The cheap and easy hacks that can save your clothes from stains this Christmas season
Christmas is a joyous time, but it is also full of happy accidents – namely, when all that delicious food and drink tries to leave its mark on your clothes.
Cleaning expert Victor Ilisco, Director of Operations at fabric patch site Ninja Patches, has shared some convenient hacks to make those stains budge with affordable items you already have at home.
"People tend to wear their nicest clothes during the holidays – often delicate fabrics or pieces saved for special occasions, which makes stains feel even more frustrating," he told The Sun
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Christmas is the perfect opportunity for stains to find their way onto clothing. Getty
Here are the best hacks for removing red wine, gravy, oil, makeup, chocolate and more from your finest clothes.
Red wine
Time is of the essence when it comes to a red wine stain, as fresh stains are much easier to deal with.
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Ilisco recommends using salt on the stain as soon as it occurs, as it begins lifting the colour as soon as it touches the fabric.
Leave it on for five to 10 minutes so the pigment can be pulled up, then brush away.
The final step is to slowly pour boiling water over the stain to flush out whatever colour is left over, although this step can wait until you get home, since the salt has already done the heavy lifting.
Gravy and oily food stains
It's not a Christmas meal without a good helping of gravy, but fat and oil can easily find their way onto your outfit.
Gravy can find its way onto your finest clothes. iStock
Ilisco said oily stains love to cling onto clothes, so its solution needs to be able to cut through grease, making dishwashing liquid the perfect option.
Simply massage the soap into the stain and let it sit for a few minutes before rinsing it out.
If you can't treat it right away, simply blot the stain as much as possible and use dishwashing liquid on it when you get home.
Another hack to soak up those greasy stains is to use cornstarch. The pantry ingredient needs to be left for 20 to 30 minutes to absorb the oils before being shaken off and washed as normal.
Fruit and cranberry sauce stains
The sun is the $0 solution you need to brighten stains. Getty Images/iStockphoto
An Aussie Christmas isn't complete without fresh fruits on the table, though these, as well as things like cranberry sauce, can easily leave brightly-coloured stains.
As cranberry is a tannin stain, it needs something just as natural to break down the pigments, making lemon juice the perfect solution.
Lemon juice acts as a mild natural bleach. After blotting the stain, put some lemon juice on it and leave it for 10 minutes before rinsing it out.
Putting the garment out in the sun afterwards can also help brighten the area, especially for white fabrics – though make sure not to overdo it.
Makeup transfer stains
Makeup is made to stick, whethher it be to our faces or our clothes. Getty
Makeup is made to stick to our faces, but that same property makes it stick especially well to our favourite clothes.
As products are full of oils and waxes, removal necessitates something that will break them down. Enter: shaving foam, a well-known trick among stylists.
First blot the stain before applying a layer of the shaving cream and working it in. Then leave it for five minutes before rinsing it out.
If you are out and about, the shaving foam hack works even after some time has passed.
Chocolate stains
It's not Christmas without chocolate! Getty
It's not Christmas without choccies everywhere – including on your clothes.
The one mistake you don't want to make is using hot water on the stain. As the stains are protein-based, using hot water would essentially cook the stain into the fabric. Instead, use cold water to loosen it. If you're out and about, you can do this and leave the next step until you get home.
After rinsing with cold water, apply a paste of baking soda and water and leave it for 20 minutes before lightly scrubbing it out, which should completely lift out the stain.
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