How to Remove Stains From Clothes: Red Wine, Blood, Grease, Makeup

The fresher the stain, the easier it comes out. To start, liquid hand soap or dish soap, a light-colored cloth and a spoon are enough:

1. Check the care label. A crossed-out washtub or the words “Do not wash” mean no washing. Then you only take off the excess; more in the “Delicate fabrics” box below. A circle (sometimes with a P or F inside) or the words “Dry clean” are the instruction for professional cleaning.
2. Take off the excess. Blot up liquids with a clean, light-colored cloth and scrape off solids with the spoon.
3. Blot, don’t rub. Rubbing spreads the stain, roughens the fibers and can damage the color and surface of the fabric.
4. Rinse from the back. Hold the spot under cold water (tap water, no heat) so the stream pushes the stain out through the front of the fabric, not deeper in.
5. Add soap. Gently work in liquid hand soap or dish soap, let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse.

Stain while you’re out, item still on your body?

• Blot the excess with a napkin and avoid the hand dryer: heat sets stains.
• Use water and hand soap; without soap, just blot and keep the item damp.
• Put the item in a bag while it is still wet, separate from other things.
• Wash it out the same evening, not days later.

“Cold, not hot” is true mainly for protein stains: according to a German consumer advice group, protein sets above 104 °F (40 °C). Grease and oil dissolve only with soap or detergent, not with water.

• Protein (blood, egg, milk): cold first.
• Grease and oil (cooking fat, salad oil, body lotion): soap directly on the stain, then wash.
• Dyes (red wine, coffee, juice, grass): rinse cold right away, then soap.
• Mixed stains (makeup): dissolve the grease first, then the color.
• Unknown (sauce, ink, deodorant residue): start cold, because hot water can set an unknown stain.

You remove blood stains with cold water. Rinse the stain right away, gently work in soap or a little detergent and let it sit. If it is someone else’s blood, wear disposable gloves and wash your hands afterward.

If the blood has dried, carefully brush off the crust; on delicate fabrics, skip that. Soak the item in a bowl or the sink in cold water for about 30 minutes; on whites and colorfast items you can also soak it overnight if needed.

As long as you can still see red, it stays cold: treat it again instead of washing hotter. Only when the red is gone do you wash according to the label, usually at 86–104 °F (30–40 °C). On wool and silk, leave out products with enzymes: they break down protein, and these fibers are made of it.

You remove red wine stains best while they are still wet. Blot first, then rinse from the back with cold water and work in liquid hand soap. In a 2021 test by a German consumer group, fresh red wine and grass stains had almost completely disappeared after pretreatment with hand soap and a wash. You don’t need salt: in the test, the stains were still clearly visible with it.

If the stain has dried, soaking in a detergent solution helps. On whites and colorfast items you can add oxygen bleach, a powder for the wash cycle, but no chlorine. The bleach triangle on the label shows what is allowed: an empty triangle or one with two diagonal lines (“Non-chlorine bleach when needed”) means oxygen bleach is allowed; crossed out, or “Do not bleach”, means you leave it out. Test every product first on an inside seam with a white cloth: if it bleeds color, leave the product out.

You only get grease stains out with soap, not with water. Take up the excess with a cloth, then put dish soap or hand soap directly on the stain. Let it sit, on stubborn grease on whites or colorfast items even overnight. Then wash the item, according to German consumer advice at 104 °F (40 °C), with the matching detergent (a color detergent for colors, a heavy-duty powder detergent with bleach only for whites), never above the label.

If you can still see a shadow, repeat the treatment before you dry. Only for stubborn grease do you go up to the maximum temperature on the label.

Work clothes: Treat oil and grease like grease, and wash heavily soiled items separately and not in a full machine. You wash high-visibility and flame-resistant protective clothing (for example with reflective strips) only according to the manufacturer’s instructions; they are on the label or in the instructions. Wrong care can reduce the protection.

Makeup stains consist of grease and color pigment. Don’t rub them in, or you work the color deeper into the fabric. Take powder and blush off dry first, for example with tape that you press on and peel off. On delicate fabrics, test that first on a hidden spot.

For foundation and skin cream, work in a little hand soap or liquid detergent, let it sit for a few minutes and wash according to the label. Lipstick and mascara are tougher: dissolve the grease with dish soap first, then wash.

Secondhand item with no label? Just blot, rinse cold from the back and test on a hidden spot with a white cloth whether color comes off before you use hand soap.

An item with a stain goes in the dryer only when nothing is visible anymore; for grease, oil and lotion only after thorough washing, otherwise there is a risk of fire. If you don’t have a dryer: use a drying rack in a ventilated room, not on the radiator. Heat sets stains, also when ironing or using a hair dryer. After washing, look at the spot while it is still wet: if there is a shadow, repeat the treatment and let the item air dry.

At the laundromat, take an item with a leftover stain home wet rather than putting it in the dryer.

You remove dried or set-in stains by soaking, soap and a second treatment; according to a German consumer organization, fresh stains come out much more easily. But you don’t have to give up: soak the item, work in soap and wash it.

If the stain is still there after washing or even after the dryer, it can sometimes still come out. Repeat the pretreatment first and wash the item with the next matching load instead of washing hotter or rubbing. If nothing changes after two tries, stop: some stains never come out completely.

After pretreating, you choose the cycle that matches the label. US care labels usually give words, often with symbols: cold (up to 86 °F / 30 °C), warm (87–111 °F / 31–44 °C) or hot (112–145 °F / 45–63 °C). The label names the warmest setting you may use, not whether the stain will come out. On an unfamiliar or used machine, choose the setting that matches the label, when in doubt the lower one.

• Usually 86–104 °F (30–40 °C), that is cold to warm on most US machines: That is enough in many cases. Use detergent as the package says, not too little.
• Whites: A heavy-duty powder with bleach (in Germany, the classic detergent for whites) also bleaches colors. Use it only for whites and only if the label allows oxygen bleach.
• Colors: Color detergent contains no bleach. For strong stains, oxygen bleach goes into the wash cycle after a color test, but only if the bleach triangle on the label is not crossed out.
• Shared load (shared laundry room, roommates, couple): An item with a leftover stain does not belong in a load at 140 °F (60 °C) or hotter, and not with the whites. Pretreat it and check the spot afterward while it is wet.

In videos, home remedies often promise more than they deliver. That is what a 2021 test by a German consumer group shows, supplemented by German consumer advice groups:

• Liquid hand soap: The best home remedy in the test. Dish soap also contains surfactants, cleaning agents that dissolve grease.
• Salt, lemon, baking soda: The stains were still clearly visible afterward in the test.
• Heavy-duty detergent instead of a special product: In that test, a good heavy-duty powder with bleach worked better than almost all the stain removers tested, but it bleaches strongly.
• White wine, club soda, toothpaste: No convincing independent test is known for these.
• Gall soap (soap made with gall): In Germany, a consumer advice group calls it a proven household remedy against stains. Test it first on a hidden spot.
• Hot denatured alcohol, naphtha (mineral spirits), acetone: Don’t use them yourself, because according to a German consumer advice group, hot denatured alcohol is not only useless but dangerous, and the others are flammable or damage fabrics.