Monday, July 13, 2009

Safe Alternative to remove black oil grease stains on clothes

What do you do when you have a pair of new pant, but the lower portion of the pant is completely wreaked with those industrial black oil grease stain? Despair...?

My husband came home sheepishly tonight, with this laundry challenge. The first thought that went through my mind was " This new pant is fucked." How am I suppose to salvage it without any grease solvent for fabric? Plus its Khaki and I cannot damn well bleach it?

I tried the first option using VANISH stain remover spray. After a min, I rinse and checked. No good. The black stain was here to stay. My husband was mentally prepared to throw the pant away. I stubbornly refuse to submit defeat.

As I stare at the stain, an idea popped into my head. Chemistry time. What removes oil better than oil based solvent? So I dashed into my bathroom and grab the unexperimented frontier... my oil base make up remover! I figured at the back of my head that if my oil based Shu Umera cleanser is suppose to remove hard core mascara effectively and also safe on face, I reckon its worth a try and not wreak my clothes.

So after drying the pants as much as I can with a towel, I pumped my (expensive) make up remover on the whole black patch and waited for a minute. Then I use my hands and scrub the pants as much as I can.

To my delight..it worked!!!
Using pretty warm water to rinse and scrub at the same time, the black stain started to fade!
I repeated the process 2 more times, and the pants gradually returned to its original state without the grease stain! To ensure no oil mark remained, I sprinkled some baking powder on the patch to absorb any remaining oil and rinse. Presto! As good as new!!

So now u know, if you dont have a proper solvent, grab that handy oil based make up remover to for emergency treatment of that stain. (well it worked on cotton pants, not sure about silk and wool).

Ps: (Incidentally, I discovered that the Shu Umera oil based remover worked better than my M.A.C oil cleanser. )

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Oil stains can be stubborn. A friend showed me an article on how to remove oil stains online. It was quite informative and helpful.