While at a cookout this past weekend, a friend of mine managed to get grease on her brand new shirt. Although I have no idea how much said shirt would have cost, the look on her husband’s face when they noticed the new “beauty mark” tells me it was most likely not free. And, as anyone who has ever gotten grease on anything knows, it’s nearly impossible to get rid of it. Luckily, we had a secret weapon again just such a stain: my wife. Without even thinking about it, she instructed our newly blemished friend to simply sprinkle some flour on the grease stain. To make a long story short: the stain completely disappeared, my wife achieved rock-star status among our friends, and my fears of becoming the proud new owner of a shirt with grease and flour on it never came to fruition.
So, here is what you should do if you’re ever confronted with a grease stain on your clothes:
- Find any everyday product that will absorb the grease. The best products to use are baking soda, flour, or baby powder.
- Sprinkle the powder directly on the stain and press onto the grease as hard as you can. A good method of doing this is to go from the underside of the clothing and pinch the powdered area between your fingers.
- After you’ve pressed the powder into the stain, you should be able to just brush it off. If a considerable amount of powder remains stuck to the area, it means that all of the grease has not been absorbed and you need to repeat the above steps.
- Prior to washing, sprinkle some powder on the area again and allow it to remain on their overnight. This extra step will ensure that you don’t lock in a stain by washing the clothing with a little bit of grease left on it.
- The next day, brush the powder off and wash the clothing as you normally would.
