Any Updates on Grease Spot Removal ?

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toploader55

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Oct 10, 2007
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Massachusetts Sand Bar, Cape Cod
After a shirt (Heavy Cotton Carhartt Type Shirts) is washed and dried, and a grease spot such as cooking oil is still present, is there any hope to get the stain out ?

I use Persil Universal Powder. I have tried Dawn, 409, Greased Lightening,Purple Power and they still remain. I use a warm water wash and rinse on colors.

Any Other suggestions ? These shirts are not inexpensive so I'd like to get them clean again.

Thanks
 
Dollar Store goodness

I've had luck with M30 stain remover, which is available at dollar stores (Deals and Dollar Tree around here). It's in a short round tub (looks like a margarita salt container). It even got a set-in chocolate stain out of a white tablecloth.

How's your weather up there?
 
The stick works better cause or is more convenient I should say for me at least , I keep it right there on my ironing bored nothing bugs me more getting ready finding everything that matches and oil on my tie or shirt... So when I am ironing and if I see any oil or anything

I rub the clay on the shirt,pants,anything really and let it sit for about 10 mins and then brush it off no washing or anything.

You can really feel it if you rub it on your thumb drying it out soaking the oils up..
 
Soak

Over night soak in warm water, Oxyclean and laundry soap followed by hot wash in detergent. I use the cool down cycle to mitigate affects of a hot water wash. Years of food service left me with spots of all origins. I am finding more and more modern cottons hanging on to grease spots. It could be wimpy detergents but it's annoying to find cottons needing so much extra attention.
 
Thanks Gang.

@ Wes, I'll look for the stick and try it.

@ Tim, Yes, I tried Dawn.

@ Keith, I'll put M30 on the list, and thanks for asking about the weather. We're on Defrost Cycle only to get 3-6 more inches of snow come Wednesday Night.

@ Tom, Tried Shout years ago with no success... maybe time to try it again.

@ Kelly, You're right. There seem to be many 100% cottons these days that do hang onto stains. I never remembered this years ago. I'll try your method as well.

I spend the money on Carhartt and other higher end brands because they last a long time. I still have a few Carhartt Sweatshirts I bought 12-13 years ago and they are just now beginning to fray. But there is a quality difference in their stuff too. Some is made in India, Some in Taiwan,etc.

SIGH ... If only we had U.S. manufacturer's again. We'd have Great Appliances and Good Quality Clothing and the likes.

Thanks again to everyone.
 
The trick I've found with Dawn, for dried-in oil stains, is time. Lots of time. I've left it on for 24++ hours before to really try and work on a tough stain, and it almost always works. As long as it is the plain blue kind, it shouldn't hurt to leave it on that long.

The other option is Tide pre-treatment spray in the dark orange/red bottle. It is thick and goopy, and may actually just be liquid Tide in a sprayer but it really works great, is somewhat faster than blue Dawn, and has never faded anything for me.

Good luck! I know that sinking feeling of getting a nice, warm shirt out of the dryer only to discover greasy stains that were missed because it was turned inside-out.
 
Just take it to the dry cleaner and point it out to them. I had a really nice Canterbury New Zealand All-Blacks rugby shirt in 50/50 poly/cotton knit which had a stubborn grease stain (not very visible on the black fabric). I washed it and washed it (and dried it and dried it), but couldn't get it out. Took it to the dry cleaner, pointed out the stain and it was gone
 
Shout Advanced Gel (blue spray bottle), Leave overnight
Two Tide Pods, Heavy Duty / Stain Cycle

I've had great luck with this combo -- fairly expensive products, but they work!
 
I add ammonia along with the regular amount of detergent to every wash EXCEPT those

with chlorine bleach. Gets rid of grease and oil stains before they get a chance

to set. Shampoo often works on new stains as it's designed to get oil out of hair.
 
I Think.....

....I see what your trouble is.

Using a warm wash is not going to give good results on a grease stain, especially if your water heater is set to any kind of "energy saver" setting. In many houses, using a warm wash actually means a tepid wash; the combination of not-so-hot hot water mixed with cold means water too cool to break the grip of grease on cotton.

After using some sort of pretreatment (my own favorite is Fels-Naphtha, but there are plenty of suggestions here that would probably work well), wash in hot. A single hot wash does not shrink most clothes and fade them to nothingness. Sure, if you have silk T-shirts and black custom jeans, you want to avoid hot water. But these are Carhartt work clothes, and trust me, they'll survive just fine.
 
Aerosol Spray n Wash

I have had good luck with the old aerosol Spray n Wash, the stuff that has petroleum solvents in it. I don't believe its available anymore anywhere that I have seen. I have a few cans I use sparingly on tar and heavy grease.

A while back I had exactly the problem you describe, an oil spot on a cotton T-shirt from some heavy cutting oil at work. I managed to make it through the dryer and I thought the shirt was a rag. I tried some of the new Tide Boost in the trigger spray bottle. I scrubbed the spot a bit with a toothbrush and let it sit for a few minutes. The spot was completely gone after a normal wash.

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