Experienced housewives know that there are no hopelessly ruined things, any stain can be removed from the garment, if done on time and correctly. So, if you accidentally spilled coffee on your favorite sweater or experienced an unsuccessful encounter with a colleague who had hot espresso in her hands, do not rush to despair - most likely, you can remove the stain from clothes, just choose the appropriate method for this.
How to remove quickly?
Any person, even far from the world of the household, knows that it is better to try to remove any unwanted stain that has appeared as a result of negligence or some kind of incident as soon as possible. The longer the delay, the less likely that the clothes will be saved. Therefore, if a similar incident occurred with you, and now your shirt has a huge brown stain, you need to take matters into your own hands urgently.
In this case, it is recommended that you always carry a pack of napkins in your purse, preferably those that are antibacterial and contain alcohol. With a napkin (or any other porous material), it is necessary to very carefully, with no rubbing movements, blot the stain until it becomes as colorless as possible.
Most likely, using napkins alone will not completely eliminate the pollution, but you will at least block the absorption of coffee into the fabric and prepare your garment for further actions.
If the trouble happened when you were at home, at a party or cafe, feel free to use another method - sprinkle the stain with salt. The stain should be saturated with salt properly, for this, leave the clothes alone for 10-15 minutes, and after that - removing the remaining salt, wash the garment well under a powerful stream of water.
By the way, here you should remember one more nuance - the water with which you are trying to save a thing must necessarily be cold (the maximum allowable temperature is 40 degrees). Otherwise, under the influence of heat, coffee will only be firmly absorbed into the fabric, and there will be no hope of getting rid of the stain. This is especially true for coffee, which was prepared with the addition of milk or cream - milk protein tends to curl up at high temperatures.
By the way, it is recommended to wash the stain from the wrong side - so there is less risk that it will “creep” over the fabric.
If there is absolutely no way to tackle the stain right now (suppose you are late for work and you need to change clothes at least quickly), soak the item in water with a detergent, you can also use a dishwashing detergent. And in the evening it will already be necessary to decide what to do with the soiled thing.
All further manipulations after the provision of "first aid" will depend solely on what fabric was at risk, what material the product was made of, and also what color it was.
Stain on white clothes
To wash off coffee with a white thing, in fact, is somewhat easier than with colored items of clothing (contrary to popular belief). This is due to the fact that white things can be safely filled with stain removers and bleaches, however, even in this case, of what material the thing is sewn is of great importance.
Natural fabrics
A white garment made of natural fabrics (cotton, linen) must be prepared for deep cleaning with water and soap dissolved in it - in a container with soapy water, the fabric is soaked for 10 minutes. After these manipulations, bleach or a preparation containing chlorine should be applied to the stain, and after that, wash the item in the usual way.
By the way, it is best to dry the cotton items in the sun after rinsing.
Also not bad with cotton things, stains come down with oxalic acidIt is sold in household chemical stores. 1⁄2 teaspoon of the acid should be dissolved in 1 cup of water, and then apply the liquid to the stain for 10 minutes. After this time, it is very good to rinse the garment under running water.
One more tip - use sodium hydrogen sulfate in combination with table soda (1 tablespoon of each ingredient in 3 liters of water). Leave your blouse or skirt in this solution for about 1 hour, and then wash in warm water.
You can resort to white lime, but only if you are confident in the density of the fabric. And after processing the stain, you need to rinse it very carefully.
Coffee stains that are snug on your favorite white woolen item can be removed with the usual table vinegar - mixed with water in a ratio of 1: 1 vinegar is applied to the stain for about 15 minutes (most importantly, do not overdo it for more than 20 minutes) and then wash the item with any powder. The same method works for silk fabrics.
Synthetics
If the stain has appeared on a synthetic item of ivory or milk color, washing it will help hydrogen peroxide. To do this, dissolve 1 tablespoon of peroxide in 1⁄2 cup of water, cover the entire stain with a mixture and forget about this problem for a quarter of an hour. Then normal washing is supposed. By the way, hydrogen peroxide can be bought at any pharmacy.
