How can I remove a black grease stain from my light cotton trousers?

Question

I think the grease stain came from the side of the filing cabinet. I sprayed 'Shout' on the stain and washed it with biological tablet, but the stain persists.

Help?................I'm keeping the garment damp until I find a solution.

Answer 1

First, do not use any heat to dry the stain, but hang the trousers up to dry completely. As long as the cotton fibers are damp, their capillaries are full of water. Grease and water do not mix, so by keeping the stain damp, you are trapping the grease.

When the stain is completely dry, saturate it with a hand dishwashing detergent such as "Dawn". With your fingers, not your nails, work the detergent thoroughly through the stain. Wash the trousers in cool, not warm water, into which you have dissolved more detergent. Hang to dry again. Repeat if necessary until the grease stain is gone. This may take a period of a few days.

If you are ready to give up, one last time before you pitch out the trousers, spray the stain with ordinary hair spray until it is saturated, then wash in water with detergent once more. The alcohol in the hair spray helps dissolve the grease. Hair spray works well on ball-point ink, too, which is another type of grease stain.

Many people put grease-stained clothes into hot water, which is a mistake because the hot water sets the grease into the fibers of the cloth. Cotton especially absorbs grease readily and will not easily release it. The best thing to do is to saturate the dry fibers with liquid detergent, which contains a grease-cutter. If the detergent is safe for your hands, it will not hurt your clothes.

When you have a grease-encrusted cooking pan, remember this: do not soak it in hot water! That just puts a layer of water between the grease and the detergent. Put the detergent directly onto the dry greasy crust, let it sit for a moment, then scrub with a nylon scrubber. You will be amazed how much harder the detergent works when you have not coated the stain in water.

Answer 2

It is always best to treat any petroleum based stain as quickly as possible. Grease, etc. , attracts dirt and will destroy fabrics if untreated. Try these techniques :
First, when stain is fresh, blot as much excess with paper towels.

Next, we recommend using a spot remover / dry cleaning fluid. Follow the directions and use gloves in a well ventilated area. Place the garment with the stain facing onto a clean, white, absorbent cloth. Then soak another like cloth with the spotting solution and blot the stain from the back. The dissolved grease will transfer to the under cloth.

Rinse the garment with water and repeat only if necessary (dry cleaning fluid can be very hard on many fabrics).


Precautions:Always test on an inconspicuous area before using spotting chemicals.

Answer 3

The Oxyclean powder is good. Now I think a container full of Oxyclean is relatively cheap; just deposit some of it into the water where your trousers are. Then let it sit for some time, mix it, and remove the trousers.
Another option is to simply put the trousers on fire, so by destroying the trousers, you have removed the black grease stain. However, I doubt you want to lose your trousers, so this might be an unfavorable option.
You may also want to simply pour some chlorine on the stain and continue scrubbing the place. It may help if you make the area hot with an iron before you apply the chlorine and rub.
Good luck with that stain. If everything fails, you might just want to go ask a professional dry cleaning firm for help.

Answer 4

Hi,

I'd suggest two ways to remove the black grease stain: Dawn or shampoo. You might try Dawn Power Dissolver dishwashing liquid (use the light-colored one), pour it onto the spot, rub it in gently but saturate it, and let it sit for a day or two. Then wash it on "gentle" to see how much of the stain has come out. Repeat this--applying Dawn, letting it sit, and putting through a gentle wash--until the stain is gone.

The second method would be to use a strong shampoo instead. In the same manner, apply it, rub in, and let that sit, again, for a day or two. You never know whether the Dawn or shampoo will work better, but they are both pretty good. The sitting for a day really helps loosen the grease from the fibers.

In both cases, wash in cold/barely warm water, and I'd even let it stay in a "soak" cycle for half a day to loosen the grease.

The single thing to bear in mind is to avoid is the DRYER or IRON! Once this goes through the dryer, or it's hit by heat, no matter how light the stain, then the stain is set forever. Do not use the dryer or an iron at all. Let this air dry until the stain is completely gone, and don't apply any heat (like an iron) until you are satisfied that the stain is gone. Otherwise, it will be melted into the fabric forever.

GOOD LUCK!!
Abigail

Answer 5

Now I think a container full of Oxyclean is relatively cheap; just deposit some of it into the water where your trousers are. Then let it sit for some time, mix it, and remove the trousers.
Another option is to simply put the trousers on fire, so by destroying the trousers, you have removed the black grease stain. However, I doubt you want to lose your trousers, so this might be an unfavorable option.
You may also want to simply pour some chlorine on the stain and continue scrubbing the place. It may help if you make the area hot with an iron before you apply the chlorine and rub.

Answer 6

Dawn dish washing liquid is amazing on grease stains. I'm not sure it will work on the color of the stain, but the greasy part disappears. Work the detergent (the blue original works best) into the stain with an old toothbrush. Leave to set for 24 hours, and launder as usual. Make sure to check the garment before drying to see if you need to retreat or try something else for the color part of the stain.

Answer 7

Dawn dishwashing detergent. Do in the sink.
Put it on the stain. Do not brush real hard or will mess up the knap on the pants. Soak for a while wet and foamy. Rinse very well in the sink hottest water you can stand grease stains need hot water. Then spray with 50/50 simple green and water solution. Then wash in the washing machine small load, hot water 1/2 cup oxyclean and 1 cup 50/50 simple green mix again.
Do not do Dawn in the washer or you will have foam everywhere.

I know this sounds long but I have done it succesfully from grease from my trailer hitch.
Good luck!

Answer 8

Dawn dish soap works the best on grease stains. Dawn was made to work on grease and does not restain the fabric. You can spend a small fortune on all the stain-fighting products out there or .96 cents at wal-mart. All you have to do is squirt a little on , rub stain with lightly with fingers, let sit for about 10 Min's. rinse with luke warm water. If it still persists reapply and let it sit again, laundry as usual

Answer 9

I have found that a product named : M40 Stain Remover works wonders. I buy mine in a Dollar General Store.
It has the constiency of shortening. It will remove black car grease, ink, mud, lipstick, grass stains and countless others. Is only about $1.50, if I remember right. Really does work.
I put a paper towel under the stain, put M40 on it , let it set for about 1 min., chance area on towel and repeat until stain is gone then wash item. Do NOT dry item in dryer until you know whatever you have used has removed the stain.

Answer 10

GOO GONE might pull it out. Anytime I have ever encountered grease, I have scrubbed the area with the solution as well. Grease is a tough one to remove. Goo Gone, Oxy cleaners. Keeping it damp is probably a good idea, but I would be soaking it with a liquid detergent in the water to help loosen the stain. Go under Hints from Heloise (do a Google Search), and see what her site suggests. She is well known for getting different stains out, along with other cleaning ideas as well.