How To Remove Grease From Clothes: Home Remedies And Simple Tips

There are many techniques for how to remove grease from clothes.


No wonder, since food oil and grease stains are some of the most common, since we all get food splatters while cooking, or drip a little oil or grease on ourselves while eating. That means we've all figured out ways to try to remove these stains.

These stains can be difficult to remove, if you don't treat them quickly, or accidentally let them go through the dryer untreated, they can set permanently.

However, using some of these simple home remedies and tips below you can easily remove these little drips and dribbles of oil and grease from washable fabrics and clothing.

I've collected several tips from readers, and from video tips around the web. As you can see many of them are slight variations on the same theme -- using dish soap to remove the stain (although there are some other techniques too).

If you've got even more methods or tips for how to remove grease from clothes though, I'd love to hear them. You can share your tips here, or read other tips already submitted below.

(Please note this page is devoted to removing oil and grease splatters and spots that come from food. If you need to learn how to remove mechanical oil and grease, then here's the page for you!)

Get Grease Stains Out Of Your Clothes With Dishwashing Liquid

A easy and effective way to get out grease stains from your clothes is to use Dawn dish soap, or another hand dishwashing liquid.

(Don't get this confused with a similar method of using dishwasher detergent to remove stains -- it is meant for different types of stains than grease!)

I've collected a couple of videos below that show you how to use dishwashing liquid in just this way.

It sounds so simple, doesn't it? Some people are a bit skeptical because it is so simple. However, just like dish soap removes grease from your dishes it can do the same thing on your clothes.

The important thing to remember is to use just a little, and then rinse out the soap before you throw the item in the washing machine. This is especially important if you've got an HE washing machine because too much soap will cause too much sudsing which can be bad for your machine.

Please note that some people swear you need to use light or non-colored dishwashing liquid, so you don't stain your clothes with the dye from the soap itself, but I personally have not had a problem using even green or blue dishsoap.

What about you? Anyone ruin clothes using a dark colored dish soap while trying to get the grease out of their clothes? ***Update - scroll down to see a comment from Mary who also hasn't had a problem with colored soaps.***

You can read more dish soap uses here for cleaning and stain removal. This really is such a versatile cleaning product for many areas in your home and laundry!

Photo by dyobmit

How To Remove Cooking Oil Stains From Clothes - With Video

Everyone gets cooking oil stains and splatters on themselves occasionally while cooking.

Sometimes it seems like you can never get those stains out when they go through the wash.

This video below demonstrates how to get these cooking oil stains out of your clothes by simply using dishwashing liquid, and rubbing in the dishwashing liquid with an old toothbrush.

I've got another video of a similar technique below.

How To Remove Grease Stains From Fabric

Below is a second video which gives hints and tips for how to remove food based grease stains from washable clothing.

It too discusses the home remedy of dish soap, which is what was shown above, but adds some additional tips and tricks for especially stubborn stains you're dealing with.

According to this video the ingredients needed for cooking and food grease stain removal include:

• Salt, baking soda, cornstarch or talcum powder to help soak up the grease


• A soft brush, such as a vegetable brush or old toothbrush


• Dishwashing liquid to help cut and remove the grease


• Hot water


• Laundry prewash stain remover

One of the most interesting parts of the video is the suggestion that for really stubborn grease stains to replace half of the laundry detergent with baking soda.

This makes sense since the alkalinity of the baking soda does help cut grease (you can learn more about uses for baking soda here).

I Don't Think You've Got To Use Clear Dish Soap For Removing Laundry Stains

by Mary

There has been some discussion about whether you've got to use a clear dish soap on your grease stains, or can use a colored soap when you remove grease from clothes. Mary shared her quick thought on this issue.

Mary says:

I use dishwashing liquid for lots of laundry stains, and I just use whatever color I have on hand for my dishes.

I have never had a problem with staining because of the dishwashing liquid being something other than clear.

Taylor says:

Thanks so much Mary for sharing your experience.

I concur with you. I've never personally had a problem with using a colored soap when removing grease from clothes using the dish soap method.

I'd love to hear from others to hear their experiences too on this issue. Do you think you need to use a clear dish soap, or will colored soaps, like Blue Dawn, work just as well?

You can share your opinions here, while also sharing how you use dish soap to make homemade cleaners or stain removers.

Pretreat Stain With Liquid Laundry Detergent

by Kathleen
(SC)

Here's a similar suggestion to dish soap that also works for many people.

Kathleen says:

I just use the same liquid laundry detergent I wash my clothes with (Tide Sport with Febreeze), and pour a small amount directly on the stain (just enough to cover the stain) and let it sit for a couple of hours.

It even works after the item has been dried in the dryer.

After you wash it as you regularly would the stain will be gone.

Taylor says:

Thanks for your tip Kathleen!

Kathleen says she uses Tide for this purpose. I've had a lot of luck, as have others, using Wisk as a pretreater.

Anyone else have suggestions for what liquid detergents work well for them for this purpose?

Use Chalk To Remove Oil Stains

by Ruth
(Canada)

Simplest solution ever - take a piece of ordinary white chalkboard chalk.

Rub over stain or spatters.

Leave to sit a few minutes.

You will quickly begin to see the outline of the stain in the chalk.

Wash as you normally would.

If the stain isn't completely gone, repeat.

I have used this on old, old stains and it has taken them right out.

No damage to sensitive fabrics either.

Chalk {Referral Links}

Photo courtesy of srgpicker

How To "Reactivate" Old Or Dried Oil Stains To Get Out The Spot

by SR101 Reader

SR101 Reader says:

Old oil stains and oil stains that have gotten washed and dried can be "reactivated" by using a small amount of WD40.

It allows you to treat set in oil spots like they just happened!

Taylor says:

Thanks so much for the tip, since it seems like no matter how careful we are sometimes we miss these stains before they get both washed and dried!

There are actually so many uses for WD-40 around your home for cleaning, stain removal and more, so check out my round up of tips if you're interested!

Hand Sanitizer Can Cut Grease And Oil Stains On Clothing

Have you ever been out and about and gotten oil or grease on your clothing from something you ate?

A quick tip for treating the stain right then it to get out your alcohol-based hand sanitizer and give a quick squirt onto the stain.

You then just rinse or sponge the spot with cool water, and dry yourself under the hand dryer in the bathroom.

It's the alcohol in the hand sanitizer cuts through that oily stain, so it doesn't set into your washable clothing.

Once you are home make sure to launder the item soon, so you do not leave any alcohol residue in the clothing for too long.

Hand Sanitizer {Referral Links}

You may also want to try the dish soap method at that time, but the hand sanitizer can keep the grease stain from setting in the mean time before you can treat it with this other home remedy.

Hint: Make sure if you are going to do this that you use a hand sanitizer which is alcohol based, and that it does not contain lotions or aloe, or something like that to "condition" your hands.

If it contains these ingredients it will just leave its own greasy film on your clothing from the lotion or aloe. (You can learn more about additional uses for hand sanitizer here, or share your own ways to use this product!)

So those are the methods I've gathered so far for how to remove grease from clothes. Do you have another method you'd like to share? If so, you can also submit your own tip for how to remove oil stains here, if you have one.

Also note that if you're looking for how to remove motor oil or grease from clothes you can check out my page all about motor oil and grease removal.

Related Links On This Site

Stain Removal Tips & Tricks For Busy Moms

Grease And Oil Stain Removal

Share Your Stain Removal Clothes Tips

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