How to remove grease stains from clothes: kitchen grease and bike chain grease

Step by step: how to remove grease stains from clothes

Safety first. Use dry-cleaning solvents only with a window open, away from flames, and let the garment air out fully before washing. Do not machine dry anything soaked in grease, oil or solvent: NFPA warns that items in contact with flammable substances can ignite in a dryer. Never mix solvents with other cleaners.

1. 1

   Scrape off solid grease

   Lift any thick blob of bacon fat, butter, lard or chain grease with a butter knife or plastic scraper, scraping toward the center so you do not smear it wider. Thick grease left on the surface just melts into the fabric in the wash.

2. 2

   Blot both sides

   Press paper towels on the front and back of the stain to soak up loose grease. Put a folded paper towel inside the garment so grease cannot transfer to the other layer.

3. 3

   Work in dish soap

   Rinse the spot with water, rub in a few drops of dish soap with your fingers or a toothbrush, then rinse again. Repeat if the spot still feels slick. This is the first step Tide gives for kitchen grease.

4. 4

   Saturate with laundry detergent

   Rub heavy-duty liquid detergent directly into the stain until it is saturated and let it sit for a few minutes, up to 10. Do not rinse it off: Tide notes that leaving the detergent on gives the wash an extra boost on the stain.

5. 5

   Wash in the hottest safe water

   Put the garment in the washer with similar items and wash on the hottest temperature the care label allows. Mississippi State Extension gives the same hottest-water advice for grease.

6. 6

   Unload right away and check

   Take the garment out as soon as the cycle ends and look at the spot in good light. Grease can show as a darker, slightly shiny patch. If it is still there, repeat the dish soap and detergent steps before it goes anywhere near the dryer.

7. 7

   Air dry until it is gone

   Hang the item to dry. Once a grease stain has been through a hot dryer it is much harder to shift, so air dry every round until the spot is gone.

Kitchen grease vs mechanical grease

Kitchen grease is fat and comes out with dish soap and hot water; black mechanical grease is petroleum mixed with metal and dirt, and usually needs a solvent before the wash.

For plain liquid oils like salad dressing, cooking oil or lotion, see our oil stain guide, which starts with an absorbent powder instead of scraping.

How to get black bike chain grease out of clothes

Treat chain grease with a dry-cleaning solvent spotter first, then wash it like kitchen grease. Water and detergent alone often leave a grey shadow because the grease carries fine metal and dirt particles.

New Mexico State University Extension lists dry-cleaning agents such as K2r and Carbona as grease solvents and advises sponging a stubborn grease stain with solvent once the garment is dry, then airing it to remove the fumes. Work from the back of the fabric onto a paper towel, so the grease moves out rather than through. Once the solvent has evaporated, follow with dish soap, saturate with detergent and wash hot.

Expect two or three rounds on light colors. Old chain grease on white cotton may leave a faint grey mark even when the grease itself is gone.

Grease on a shirt or jeans, bacon grease and motor oil

The method above works on every washable fabric. A few garments and greases need small changes.

• Shirts: to get grease out of a shirt, slide a folded paper towel inside it so the grease cannot soak through to the back, and treat collars and cuffs too, where skin oil adds to the stain. Work dish soap in with your fingers on thin or knit fabric rather than a brush.
• Jeans: denim is sturdy, so you can scrub the dish soap and detergent in with a toothbrush. Turn the jeans inside out for the wash and use the warmest water the care label allows; if the label says cold, give the stain an extra round of pretreatment instead of more heat.
• Bacon grease: let it cool and firm up, scrape off what you can, then treat it like any kitchen grease with dish soap, detergent and a hot wash.
• Motor oil: blot, then soak. Tide’s motor oil steps are to soak the garment for up to 5 minutes in warm water with liquid detergent (about 1 ounce per gallon), keep it submerged, then wash without rinsing the detergent off on the hottest temperature the care label allows, and repeat before drying if the stain is still there. Used motor oil is dark and gritty like chain grease, so use the solvent spotter method above if a gray shadow remains.

Heavy, old or dried-in grease stains

Use the paper towel method: it draws grease out of the fabric over several hours instead of spreading it. Mississippi State University Extension describes placing the stain face down on clean paper towels, applying detergent to the back, letting it air dry while replacing the towels often, then rinsing and washing in the hottest safe water.

• Grease that has been through the dryer may look like a dark, waxy patch. It can still lift, but plan on several rounds.
• For dry clean only clothes, NMSU advises using only a dry-cleaning agent or taking it to a dry cleaner. Tell the cleaner it is grease, so they choose the right solvent.
• Never put greasy rags or clothes in the dryer to speed things up. NFPA says items in contact with flammable substances should not be dried.

Mistakes to avoid

• Rinsing with cold water only, which leaves the grease sitting in the fibers.
• Rinsing the detergent off before washing, which wastes the pretreatment.
• Using a solvent and then washing the item before the solvent has fully evaporated.
• Drying the garment before you have checked that the shadow is gone.
• Scrubbing hard on knits, which pills the surface and makes the stain look worse.