Spilled ice cream, sitting on a freshly mowed lawn, or makeup sweating into your collar: annoying stains on our summer wardrobe are often not so easy to remove. We tell you which washing methods and home remedies you can use to get them out again.
How to get make-up stains out
Makeup, lipstick or eye shadow – all of these can end up on the collar or neckline of your top, for example, if you change your clothes frequently in the summer. How do you get it out again?
Don’t rub makeup into the fabric, because in the worst-case scenario you’ll work it in deeper. Instead, first apply a stain remover that matches the color and texture of the garment to the makeup stains. Make sure, however, that the agent matches the material of your garment so that it is not damaged by the cleaning process. Lipstick or foundation are usually greasy, so you can get rid of them with liquids containing alcohol. However, this only works for insensitive materials such as cotton.
Dab the appropriate stain remover or detergent onto the stain and let it soak in. This is especially important if the makeup has already dried up. Then wash the garment at a high temperature, read the care label to see what maximum temperature is indicated there so that the fabric does not shrink.
If you want to try home remedies:
First dab a makeup stain with an absorbent cloth. Then sprinkle some starch on it, press it lightly and let it soak in for a few minutes. Remove the starch with a cloth and rinse the spot with lukewarm water. You can repeat this procedure several times if there are still makeup residues.
You can remove lipstick stains with ordinary dishwashing liquid, as it dissolves grease. Here’s how: Carefully scrape off coarse residue and moisten the stain with water. Apply dishwashing detergent, let it sit for about 20 minutes and then gently rub it out of the fibers with a fine cloth. Rinse with clean water.
If makeup has landed on a fabric that is delicate and should not be washed in a washing machine, you can apply a power gel to the stain and rinse it off with cold water. For silk or wool items that require hand washing, take extra care and only attempt to remove the stain by lightly hand washing.
You can wash out ice cream stains
For many, a scoop of ice cream is a natural part of a perfect summer day. But especially at high temperatures, ice cream melts very quickly in the sun, drips onto clothing or seat cushions and leaves stubborn stains. Since many types of ice cream contain fruit, fat and protein at the same time, it is quite difficult to get rid of these stains.
Getting ice cream stains off your clothes
If you notice that ice cream has dripped onto your clothes or a pillow, it’s best to run cold water on it immediately. This will allow you to roughly remove sugars, dyes, and egg whites and rinse ice cream residue from the fibers. Do not use warm water, or milk or egg white residue in the ice cream may curdle and settle even deeper into the fibers. To soak up dyes even better, you can also put some salt on the stain and then rinse it thoroughly with cold water.
If you are at home, you should also pre-treat the stains before washing. This is because grease residues in particular cannot be dissolved by washing with clear water. Apply some fat-dissolving stain remover and detergent to the stained areas. For stains on colored textiles, you should use special products for colored fabrics so that they do not fade and retain their color.
After you have pretreated the ice cream stains, you can wash your clothes in the washing machine as usual. The sewn-in care label will tell you which washing temperature and possibly which washing program is the right one. Afterwards, the stains should no longer be visible. If they do, you can repeat the process or add some stain remover to the washing machine in addition to the detergent to increase the washing power.
How to get rid of ice cream stains on upholstery or carpets
If ice cream has dripped onto your carpet or a sofa cushion, you should carefully remove the excess ice cream with a spoon. Then take a cloth moistened with cold water and gently dab over the stains until they are barely visible, if at all. Also, in this case you will need something grease solvent to get the stains out completely. For example, apply a little dishwashing liquid, all-purpose cleaner or bile soap to the stained area and gently rub it in with a soft cloth. Let it work for a few minutes and remove any residue with a damp cloth. Finally, let the carpet or upholstery dry.
The best tricks to get rid of grass stains
Your dress has grass stains after the picnic in the park or you soiled your pants with grass while gardening? That’s annoying, because the green pigment chlorophyll contained in grass and plants is not water-soluble and thus cannot be removed with mere water. Nevertheless, there are a few home remedies that help get rid of grass stains.
These home remedies help with grass stains
Even with grass stains, the faster you try to remove them, the higher the chances are that you’ll get the stains out. These home remedies will get the job done:
- Toothpaste: The menthol contained in many toothpastes is supposed to dissolve the green dyes of grass stains on textiles. Any whitening agents contained in the toothpaste will also lighten the stains. Make sure you use a paste that contains both to remove the stains. Since this stain removal method lightens stains, it is only suitable for white and light-colored fabrics. To do this, put some toothpaste on the stained areas and gently rub it into the fibers with a brush. Leave it on for a good hour and then wash the garment in the washing machine, preferably warm, but follow the care instructions on the label.
- Lemon juice: Jeans can also get grass stains. The best way to remove them is with lemon juice, which you drip directly onto the respective areas of the dry jeans. However, it is better to test in advance on an inconspicuous spot on the inside of your jeans that the acid does not change the color. Because lemon juice also has a bleaching effect. If everything remains as it should be, apply lemon juice to the grass stains and let it soak in for a good hour. After that, wash your jeans in the washing machine.
- Gall soap: Gall soap is also said to help remove grass stains from clothing. It is made of curd soap and bovine bile, so it also manages to get rid of stains containing grease and dyes. Rub the bile soap onto the dirty areas of the fabric in question and leave it on for at least an hour. Then rinse the fabric with warm water and wash your garment in the washing machine. If the stain is very large or already dried, you may have to repeat the procedure.
