We all have some sad story of how we were at any party and saw the sauce from our steak fall slowly onto our clothes. Well, at Christmas and New Years’ time, these stories are even more common. But don’t worry, today we’ll give you some expert advice on how to remove food stains from your clothes before it’s too late.
Source: Pexels
First scrape and dry
If you are the one who caused the stain on your clothes, take advantage and remove as much of the food as possible and quickly. You must take care not to spread the stain but to remove what has already fallen on your garment. Then you must remove what has been impregnated with a blunt object, such as a butter knife. Then dry the stain with a paper towel.
Don’t despair
Many people run to use sparkling water or try to clean the stain with whatever they can find at the site of the “accident,” but experts recommend avoiding these attempts. It is preferable that you do the above advice, scrape and dry the stain, and then take care of it at home with the proper tools. This will prevent you from making the stain bigger in the process.
Identify the type of stain before removing it
As we mentioned in another article, there are different types of stains. In the case of food stains, the 3 main groups are tannin stains (found in wine, for example), protein stains, and fat stains. Depending on the type of stain you are dealing with, it will be the process.
Select the product and cleaning process according to the stain
Stains from wine, coffee, and various juices, foods with many colors, can be treated with water and vinegar. In fact, there are kinds of vinegar specialized in stains on clothing. It is recommended for protein and fat stains to use dish detergent since they have properties to break the protein enzymes and get the stain out better. Suppose the grease mark is oil, and it is difficult to attack. In that case, you can also try to put corn starch or baby powder: just put it on and let the powder absorb the oil for about 15 minutes before doing the scraping and drying of step one.
Important: don’t forget to first test the cleaning method on a small area
You must go step by step and avoid a bigger disaster than the initial one. That’s why we recommend that before using vinegar, talc, or whatever you decide to use, you try it on a small area of the stain to discover its effectiveness. To help you in this process of testing just one area, we recommend you use a toothbrush that you no longer use because its soft bristles and size will help you in this process.
If the stain is severe, we recommend treating it previously
Suppose you’ve already tried the solution on a small area, and you see that it worked. In that case, we recommend doing a pre-treatment of about 15 minutes or even leaving the garment soaking for up to a whole day if the stain is large or very dry and difficult to remove. After this previous process, you will be able to put the clothing in the laundry.
Source: BBC Science Focus
Protein stains are treated with cold water
Whether for testing, pre-treatment, or final washing in the washing machine, you must be careful to use cold water on protein and fat stains, or the stain will remain on your clothes forever.
Final recommendation: if you don’t know what to do, leave the job to the experts
If you don’t know exactly how the stain got through or what you should do to treat it, it’s best to simply do nothing. Unsuccessful attempts can make the stain worse, so in this case, it is best to simply take the stain to an expert cleaner and discuss possible scenarios with them. In case you also need to hire a maid service, you could do so at Marianna’s cleaning.
In the end, the idea is to save that garment you treasure so much. Do you know any other tips? Tell us in the comments!
