So You Stained Your Shirt. Now What?

First, try your best to identify the stain. When a stain is old, it might be trickier to pin down than when it’s fresh. A stain’s color, odor, texture, and shape will often provide clues to its origins, so look closely. Thinking back to what you did the day you last wore the dirty garment might help jog your memory, too.

Once you’ve determined the culprit—and before moving on to the next step—confirm that your item is machine-washable. Garments that must be hand-washed or dry-cleaned require a different approach. Our recommendations pertain to machine-washable items.

Depending on the texture of the stain, blot or scrape it. When tackling fresh stains, blot any excess with a cloth, napkin, or paper towel. For dried stains, gently scrape off the top layers of the stain before pretreating it. Experts recommend using the flat side of a butter knife.

Now that you know what stain you’re dealing with, decide on a stain remover. The type you choose—whether it’s a laundry detergent or a specifically formulated all-purpose stain remover—will depend on the splotch, mark, or splatter at hand. (Remember, before you use a stain remover, test the garment for colorfastness by placing a small amount of the product on a hidden area. Rinse this spot after five minutes, and allow it to air-dry. Once it’s dry, if the fabric has not faded or changed, it’s safe to use the stain remover on the garment.)

Here’s a rundown of common stain types and what to use on them:

Fats and oils

Oil stains, which often appear as dark spots or marks on clothing, respond best to a combination of surfactants (which penetrate and lift oils) and enzymes that target fats. (In a pinch, you can pretreat a very fresh or minor oil stain with dish soap before throwing the clothing item into the wash. We like Dawn Original Dishwashing Liquid for this type of project.)

For moderate grease stains, we got the best results when we pretreated an item with a liquid laundry detergent—such as our pick, Tide Free & Gentle Liquid Laundry Detergent. Liquid detergent is best for oil stains; it contains different surfactants than powder detergent, and it easily penetrates oil stains. (Dish soap contains similar surfactants, but it lacks enzymes.) Allow a pretreated item to sit for at least five minutes before throwing it in the wash. If you’d prefer to pretreat now and wash later, you can. Just be sure to wash the item within a few days; otherwise you risk resetting the stain, explained Sammy Wang, a member of the fabric-care team at Procter & Gamble (the manufacturer of Tide).

Once you throw an item into the washing machine, choose the warmest possible water temperature for the garment. If the stain isn’t entirely removed after washing, repeat the pretreating and washing process. Even when oil stains are moderate, it can take two pretreatment and wash cycles to remove them. (That’s still better than walking around with oil streaks on your favorite sweatshirt.)

Examples: cooking oil, pizza grease, salad dressing, mayonnaise, butter, foundation makeup

Starches

When it comes to starchy stains, your best approach is to rinse with cold water and then pretreat with an all-purpose stain remover or liquid laundry detergent. (Rinsing in cold water is important—warm water can make starchy stains stickier.) After rinsing and pretreating, wash the garment in the water temperature recommended in the care instructions on the clothing item’s label.

Examples: baby food, chocolate sauce, barbecue sauce

Proteins

Protein-based stains are best tackled by pretreating with an enzymatic stain remover (like our also-great pick, Zout) or laundry detergent. Water temperature is important here: Protein stains must be rinsed and/or washed in cold water after being pretreated or soaked. Hot water can set protein-based stains, making them much harder to remove.

Examples: grass, egg, dairy, ice cream, meat

Dyes and pigments

Highly pigmented stains physically bond to fibers and change the color of a fabric. Stubborn dye and pigment stains are best removed with oxygen bleach, which is safe to use on a wider range of fabrics than chlorine bleach. Our favorite powder laundry detergent, Tide Ultra Oxi Powder Detergent, contains oxygen bleach, and it would be a good choice here. Any initial rinsing should be done with cold water to prevent setting the stain.

Examples: red wine, coffee, tea, turmeric, food dyes

Combination stains

Made up of a blend of stain properties (fat and starch, for example), combination stains pose a unique challenge. You’ll often need to work in steps to remove each component separately.

After blotting or scraping the stain, rinse it in cold water, which will break down the different elements of the stain. Allow it to dry, and then pretreat with an all-purpose stain remover or laundry detergent, according to the clothing item’s directions. We like Amodex Ink & Stain Remover for pretreating combination stains, but a great laundry detergent can be used for pretreating combination stains, too. Persil Original Liquid Detergent Everyday Clean, the runner-up pick in our guide to laundry detergent, worked wonders on chocolate pudding.

