How to get stubborn makeup out of white clothes
Standard dishwashing liquid, overnight soaking, and expensive commercial stain removers often fail to break down dark, prominent makeup embedded in fabric fibers. This leaves clothes permanently stained and forces people to abandon expensive garments after traditional cleaning methods yield no results.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1using dishwashing liquid
- 2using expensive stain removers
- 3using expensive all white stain removers
- 4soaking over night
- 5Soaking garments overnight
- 6Scrubbing manually with a brush
- 7Scrubbing the armpit area with a mixture of dish soap and white vinegar before washing
- 8Soaking just the armpits in white vinegar and dish soap before washing
- 9Using regular detergent and stain remover
- 10Using alcohol-based aftershave for alcohol-based ink
- 11wash on warm cycle
- 12scrub with dish soap using sponge
- 13apply gentle heat with a hairdryer or heat gun
- 14use headlight defogger kits
- 15use toothpaste
- 16Using Dawn Powerwash on grease, cheese, pesto, and tomato sauce
- 17Soaking items in hot or warm water with Oxyclean for a day followed by scrubbing
- 18Using a bar of laundry soap for quicker, lighter stains
- 19Using Amodex ink remover
- 20Applying hair lightener (bleach) with an activator
- 21using GooGone
- 22using alcohol or acetone
- 23freezing the garment and cracking off the glue
- 24soaking in lukewarm water with a good detergent
- 25using parchment paper and an iron
- 26soaking in hot water to peel off the majority
- 27covering the remaining spots with patches or embroidery
- 28Soaking the item in OxyClean White Revive and warm water overnight
- 29Hanging the damp garment in full sunlight to help lift the stain
- 30Dyeing the garment a darker color to mask the stain entirely
- 31Checking specific laundry subreddits or tagged guides for heavily soiled textiles
- 32Regular washing
- 33Using dish soap
- 34Using vinegar and baking soda
- 35Using a concoction of oxygen bleach, vinegar, and dish soap
- 36Using steel wool
- 37Dyeing the clothing item a different color like black
- 38Rubbing the stains with alcohol using a Q-tip from the backside of the fabric and hand washing in cold water
- 39Adding more dye to the fabric
- 40Accepting it as normal wear and tear
- 41Using Miss Mouth's Messy Eater Spray, letting it sit for 5 to 10 minutes, and washing normally
- 42Applying Clorox 2 Color Safe Bleach or stain remover, letting it sit for an hour, and washing afterwards
- 43Using cold water
- 44Applying hydrogen peroxide mixed with water
- 45Soaking in oxyclean
- 46Applying a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap
- 47Using an enzyme cleaner and soaking beforehand
- 48Using meat tenderizer
- 49Spraying Shout or Dawn powerwash
- 50Soaking in hot water
- 51Using Felsnaptha bar soap
- 52Spot dyeing the stained part and fully re-dyeing the whole shirt to restore the color tone
- 53Adding fabric dye directly to the washing machine with a hot pre-soak
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Fabric is pure plastic itself, sample patch made it kinda gooey itself”source ↗
“Thrifted this adorable raincoat, but i think it has deodorant crud from the prev owner. How do I get rid of it??”source ↗
“I have tried everything to get quite dark prominent make up stains out of my white work blouse (dishwashing liquid, expensive stain remover, expensive all white stain remover, soaking over night etc) and nothing worked.”source ↗
“I just got another ink stain on one of my shirts and I'm honestly getting tired of fighting with these things.”source ↗
“I’ve tried regular detergent and stain remover before, but sometimes the stain barely changes.”source ↗
“I wish I took a before and after but I have tried everything to get quite dark prominent make up stains out of my white work blouse (dishwashing liquid, expensive stain remover, expensive all white stain remover, soaking over night etc) and nothing worked.”source ↗
“what i have tried is regular washing, using dish soap, using vinegar and baking soda, and a concoction of oxygen bleach, vinegar, and dish soap but it won’t come out.”source ↗
“i’ve even attempted to use steel wool to no avail.”source ↗
“it’s the most prominent case of deodorant buildup up i’ve seen, the cotton is now stiff.”source ↗
“recently switched to a new deodorant and it's apparently left a residue on the armpits of my clothes that won't wash out in the machine, leaving them with a bad smell even after washing and drying.”source ↗
“Sorry I know this is a broad question... but this happens especially with coffee, sometimes oil/food. Drives me nuts but I wanted to know the best way.”source ↗
“I'm pretty new to this so I have no idea. Clothes get really stubborn sometimes.”source ↗
“I got strawberry juice on my shirt a few days ago and I didn't realize fast enough and now it's stained. It's already been through the washing machine and it's fully cotton.”source ↗
“Want this longsleeve from Supreme but it has a stain and i don’t know if maybe there’s a way to cover it up or to just give up on buying it”source ↗
“I have a secondhand artist signed shirt but it’s signed to someone else and I’d like to remove their name written in sharpie, is this possible?”source ↗
“I’m sure the shirt has been washed before and dried it’s second hand so the ink is probably set, I was thinking of maybe using hair bleach to get it out by applying it only where the letters are, has anyone tried this before or other methods with success?”source ↗
“Hey guys I was given some clothing and I really liked this dress but the stains don’t come off and I don’t know what to do. 🥺 if you guys have any idea please let me know.”source ↗
“I have not which oxyclean would you recommend I did think about dyeing it but I have never done that before so I want to do oxygen first before dyeing it”source ↗
“Put my pants in the wash and they came out with white stains, only worn them once. Any tips on how to get rid of the stains?”source ↗
“How do I get rid of period stains?”source ↗
“I spent 6 hours scrubbing foundation out of the stitching in the black steering wheel, black shift knob, black leather seats, silver sun visor.”source ↗
“All my partner’s polos get these sweat marks. Any tips on how to get the stains out?”source ↗
Where this came up
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