Cooking with coconut oil is an excellent way to add healthy fat to your diet. Unfortunately, when cooking with oil, it sometimes splashes out of the pan and stains your clothes. Coconut oil stains are different than other stains, so you’ll need to use alternative cleaning methods to remove them.
In this article, we’ll tell you which products work best when you need to get coconut oil stains out of clothes. We’ll also tell you if washing alone can remove the stains and give you step-by-step instructions on the best coconut oil stain-removal methods.
Does Coconut Oil Stain Clothes?
Like any oil, coconut oil can leave permanent stains on your clothing if you don’t treat it quickly or use the wrong products to try to remove it. Fortunately, most of the things you need to remove these stains are common household items that you’ll find right in your pantry.
What’s The Best Coconut Oil Stain Remover?
To remove coconut oil stains from clothes you should first blot the stain using a paper towel, then sprinkle absorbent powder like baking soda, arrowroot powder, flour, or cornstarch on the stain. Scrub the stain and then let it soak for at least an hour, remove the powder then put your clothing in the washer.
How To Remove Coconut Oil Stains From Clothes
Now that you know what products can remove coconut oil stains from your clothes, let’s take a look at the best method of stain removal.
1. Blot The Stain
The first thing you need to do when dealing with any kind of oil stain is to blot it to remove as much liquid from your fabric as possible. If you have a rag that you don’t mind ruining, you can use that.
Otherwise, you should use paper towels to avoid transferring the stains to other items. Always remember that time is of the essence; if an oil stain sits for too long, it will become permanent.
2. Choose Your Powder
We all know oil and water don’t mix, which is what makes removing coconut oil stains a bit trickier than removing regular stains.
Since we can’t use water to clean it, we must use powder to absorb the coconut oil instead. Head to your pantry and grab baking soda, cornstarch, flour, or arrowroot powder.
If you don’t have any of those, you can use baby powder instead.
My favorite product for this job is baking soda. I’ve found it works better than the other powders, and it’s so multifunctional as a household cleaner that it’s a good idea to keep separate boxes for cleaning and baking.
3. Apply The Powder
Sprinkle the powder liberally across the stain. You don’t need to measure out a certain amount; just cover the stain thoroughly with a thick enough layer to absorb the stain but not so much as to be wasteful with your powder.
4. Scrub The Stain
Gently scrub the powder into the stain. Try to keep the scrubbing motion contained to the stained area so that you don’t spread the oil to other parts of your clothing.
5. Let It Soak
When you’re finished scrubbing, leave the powder to soak up the oil for a minimum of an hour. If the stain is particularly bad, you may want to leave it on overnight for maximum absorption.
6. Remove The Powder
After your powder has absorbed the stain, you can remove it with a dry paper towel. These powders are nontoxic, so you can rinse whichever one you use down the drain when you’re done.
Don’t worry about any white residue left behind on your clothing. This is common and will come out when you wash your clothes.
7. Wash Off The Stain
With the oil absorbed, you can remove the rest of the stain. For this part, you can use dish soap, laundry detergent, or a combination of baking soda and vinegar.
Just apply your chosen product to the stain and scrub the material together to work it in. You could even use a toothbrush to really work the cleaning product into the fibers.
When this process is complete, you can throw your clothes in the laundry and wash them as you usually would.
Can You Wash Coconut Oil Out Of Clothes?
Unfortunately, since water molecules can’t penetrate oil molecules, you can’t just wash an oil stain out of your clothing like you would do with any other stain.
You must first use the steps outlined above to absorb the oil, then you can wash out the stain. If you just put oily clothing into the washer, it will set the stain, and the garment will be ruined.
Conclusion
Coconut oil has many uses, from cooking to self-care. Unfortunately, if this oil gets on your clothing, it will leave a stain. Oil stains are different from other stains because they can’t simply be washed out with soap and water.
Since water molecules can’t penetrate oil molecules, you must first absorb the oil with powder. Luckily, looking around your house should provide you with a few options, including:
Baking soda
Cornstarch
Flour
Arrowroot powder
Baby powder
After you choose your powder, sprinkle it on the stain and let it sit for at least an hour to absorb it. After the oil has been absorbed, you can scrub the stain with your favorite detergent and toss the soiled garment in the laundry.
Hi, my name is Shauna Stone and I love improving my home to make it perfect. Researching new cleaning techniques is one of my favorite things to do - have you ever fallen into the rabbit hole that is cleaning TikToks?
I think my love of cleaning and home pride came from my time at college. I know that college kids are meant to be messy - but some of my roommates were on another level altogether. I don’t even want to recount the images I saw throughout college… *shudder*
A tidy house is a tidy mind, after all, and I cannot get anything done if my house is a mess. I like to think of it as my safe haven, and I don’t want my safe haven to be anything less than perfect!
If you’re like me and want to improve your home through cleaning and DIYs, I hope you’ll love my website. I want to impart my knowledge to anyone who finds cleaning to be as therapeutic as me - enjoy!