After pretreating is complete, rinse the stain in cold water and air-dry. Once your item has dried, examine what is left behind. If you can determine what elements of the stain remain (often grease or dyes), treat accordingly.

Examples: chocolate plant-based milk, chocolate pudding, meat sauce, lipstick

The outliers

Berries: We single out berries of all kinds because they present a specifically stubborn challenge. Berries and other fruit juices contain acid. And they’re best removed by rinsing the stain with another acid, such as lemon juice, vinegar, or Miss Mouth’s Messy Eater Stain Treater, which contains citric acid. Chemists often describe this action as “like dissolves like.” As explained to us by chemical engineer Tre Wright, molecules with similarities react to one another. After pretreating/rinsing the stain, allow it to dry, and then wash the clothing item with an enzymatic detergent in cold water. If any stain remains, soak the stain in a solution that contains oxygen bleach.

Blood: Removing blood, a common protein-based stain, requires a targeted approach involving cold water, hydrogen peroxide (or oxygen bleach), and sometimes salt. We had great luck with Clorox 2 Stain Remover & Color Brightener, an also-great pick in our guide to stain removers.

Mustard: Many prepared mustards contain turmeric, and mustard stains proved to be some of the most difficult ones we encountered in testing laundry detergents as well as stain removers. (We tried some unorthodox hacks, too, including pretreating with glycerin, rinsing with vinegar, and flushing with lemon juice.) Based on our testing, the best way to remove mustard stains is to pretreat with a powder laundry detergent or stain remover containing oxygen bleach (we had success with our pick, Tide Ultra Oxi Powder Laundry Detergent); then wash according to the garment’s instructions.

Permanent ink: For Sharpie mishaps or run-ins with other permanent inks, use Amodex Ink & Stain Remover, our top-pick stain remover. Be sure to follow the instructions: You’ll need to work Amodex into permanent ink stains and slowly blot out the ink.

Pit stains: Despite their daunting appearance, yellow underarm stains aren’t handled much differently than other stains. Fresh pit stains respond well to pretreatment with an enzymatic stain remover and washing with a good laundry detergent in the warmest water possible. Powdered oxygen bleach should be used for pit stains that are older or that have been through a few wash cycles to no avail.

Synthetic stains: Stains like paint, shoe polish, and nail polish often require potent solvents, such as Goo Gone and acetone; we plan to test this soon.

If your stain is fresh or on the lighter side, pretreat based on our recommendations for stain type. Massage the detergent or stain remover fully into the stain with a gloved hand or a stain brush, and follow the wait time advised by the detergent’s or stain remover’s instructions.

If a stain is on the older side or particularly severe, or if it won’t budge after pretreating and/or washing repeatedly, try soaking it in a solution of water and laundry detergent.

For seemingly wash-resistant oil stains, no stain remover or method worked as well as soaking oil-stained garments in a solution of warm water and liquid laundry detergent for several hours.

For all other stubborn stains, we recommend soaking the garment in a solution of water and a product containing powdered oxygen bleach. And there are many to choose from. Tide Ultra Oxi Powder Laundry Detergent, one of our laundry detergent picks with oxygen bleach, worked best for us. A reminder: This step is intended for machine-washable fabrics—stained delicates require a different strategy.

Although it’s tempting to use the strongest stain removers and an aggressive amount of detergent when soaking or pretreating, doing so can damage the item you’re trying to salvage. In our experience, too much detergent can leave residue or even strip fabric, changing its feel, texture, and fit.

Wash your clothing according to the care instructions on the label.

Be mindful of water temperature. After pretreatment, most stains should be washed with cold water first. Heat can set stains and make them harder to remove. Stain-removal advice typically tells you to use warm water whenever you can. But that advice is outdated, aside from these two exceptions: Use warm water when you are battling grease stains (the warm temperature emulsifies oils and fats, making them easier to remove); use warm water when soaking a stubborn stain for a longer period of time.

Once an item is washed, don’t pop it into the dryer. It can be hard to tell whether a stain is entirely removed until a garment is dry; the dryer’s heat might set any remaining stain, undoing all of your hard work! Instead, dry the item flat or line-dry it.

Remember, when it comes to stain removal, patience is key. It will likely take more than one wash to get out stubborn stains (especially dark grease marks and dye-based stains).

This article was edited by Ingrid Skjong and Courtney Schley.