When there is no hydrogen peroxide at hand, and the stain eats up more and more into the fabric every minute, use a dishwashing detergent - you need to foam it directly on the surface of the stain, and then arrange for normal washing with any powder.
Stain on colored clothes
As mentioned above, this task is more difficult than removing stains from light clothes - because when washing colored fabrics strong drugs are contraindicated - you will get rid of not only the stain itself, but also the rest of the colors, a new stain may appear, in the form of ugly bald spots.When working with multi-colored materials, individual recommendations for each material should also be considered.
Natural fabrics
Can be cleaned by ordinary boiling. The product is soaked in a special solution that contains soda and washing powder, after 1 hour we pour in there (the thing is bleach for colored things, then boil for half an hour.
You can use a solution of soda (3 tablespoons of baking soda to dissolve in 5 liters of room water and leave the thing for 2-3 hours, after which - the usual washing with powder).
Synthetics
It is necessary to soak the spoiled thing in saline (3 tablespoons per 5 liters of water) for 2 hours, then wash with powder.
A mixture of ammonia (1 teaspoon), laundry soap, crushed on an ordinary grater (should be such an amount that it was enough for 1 tablespoon) and a glass of water. The mixture is recommended to be applied to the stain for 20 minutes, then everything is thoroughly rinsed.
Just remember that pure ammonia alone will do more harm than good - an ugly whitish stain may appear.
Wool
You can use a combination of glycerin, water and dishwashing detergent. This "gruel" is kept on the spot for no more than five minutes, then washed in warm water. If you have gas at hand, use it.
Only immediately after treating the stain with gasoline, be sure to wipe the stain with a solution of ammonia and water mixed in equal proportions.
Silk
Silk blouses are recommended to soak in whey for 5-10 minutes. It is believed that after this treatment, the stain will disappear from the delicate tissue. And ordinary light things are cleaned using lemon juice, water and salt. With this mixture you need to grease the stain, and then wash the fabric well.
Denim products
There are several ways to remove a stain from jeans:
- Using 15% oxalic acid, which is applied to the stain and allowed to soak for 15 minutes. Then the jeans are washed in warm water.
- Warm glycerin, heated in a water bath, is applied to the stain and after half an hour the item is washed.
- Liquid ammonia diluted with water is also a good helper in removing coffee stains from clothes.
- Mixing soda, salt and soda. The resulting mixture is applied to the stain, and then washed in the usual way.
- Egg yolk will also help in the fight against coffee stains. Mix it with thinking drops of alcohol and warm water. Using a sponge, apply the mixture to the stain and leave for a few minutes.
How to get rid of an old spot?
It happens that sometimes we don’t notice that we’ve stained a blouse or jeans, especially often when the stain is not so big in size: accidentally dropping on a sleeve, you may not even pay attention to it. However, some time passes and, taking the thing out of the closet, we see that the thing is corrupted.
In fact, if an old coffee stain remains on things, they will be effective Only professional stain removers. No "folk" means to combat stains simply will not give the desired result. Any household chemistry store today is ready to offer a wide selection of stain removers and bleaches, which one you need to buy depends on the quality of the spoiled thing.
Therefore, it is recommended that before going to the store, carefully study the tag sewn to the clothes and familiarize yourself with the characteristics of the fabric.
However, it is preferable to opt for a bleach containing active oxygen. Especially if for some reason you are not sure whether the effect of substances in its composition will be detrimental to the tissue. It is believed that it is such a tool that best copes with old pollution, cleansing the tissue as delicately as possible. Typically, such bleaches are released in the form of a gel or liquid.
In order to process the garment, you must first soak it in warm water with diluted bleach for about an hour, and then wash in the usual way.You can try to immediately add bleach to the washing machine, but in this case it is recommended to pour it directly into the drum, and not into the compartment for washing powder, to avoid unnecessary accumulation of the product.
The following video will tell you more about how to deal with coffee stains.