How to Get a Grease Stain Out of a Shirt (Even One You Missed the First Time)

Step by step

1. 1

   Blot off what you can

   Lay the shirt flat and press a paper towel onto the spot to soak up any grease still sitting on top. Press and lift. Do not scrub raw grease, because rubbing it around only spreads it over more fabric.

   What it looks like: the paper towel picks up a shiny, see-through mark. Keep switching to a clean part of the towel until it comes away almost dry.

2. 2

   Wet the stain

   Run a little warm water over the spot so the fabric is damp, not dripping. This sets you up for the paste, because the maker’s directions call for working it into a dampened stain.

3. 3

   Mix the paste fresh

   Put on your gloves. In a small glass or plastic bowl (never aluminum, because the label says washing soda is not for aluminum), stir together:

   • White fabric: 1 tablespoon washing soda + 1 tablespoon 3% hydrogen peroxide (the regular drugstore kind in the brown bottle) + 1 drop of dish soap.
   • Colored fabric: 1 tablespoon washing soda + 1 tablespoon warm water + 1 drop of dish soap.

   For a big stain, double it. Equal parts powder and liquid matches the ratio in Arm & Hammer’s own pretreat paste (4 tablespoons to a quarter cup of water).

   What it looks like: a thick, wet paste that holds on a spoon, a little like runny frosting. If it is dry and crumbly, add liquid a teaspoon at a time.

   

2. 4

   Work it in and wait

   With your gloved fingertips, gently rub the paste into the stain on the front, then turn the shirt over and do the back of the spot too. Leave it for at least 15 minutes and up to 30. Do not let it dry out on the fabric. If it starts to look chalky, dab on a little more water.

3. 5

   Wash it hot, as hot as the label allows

   Put the shirt in the washer with your usual detergent and wash it in the hottest water the care label allows. For extra help on a greasy load, add half a cup of washing soda to the wash along with your detergent, which Arm & Hammer says you can do.

   On colors, stick to the label’s temperature and go no hotter, because water that is too hot can fade colored fabric.

   
4. 6

   Check it before the dryer

   Pull the shirt out wet and look at the spot in good light, then let it air dry. A grease spot that is still there shows up dry as a darker, slightly see-through patch. If you can still see it, repeat Steps 2 to 5. Only use the dryer once the spot is gone.

   What it looks like when it worked: dry fabric that looks the same color and thickness all over, with no shadow when you hold it up to a window.

   

When it will not work, and what to do instead

Grease does not always come out on the first try. Here is what to do when it does not.

• It already went through the dryer. Heat can set a stain, but set does not always mean stuck forever. Use the paste for the full 30 minutes, then wash and air dry, and plan on 2 or 3 rounds.

For a bigger set stain on a washable white or colorfast shirt, your next step is a soak in oxygen bleach powder. Fill the scoop to line 3 per gallon of water, soak 1 to 6 hours, then wash. That is what the OxiClean Versatile tub’s label says to do.

• Silk, wool, leather or dry clean only. Do not use this paste. Blot, keep it out of the dryer, and take it to a dry cleaner.
• Neon or bright red and green clothes. The American Cleaning Institute says those dyes are the most likely to bleed or fade. Test on a hidden seam, skip the peroxide, and keep the water at the label’s temperature.
• Motor oil, or a stain that is mostly color, like curry or ketchup. This page is built for kitchen grease. Those stains have their own fixes: see the stain removal chart.

Why it works

Grease is oil, and oil does not want anything to do with water. That is why rinsing alone just slides right over it.

Dish soap is built for exactly this job. One end of each soap molecule holds onto oil and the other end holds onto water, so the grease gets carried off into the wash.

Washing soda is a fairly strong alkali (the opposite of an acid, like vinegar). A strong alkali can turn some fat into soap right there in the fabric, and that gives your dish soap a head start. On white shirts, the peroxide is a gentle bleach that brightens the yellowish shadow grease likes to leave behind.

And the dryer is the enemy, because heat can set what the wash missed. The trouble is that a wet shirt hides grease, because everything looks dark when it is wet.

Every one of us has pulled a favorite shirt out warm and folded it, only to find that little dark spot right where the bacon popped. It is not that you did anything wrong.