Lifestyle
If you like wearing lipstick, chances are you’ve smudged it onto your (or somebody else’s) clothes before. It’s not like you intended for this to happen, but it’s an accident that is quite common among lipstick wearers. It mostly happens when you hug someone or when you decide to change your top after having already done your outfit. Scarves suffer from lipstick stains all the time. And you know, on a rare occasion, some of us manage to sit down on an open tube of lipstick or spill some liquid lipstick on ourselves. Don’t panic, your clothes are not ruined forever. Here are 8 easy ways to get the lipstick stain out of clothes.
1. Remove The Excess
The first thing you should do when attempting to get lipstick out of your clothes is to remove the excess. If you just happened to touch your clothes with your lips, this step can be omitted, but if you accidentally sat on a bullet of lipstick and there’s a thick layer of it on your clothes it’s best to scrape (not rub) the excess off with a knife or a credit card.
2. Stain Remover
This is a no brainer, but beware that it’s not suitable for all fabrics. If you’re going to use a stain remover on your clothes, read the instructions carefully and test on a small area that won’t be visible to see if it doesn’t cause damage to your garment. If it’s all fine then proceed to dab the stain remover on the area, leave it on for 10 minutes and then wash as normal.
3. Rubbing Alcohol
Rubbing alcohol can also help with removing lipstick from
clothing. You’ll need a cotton ball or clean cloth. Dampen
it with alcohol and gently dab at the lipstick stain. With
every dab, you’ll get a bit of lipstick out of your
clothes and transferred onto the cotton ball or the cloth you
’re using. Again, no rubbing, because that can make the
lipstick bleed into the surrounding area and also embed it even
further into the material of your clothing. After you’ve
gotten the lipstick stain out of the clothing item, rinse the
area with cold water and wash normally.
4. Hairspray
We never would’ve thought of this, but turns out you can
lipstick out of clothes with hairspray. All you need to do is
spray the stain, leave it for 15 minutes and then blot with a
clean cloth dampened with warm water. Afterwards, rinse the
item of clothing and wash as normal.
5. Dish Soap
Most lipsticks have oils in them as an ingredient so dish soap
makes total sense. However, the technique for this method is
not as straightforward as you would think. Don’t just pour
dish soap on the stain. Instead, place the item of clothing
stained side down onto a paper towel and then put a bit of
dish soap on the backside of the stain. Leave for a couple of
minutes. Then dab with a cloth dampened with warm water.
You’re basically transferring the stain out of your clothes onto
a paper towel. Keep changing the paper towel so the stain
doesn’t bleed into the surrounding material. Once the lipstick
is out – wash as normal.
6. Detergent
You can get the lipstick out using normal detergent, but you
should hand wash it first in warm or lukewarm water.
Don’t get anywhere near hot water, that will only make things
worse. So handwash to get the stain out, and afterwards
you can machine wash the item.
7. Baking Soda and Lemon Juice
Most of us have some baking soda in the back of a
cupboard somewhere and you probably have a lemon in the
fridge. These two things mixed together can help you get
lipstick out of your clothes. Just mix equal parts of lemon
juice and baking soda (a teaspoon of each should be enough)
to form a paste. Put the paste onto the stain and leave it
for 30 minutes. The acidity in the lemon should help break
up the lipstick. Afterwards, just chuck in the washing machine
without washing off the paste
8. Shaving Cream
Shaving cream can work as a stain remover when it comes to
lipstick stains on your clothes. Just put a bit of shaving cream
on the stain, leave it for 15 minutes, then wash in the
washing machine on cold. If needed repeat the whole thing
again. Check to make sure the stain is gone before throwing
the item of clothing in the drier.
