What do you do when you’ve spilled red wine on your favorite dress, or smeared foundation on your white shirt before a big meeting? Don’t panic. These quick fixes can help save the day (or at least, your clothes),and even spare you from an expensive dry cleaning bill. But as with all emergency fixes, the key is to act fast. Read this article now, so when it does happen to you, you know exactly what to do.
How to get makeup stains out of clothes
In the rush to get ready for work, you spill your liquid foundation on your only clean shirt (or at least, what used to be a clean shirt). No problem. Just head straight for your kitchen and grab a fistful of baking soda. Sprinkle a generous amount right on top of the stain, completely covering it. With clean fingers, press the powder tight right into the stain. Then, get an old toothbrush and brush off the powder. Keep doing this until the foundation’s disappeared.
If you don’t have any baking soda, reach for white bread, kneaded into a small ball. Roll it over the stain. This also works on any pencil marks (and is in fact far better than attempting to use an eraser, which will just smear the pencil lead even more).
It’s harder to get a lipstick smear off a shirt, but you can save it by applying petroleum jelly on the stained area before washing it. You can also blot it off with white bread (who thought white bread was this useful?), even if you stained a fabric that’s for dry-cleaning only (like wool).
Remove tomato stains
Tomato stains are really hard to remove, but if you’ve slobbered pasta sauce all over your favorite white shirt, then reach for this homemade stain remover: half a cup of hydrogen peroxide, mixed with 3 cups of water. Mix it up, then soak the shirt in it for about half an hour. Then, wash the shirt.
If you don’t have a hydrogen peroxide, you can remove tomato stain by spraying it with non-gel shaving cream. Dry, then wash the shirt.
Erase an ink stain
Your best friend is…milk! Combine full-fat milk with around 3 tablespoons of cornstarch. Smear this paste on to the stain and leave for about 4 hours. Then, with an old toothbrush, scrape off the paste and wash the shirt. You can also try another homemade stain remover, 2 tablespoons cream of tartar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
Get rid of red wine stains
There are actually several ways to get rid of red wine stains. You can soak the garment in soda water, or a borax solution (1 tablespoon to 500 ml of lukewarm water). Others swear by a combination of liquid hand soap, diluted in water, and a drop of vinegar. Salt is also a good stain remover: just pour a handful on the stain, it will soak up the red wine. If that doesn’t work, try baking soda.
Photo from videojug.com