Who amongst us has not made a mess while cleaning their horn at least once? Nobody on the Houghton Horns team, that's for sure!
Here's some tips and techniques for getting stubborn synthetic oil stains out of your clothes.
The sooner, the better.
The more time the lubricant has to sink into the fabric, the harder it will be to get it out. Take care of it immediately, if possible.
First, scrape off as much oil as possible.
Use a butter knife to wipe away large globs of excess oil, and then dab with a white paper towel. (Don't use a paper towel with a pattern, or it might transfer to your clothes.) Try to get the lubricant off without forcing more of it deeper into the fabric.
Absolutely don't machine-dry an oil stain!
If you put the clothing into the dryer, the oil might bake in even further. Once you do that, you're fighting the final boss of stains. Only put the clothes in the dryer again when you're 100% certain the stain has gone.
Not to mention, oil and electric appliances are a fire hazard. You don't want to burn your house down!
Read the label.
Industry secret: "Dry Clean Only" means you MUST have the clothing professionally dry cleaned. Straight to the cleaners you go!
"Dry Clean", however, means the manufacturer recommends dry cleaning, but you can oftentimes get away with using your washer, or washing by hand in a bathtub.
"Hand Wash Only" items may also be washable in the washing machine if you use a delicates bag and the lowest agitation setting.
When in doubt, follow the instructions on the label precisely. But if the clothes aren't very important to you and you want to save the hassle and expense of a trip to the cleaners, you might be able to get away with taking care of it at home. Your mileage, and risk tolerance, may vary. Houghton Horns is not responsible for any damage to your clothes. 😉
Try a pretreatment first.
A dot of dish soap or baby shampoo is gentler and less likely to discolor more sensitive fabrics. But commercial stain remover should be safe for 95% of clothes.
If the fabric is delicate, rub in the pretreatment by hand. For tougher fabrics, you may have better luck using a toothbrush to gently scrub in the pretreatment - I always keep a toothbrush above my washer for tricky laundry situations.
After you give the pretreatment some time to work, separate your dark and light clothes. You don't want to get the oil stain out just to stain your clothes pink from your daughter's princess dress!
Also don't forget to fasten any closures or zips and put fragile clothing in a delicates bag.
If you have a pre-wash setting on your dryer:
Follow the manufacturer's instructions to pre-wash and wash the clothes. You can probably Google and find the instruction manual with the recommended settings.
If you don't:
Let the clothing soak in a tub of warm water for at least 30 minutes before washing as normal. Periodically stir the clothing around in the tub, and maybe brush lightly with the laundry toothbrush if the fabric can handle it.
The hotter the better.
Check the label on the clothing and wash them in the warmest water setting recommended for that fabric type. Most machine-washable clothes can take high heat, but some delicate fabrics may need water that is just lukewarm.
Afterwards, inspect the clothes.
If at all possible, don't let the fabric dry until you've ascertained that the lubricant is 100% gone. Instead, repeat the steps above, or try a few of the other techniques below, to keep chipping away at the stain while it's still wet.
Repeat if necessary.
You can put most fabric through multiple cycles of cleaning with dish soap, laundry detergent, and stain remover without any (further) harm.
If those don't seem to be touching the stain, here are some other options some people recommend:
Scrubbing in baking soda, baby powder, or cornstarch with a toothbrush and letting it sit for 30 minutes before washing. The powder will absorb the oil.
Soaking in white vinegar or lemon juice for 10 minutes before washing.
A mechanics soap like Grip Clean, Gojo, or Fast Orange would have higher odds of discoloring the clothing, but might be just the trick for some persistent stains. Likewise for industrial cleaners like Greased Lightning or Lestoil.
Believe it or not, some people swear by prewashing the fabric in Coca Cola! 👀 👀 👀 Your curious author would love for someone to try that and report back.
Air dry.
Even if you generally machine-dry your clothes, this one item might benefit from air drying this one time. If there is any lingering stain, it might fall off the next time you wash it, if you don't bake it in now.
Take it to a dry cleaning service.
If despite your best efforts the stain resists removal, the pros will know what to do and will have access to industrial-strength solvents.