Oil stains can be particularly tricky to get out of clothes and hard to avoid, especially in the kitchen. A splash of oil from cooking or a spill when eating can ruin your favourite shirt with a stubborn splodge.
But it’s not just food; oil is used in a number of daily products, especially skincare and make-up. There are plenty of oil hazards around us, and sometimes you might not even notice that you’ve spilt any oil on you until it comes to washing your clothes or after they’ve been for a spin in the washing machine. Oil stains are especially difficult to remove from clothes because they don’t mix with water, meaning they require a little more effort to break down.
Acting quickly is often the easiest way to lift oil stains from clothing, and rubbing salt into an oil stain can immediately absorb any mess from clothes. But this isn’t always an option, especially if you don’t notice the mark until later.
One cleaning blogger has shared an effective method for removing tough oil stains that you can do 10 minutes before placing clothes in the wash. So next time you panic that you’ve got an oil stain on your favourite jumper or new T-shirt, simply try this.
In a video posted on TikTok, the Australian cleaning blogger Chantel Mila shared her “magic” trick for getting tough oil stains out of her clothes and shared that it will work on both new and old stains.
Start by placing a plate behind the stain. This will protect the surface where the stain is and prevent it from potentially transferring. It also helps the fabric better absorb the mixture that Chantel applies to the stain.
Chantel then applies a spoonful of dish soap directly to the stains on her tracksuit bottoms. Dish soap works effectively on oil stains because it contains surfactants, which break down oil molecules.
Make sure you only use as much as needed, as too much dish soap can cause excess suds, which can discolour the fabric and leave it feeling crusty. The cleaning blogger finishes by sprinkling the area with baking soda, which absorbs the oil and essentially lifts it from the fabric.
Chantel rubs this into the fabric, leaving it to work for 10 minutes, which is enough time for the mixture to absorb and lift the oil stains. Washing her clothes as usual, Chantel then reveals the stain-free tracksuit bottoms.
In the comments, Chantel advised that the method will also work on clothes that have already been washed.