How to remove laundry detergent and fabric softener stains

Step by step: how to remove laundry detergent and fabric softener stains

1. 1

   Tell which stain you have

   Detergent stains look like white or bluish streaks, chalky patches or sticky gel spots that feel stiff. Fabric softener stains look like blue-gray or greasy, darker blotches, often where liquid softener was poured straight onto clothes or a dryer sheet sat against the fabric. The fixes are similar, but softener needs a little soap to cut the oil.

2. 2

   Keep the item out of the dryer

   Do not dry anything with spots on it. Dryer heat can set softener and pod residue into the fibers, which makes them much harder to remove. If you already dried it, the steps below still work, they just may take a second round.

3. 3

   Wet the spot and rub it gently

   Run warm water through the back of the stain for about 30 seconds, then rub the fabric against itself or with a soft toothbrush. Undissolved powder or gel usually loosens right away. On delicates, press and squeeze instead of rubbing.

4. 4

   Treat softener spots with soap

   For a greasy softener stain, wet it and rub a bar of plain soap into it, or work in a few drops of liquid detergent. Leave it for about 5 minutes so the soap can break up the oily film. Avoid deodorant bars, which can leave their own residue.

5. 5

   Rewash without extra detergent

   Wash detergent-stained items again in warm water, as warm as the care label allows, with no detergent or just a small amount, and add an extra rinse if your washer has one. For softener stains, wash with your usual detergent dose on the warmest safe setting. Leave out softener for this load.

6. 6

   Use rubbing alcohol on stubborn softener stains

   If a softener mark is still there after washing, dab it with rubbing alcohol on a white cloth until it lightens, then rinse and wash again with detergent. Test the alcohol on an inside seam first. Air dry and check before using the dryer.

7. 7

   Find the cause in your washer

   Repeated spots usually mean the detergent never fully dissolved. Common causes are an overloaded drum, a pod placed on top of the clothes, cold water with powder, or softener poured straight onto the load. Fix the cause and the stains stop.

Why does laundry detergent leave stains on clothes?

Detergent leaves stains when it cannot dissolve and rinse away, and the usual reason is too many clothes for the water. Tide’s dosing guide says white residue often comes from an overloaded drum rather than too much detergent, because in a high-efficiency washer a big load can soak up so much water that there is not enough left to dissolve the detergent.

• Pods on top of clothes. Tide’s pod instructions say to place the pod in the empty drum first, then add laundry, and to use the drum rather than the detergent drawer in a front loader.
• Overloading. Keep laundry below the top of the agitator, or below the top of the drum if there is no agitator.
• Powder in cold water. Dissolve powder in warm water first, or switch to liquid for cold washes.
• Softener poured on clothes. Use the softener dispenser, or dilute it in water before it touches fabric.

How to get fabric softener stains out of clothes

Rub the stain with soap and rewash it in hot water if the fabric allows. The University of Georgia Extension describes softener stains as blue-gray and greasy-looking, caused by undiluted softener poured on fabric or overuse of dryer softeners. Its method:

• Rub the stain with a bar of soap and launder.
• Or saturate it with concentrated detergent and water, then launder in hot water.
• If it remains, sponge with rubbing alcohol until it lightens, rinse, and wash again in warm water with detergent.
• If many items are stained, take them to a dry cleaner.

Tide’s softener stain steps add one rule worth repeating: if the stain is still there after washing, repeat before drying, because drying sets it.

What about brown or rust-colored spots after ironing?

A brown mark that shows up only when you iron is often leftover soap, not rust or a scorch. The UGA soap stain guide says soap that was not fully rinsed out can look like iron rust or scorch under the iron, and rewashing with a thorough rinse removes it.

If the spot stays after a careful rewash, it may really be rust; see our guide to removing rust stains from clothes. If whites are turning gray or yellow overall, residue buildup can be part of it, and our yellow stain guide covers the fix.

Mistakes to avoid

• Adding more detergent to the rewash, which just leaves more residue.
• Drying spotted clothes, which sets softener stains.
• Dropping a pod on top of a full load instead of into the empty drum first.
• Pouring liquid softener straight onto clothes instead of into the dispenser.
• Packing the drum so full that the water cannot dissolve the detergent.