How to remove lipstick stains from clothes

Lipstick is an irreplaceable thing, but sometimes, due to carelessness, it leaves marks on clothes. Don’t despair and throw away your favorite blouse or shirt, or try to disguise lipstick stains in some clever way. There are effective methods to combat such troubles.

Recommendations to make stain removal easier

It is difficult to wash off lipstick, after all, it contains such components as fats and acids. This creates certain difficulties in removing the stain.

1. Before you begin removing lipstick, read the label; if it says dry clean only, you’ll have to take the item to the dry cleaner.
2. Before using any cleaning agent, you need to make sure that it reacts neutrally to the structure and color of the fabric. A small test is done: drop a couple of drops of the product on the fabric in a place where no one will see the consequences in case of failure. After half an hour, having washed off the excess, you can judge the results. If there are no changes, then get down to business without the risk of ruining the thing completely.
3. If you start this work incorrectly, the lipstick marks will not only not disappear, but will spread further, making the stain even bigger. To prevent this from happening, turn the item inside out and process it on that side, not the front side.
4. To prevent the makeup stain from spreading across the fabric, it is necessary to clean starting from the edge of the stain and moving towards the center, otherwise the stained area will only increase (especially if the cleaning method is chosen incorrectly).
5. Place a piece of thick fabric under the stain, and a film or polyethylene underneath it, so that all the dirt is absorbed into the pad. Otherwise, lipstick stains will be imprinted on the back of the clothes.
6. It is necessary to remove dirt from the surface using cotton swabs or napkins with the product applied.
7. It is important not to put this work off until later. Old greasy stains are much more difficult to remove.

First of all, you need to get rid of the fatty component of the stain, and then remove the coloring pigment itself. Here, much will depend on the durability of the lipstick.

Removal products that are always at hand

There are different ways to remove stains for different types of fabric. Among them are bleaching agents and stain removers, but if you don’t have them at hand, you can use folk recipes, not forgetting to conduct a preliminary test.

• Dishwashing liquid will help remove a fresh stain. Apply a little on the stain, following all the rules, leave for 10-15 minutes, and then rinse. A good option is to use 72% laundry soap instead of liquid.
• If the previous method was not enough, you can take some dry baking soda and sprinkle it on a wet stain treated with soap or dishwashing liquid. Rub it gently into the dirty area. The dye will gradually be absorbed by the soda. Shake off the colored powder and sprinkle a fresh layer. After a couple of such procedures, make a thick paste out of soda, add a little water, apply it to the stain and rub it in. Then rinse with water. After that, wash the item, adding 70 grams of soda to the washing powder.

If the stain is old, you can combine soda with lemon juice to achieve the consistency of a thick paste. Apply this mixture to the stain on both sides and wait about an hour until it dries a little. Then shake off the soda with a soft toothbrush. If the stain is still visible after this, apply a little soda mixed with water to the inside of the garment, rub it into the fabric of the item and leave to dry. Then you can wash it in the machine, adding 70 grams of soda (3 level tablespoons).

• Toothpaste (professional whitening). This method is good for delicate materials where other methods are not suitable. It is only necessary to check the color fastness of the fabric using the test described above.

Apply a thick layer of paste to the damp stain and wait 30 minutes. Rinse. After that, repeat the entire procedure a couple more times, this is quite enough. Then you need to clean the dirt with a brush and wash in the usual way.

Tooth powder can replace expensive toothpaste; you just need to make a thick mixture out of it, diluting it a little with cold water.

• Hydrogen peroxide. This method is very good, but only for white cotton items. For all others – only after a test.

Having completed all the preliminary steps (turn inside out, put a film under it), you need to treat the contaminated area with a 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide and wait 15 minutes. Then carefully rinse the solution off the stain with cold water. Repeat this manipulation several times, depending on the degree of contamination. Finally, without rinsing off the hydrogen peroxide, proceed to washing in the usual way. Rinse with the addition of conditioner.

• If you need a completely radical method, you can add soda to the peroxide. To do this, cover the dampened stain (use ice water!) with a layer of thick soda mixture with water. Then pour peroxide on it. After waiting for the reaction to stop, start washing. By the way, after this procedure, you cannot dry the product in direct sunlight. For more delicate fabrics, you can replace hydrogen peroxide with lemon juice.
• The method of removing lipstick with a liquid mixture is simple and reliable. Using a sponge soaked in turpentine, carefully wipe the stain on both sides, trying not to smear it, and then apply napkins on top and bottom to thoroughly absorb the dirt and the product. After that, you need to iron this place with a hot iron, having previously placed the fabric between two thick sheets of paper. The fat will begin to be absorbed. Changing the sheets, you need to continue until the stain disappears. Then wash the item with laundry soap.
• Ammonia or denatured alcohol will also work to dissolve the fat base. To do this, use a cotton swab soaked in the liquid to blot the stain and wait a couple of minutes for the desired effect to occur. Then wash the item.

At home, you can deal with lipstick stains on clothes using folk and specialized means. But do not neglect the general rules for removing stains.