How to remove juice stains from clothes

by Abbas Jahangir · July 10, 2024

Fruit juice has a pleasant taste. But sometimes it leaves bright spots on clothes. Does this mean that the item is irreparably damaged? Not at all. With the right approach, you can get rid of such “decoration”.

Universal means for removing fresh stains

The easiest way to remove a sap stain is when it has just been planted. The following techniques are used for this.

Press a napkin soaked in cold water several times against the stain. Then sprinkle the fabric generously with table salt . Its crystals will absorb some of the fruit pigment from the clothes. At the first opportunity, wash off the salt with cool water, and then wash the items with detergent. Soda, talc, and starch work in the same way.

Cold water is suitable as a first aid, for example, for tomato juice stains. But it can only be used if you have the opportunity to change clothes. You need to act like this:

the item is turned inside out and a woven napkin folded in several layers or an old towel is placed under the front side;
a clean light-colored cloth is generously moistened with water and, moving from the edges to the middle, rub the fabric stained with juice. This will prevent it from being absorbed into the fibers;
After processing, items are allowed to dry completely.

You can’t use an iron to speed up drying. A new stain will appear.

Milk and its derivativesremove juice stains from delicate fabrics . The item is immersed in hot milk or whey and washed after a short soak. These products are also used cold. But the soaking time is increased to 60 minutes. Kefir (curdled milk) is suitable for combating fresh stains. It is applied locally for half an hour.
Good results when washing freshly soiled items are achieved with laundry soap. It is grated here and then whipped into foam in a small amount of warm water. The stain is generously rubbed with a bar, and then the wardrobe items are dipped in a soap solution for 2 hours.
Fresh stains from white or strongly colored linen, cotton or viscose clothing are effectively removed with very hot water. It is used in several ways:

The stained garment is immersed in a filled basin for several minutes and then washed in the usual way.
The fabric is stretched by hand and the stain is placed under the running tap.
The item is placed on top of an empty saucepan and secured with a rubber band (this creates something resembling an improvised embroidery frame). The stain is poured from a just-boiled kettle until it completely disappears.

Folk remedies against old stains

A stain that is not immediately noticed can be removed using medications from your home medicine cabinet or household substances.

To remove cherry and other richly colored juices from light and strongly colored clothing, use:

Citric acid. Nectar from heat-resistant fabrics is cleaned with a hot solution (1 teaspoon per 200 ml of water). Contaminated thin materials are treated with acid mixed with vodka or ethyl alcohol (1:25 and 1:10, respectively).
Table vinegar is poured onto traces of natural pigment and left to dry. To enhance the effect, lemon juice is added to the acid.
Ammonia is diluted in water to obtain a 5% solution and applied to the stain for 5 minutes. For more successful cleaning, the pharmaceutical product is combined with table salt (at a rate of 25 ml per 5 g).
Hydrogen peroxide. Moisten the problem area with an antiseptic for 10 minutes.

For dried marks, for example from a tomato on colored fabrics, apply:

Glycerin in its pure form or mixed with yolk is applied to the source of the problem using a cotton pad. After a few hours, the surface is wiped with a clean cloth and washed with water at room temperature. Glycerin can also be used to wash gouache off clothes , as well as remove marker stains .
Toothpaste (powder). Rub the cleaning agent into the damp stain for several minutes and leave for 3-4 hours.
Spread the dishwashing gel over the surface to be cleaned and allow it to dry completely.

After any treatment, the clothes are rinsed in warm and then cool water, and then washed.

Special cases

Most specialized and home stain removers have a broad spectrum of action. But each juice has a special chemical composition, so an individual approach can be applied to stains.

For citrus fruits

Dried stains from oranges or tangerines are removed in several stages:

The damaged fabric is stretched by hand and held over steam for 2-3 minutes.
Vodka is diluted with table vinegar 1:1. The resulting mixture is used to rub the orange stain from the edges to the central part.
A cotton pad is lightly moistened with ammonia and used for final cleaning.

For stains from pomegranate or grapes

A fresh stain from a pomegranate or grape drink is well removed by alcohol and liquids containing it. You can deal with a stubborn stain from a pomegranate or grape like this (it may be limited to the first step):

Dissolve 2 g of citric acid in 15 g of heated wine alcohol and apply the mixture to the dirty fabric for 3-5 minutes.
The material is washed and moistened with ammonia mixed with water 1:3.
Finally, the stain is treated with an aqueous solution of table vinegar, prepared at the rate of 1 tbsp. per 1 glass of water.

For an apple

An apple stain requires a special approach. First, the dirty item is soaked in clean warm water, and then a hot vinegar solution is poured onto the apple stain (1 tbsp. per glass).

For carrots

Carrot juice can be removed from clothing items (only colored ones) by soaking them for 60 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate (manganese).

For beets

You can wash dried beets off clothes by following this sequence of actions:

Apply sodium hydrosulfite to the dirty surface and pour 3% hydrogen peroxide over it. If the spots are small, use a pipette.
Prepare a vinegar solution (1 part 9% vinegar to 3 parts water) and treat the problem areas with a sponge or cotton swab.

Dealing with ingrained dirt – industrial products

Old stains require deeper cleaning, for which specialized products are suitable. Most of them cope equally well with marks from any juice.

When choosing an industrial stain remover, you should pay attention to three factors:

is it universal or only suitable for white items;
at what temperature does it start working;
Is it suitable for delicate fabrics (wool, silk, synthetics)?

Having selected the right option, the items are freed from fruit stains according to the instructions. Depending on the composition, the product requires from 30 seconds to 1 hour to eliminate the problem.

It is important to remember:

stain removers intended for white fabrics are not suitable for colored fabrics, as they will “eat” the dye along with the stain;
Most cleaners are only effective in hot water, so are not suitable for delicate materials;
Chlorine-containing products will not damage only durable white cotton or linen clothing.

The trace of a natural drink can also be dissolved by laundry soap for stains. It is applied directly to the stain or used during soaking and main washing. Before putting the bar into action, you need to consider several points:

Not every stain remover is universal. Some are designed strictly for light-colored fabrics.
Only soap with a special mark is suitable for children’s clothes.
Some bars have a strong smell.

As we can see, the problem of juice stains on clothes is quite solvable. It is enough to choose the right stain remover and use it separately or in combination with other cleaning agents.