dark stains. Apart from this, the drink also proves to be a tough stain to remove because it has the strong combination of proteins, fat, and sugar.
The most likely reason is time. When it comes to stain removal, time is the biggest factor. The age of the stain often determines whether it's removable or not. If treated quickly enough, in the hands of a trained professional, almost any stain can be removed from almost any fabric.
If you find a stain on an item that has been through a hot dryer, it doesn't have to be permanent. By using the right laundry products and the right technique, stains that have been dried do come out. Back-to-school cleaning. Ace your cleaning curriculum with Clorox products and tips.
Miracle Stain Remover
It was essentially 2 parts hydrogen peroxide, and 1 part Dawn dish soap. Now, it can be any dish soap quite frankly, although Dawn does work really well, but so do other dish soaps. The most important thing here is that you treat the stain the way you would treat any stain.
To treat stains, pour or spray a small amount of hydrogen peroxide on the stain. Allow it to soak into the fabric for about 10 minutes before washing the garment as usual.