Help with stains
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 568
Help with stains
I love McDonald’s iced teas but the lids are often not tight on the cup. The other day it appeared the lid was on but it wasn’t on right away and when I took a sip, the tea spilled on a light blue shirt I was wearing and has stained the shirt. Does anyone have any suggestions how to remove the stain? Any help would be appreciated. The shirt is no longer wearable if I can’t get it clean. Thought someone working with fabric might have some hints.
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Upstate SC
Posts: 680
Oxi-Clean laundry spray works great for me. It even gets out dried blood, spaghetti sauce, grass stains, oil and grease stains. My daughter used it when granddaughter was a toddler and you know how they can mess up an outfit.
I spray it on and let it sit for 30 min or so before washing.
I spray it on and let it sit for 30 min or so before washing.
#6
I once had a black stain in a red shirt that was brand new, I only wore it one time when I could not get this black stain out. I made up a bucket of water with a larger than called for Oxyclean mixture and let it set. This was a more than difficult stain. I thought the blouse was lost forever. It was an oil base stain to boot. It took about a month of soaking it but it did come clean no stain at all! I was so thrilled. I have also used it on white carpet stains with a scrub brush and had instant results.
#9
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Greater Peoria, IL -- just moved!
Posts: 6,066
The problem with tea is that it has tannin and tannin likes to soak into cotton and other things. We can deliberately dye cotton with tea and coffee, and we use heat among other things to set that. It's like toast, you are using heat to carbonize the bread and once it is toasted you can't untoast it.
But -- especially if you normally use things like dryer sheets or fabric softener, or there is a blend in the fibers (even a small amount of poly can keep dyes out) it is possible that the stain is still around and not in the fibers. So try a warm/cool soak in Oxyclean. If you have any basic Dawn dish soap, rub some in and soak with that for awhile and then rinse until clear. Do not put dish soap in your washing machine. Just don't do it -- it is much funnier on I Love Lucy than in real life.
If you've already tried once, I'd try one of these other things and then move on. Or use that shirt to paint in. Or maybe do some tie-dye with it.
But -- especially if you normally use things like dryer sheets or fabric softener, or there is a blend in the fibers (even a small amount of poly can keep dyes out) it is possible that the stain is still around and not in the fibers. So try a warm/cool soak in Oxyclean. If you have any basic Dawn dish soap, rub some in and soak with that for awhile and then rinse until clear. Do not put dish soap in your washing machine. Just don't do it -- it is much funnier on I Love Lucy than in real life.
If you've already tried once, I'd try one of these other things and then move on. Or use that shirt to paint in. Or maybe do some tie-dye with it.