Flirting with Disaster: Emergency Stain Removal Tips
It’s not every day that we encounter stains, but when they do decide to appear, it’s often when we’re short on time, or wearing a bright enough colour that whatever the stain, people can’t help but notice. In these situations it’s important to act fast, and getting as much of the stain out of your clothes as possible. Vanish might not be to hand, however, but with our stain removal tips your clothes stains could be dealt with quickly, with minimal fuss. Just keep calm, and wash off!

Staining Situations
So what are these stain situations? Maybe you’re just ready for a night out on the town, or perhaps you’ve worn your best white shirt for that all important interview. White trousers too, perhaps at a hot summer party, could be stained with ketchup, or even grass. Toothpaste, ink, chocolate on jeans, these are all stains that once you get, can be very hard to get out. However, they’re not impossible to remove, just not without a rapid response.
Quick Fixes
Here are three tips that will help remove stains and excess in any situation
- Immediately treating the stain with water can help. In most cases, flushing the area by turning the stain inside out, pushes much of the stain out of the fabric and into the sink. A more thoroughly saturated stain will leave it less likely to stay in the long run.
- Dabbing away at the stain with a cloth, damp towel or tissue will also help remove excess of liquid. Don’t apply too much pressure, just pull away from the stain with every application.
- If the stain is more solid, or sticky, scraping away excess with a soft edged item such as a spoon can cut through most of the grime, and might leave the stain in a much smaller size.
- For specific stains, the Vanish stain solver will give you extra tips. Blood stains, for instance, need to be treated with cold water. Meanwhile, mud stains should in fact be left to dry, as the mud then becomes much easier to remove.
For Afters
Once home (or even before you’ve gone out) grab your stained clothes and take them on with Vanish Gold Oxi Action Gel. Soak the garment in warm water and you may even see stains removed in just 30 seconds. However, we recommend leaving them for up to an hour (with colours) or six hours (for whites), and after soaking wash as usual.
If you have a pile of washing ready to go, add a dose of 120ml of gel for tough stains, or 60ml for light stains, to the pod. Place the dosing pod on the laundry in your machine, then wash as normal.