The first thing most people do with a grease stain is hold it under the tap. That is exactly the wrong move. Grease does not dissolve in water, so all you manage to do is push it wider and deeper into the fibre.
Short answer
Lift it dry first with something powdery, and only then reach for washing-up liquid and warm water. Never the other way round.
Already washed it and the stain is back? Then it was never gone. What is really happening there, and what you can still do about it, is halfway down this page.
Why water makes a grease stain worse
One property of grease explains every step below.
Grease and water do not mix. Everybody knows that from a pan with oil in it, but on fabric nobody thinks of it. Hold a grease stain under the tap and nothing dissolves. The water only drives the grease further into the fibre and widens the edge.
What does work is thinking in two stages. First you take out whatever is still sitting loose, and you do that dry. Then you go after what has soaked in, and for that you need something that can actually handle grease.
That order is the whole difference. Skip stage one and you start stage two with far more grease in the fabric than you needed to.
How to remove grease stains from clothes in four steps
The first step costs you half an hour of waiting and saves you most of the work.
- Blot the excess grease away with kitchen paper. Blot, do not rub. Rubbing is what drives it further in.
- Sprinkle something powdery over it and leave it for at least half an hour. Cornflour, potato starch, talcum powder or ordinary salt. The powder pulls the grease back up out of the fibre. On an older stain, give it a few hours, or overnight.
- Brush the powder off and put washing-up liquid on. Undiluted, a few drops, worked in gently with your finger. Washing-up liquid is built to make grease dissolve in water, which is precisely what you need here.
- Rinse with warm water and wash as warm as the care label allows. Here warmth is on your side: warm grease is softer and lets go more easily. That is the exact opposite of what you do with blood.
Check that the stain has gone before the garment goes anywhere near the tumble dryer. The next section is about why that matters so much.
Grease stains on clothes after washing: why they come back
This is the most asked question about grease, and the answer surprises most people.
It has not come back. It was never gone.
As long as the fabric is wet there is water sitting in the fibre. That water bends the light in the same way the leftover grease does, so you cannot tell the two apart. Once the fabric dries the water leaves and the grease is still there, visible again. The stain was there the whole time, hidden rather than gone.
What that means in practice: never judge a grease stain while the garment is still wet. Let it dry on the line and look at it in daylight. If you can still see it, you go through the four steps again.
And keep it out of the tumble dryer until it has genuinely gone. The heat of a tumble dryer bakes the last of the grease into the fibre, and from that point it gets a great deal harder. This is the most common way a stain that would have come out turns into one that stays.
The old, dried-in grease stain
Has it been there for weeks? Same approach, only slower.
An old grease stain has not changed chemically the way baked-on grease in an oven has. It is still grease. It has only gone in deeper, and dust and dirt have started to cling to it. That is why it looks darker than it was.
The order stays the same, you only need more patience. Leave the powder on overnight instead of half an hour. Then work in washing-up liquid and give that an hour to soak in before you rinse. Reckon on two or three rounds.
If that still is not enough, a scoop of soda crystals in warm water is the next step. Soda crystals break grease down into something that does dissolve in water. Put gloves on, and on coloured textiles test on a seam first.
Cooking oil, food grease and car grease
Oil is grease, so the order of the steps does not change.
Cooking oil, deep-frying fat and motor oil all take the same four steps: blot, powder, washing-up liquid, then wash as warm as the care label allows. There is no separate method hiding anywhere for any one of them.
Motor oil is the one that asks for an extra round. Run the same sequence a second time rather than reaching for something more aggressive.
Food grease from a splash at the table is the easiest of the lot, as long as you get to it while it is fresh. What makes a grease stain difficult is not the kind of grease. It is how long it has been sitting there, and whether it has had heat. If you are away from home when it happens, chalk buys you time, see below.
Grease stains on clothes: what your grandmother did, and why it works
The home remedies lined up, with what they actually do.
Salt, cornflour and talcum powder
All three do the same job: they soak grease up. That is not folklore, it is exactly what step two calls for. Cornflour and talcum powder are the finest of the three and therefore work slightly better than coarse salt, but salt is the one everybody already has in the house.
Washing-up liquid
Underrated, and usually the best of the lot. It is literally designed to make grease dissolve in water. Undiluted on the stain, worked in gently, left to sit.
Chalk
Works on the same principle as cornflour and it is useful when you are out: a piece of white blackboard chalk over a fresh stain on your shirt takes up part of it until you get home. An emergency measure, not a solution.
Gall soap
Reliable and gentle on the fabric. A little dearer than washing-up liquid and not clearly better on grease, but kinder on delicate fabrics such as wool and silk.
An iron and kitchen paper
This trick does the rounds: kitchen paper on the stain, a warm iron over the top, and the grease moves into the paper. It genuinely works, but with a risk attached. If the iron gets too hot, or there is still a lot of grease sitting there, you bake it in instead. Use the lowest setting, and only when the stain has largely gone already.
Vinegar
Vinegar tackles limescale, not grease. On a grease stain it adds nothing at all. Do not mix it with soda crystals either, because the two cancel each other out.
By fabric, because not everything takes the same treatment
Three exceptions that save you the damage.
Wool and silk: no soda crystals and no hot water. Use gall soap or a detergent for delicates, and work lukewarm. These fibres felt or lose their sheen when heat gets to them.
Suede and leather: no water. Lift it dry with cornflour or talcum powder only, leave it overnight, then brush it out. If a mark stays behind, that is work for a specialist.
Coloured textiles: test soda crystals and washing-up liquid on a seam or the inside of a hem first. On dark colours, undiluted washing-up liquid can leave a pale patch.
Why the old family trick stops halfway, and the bottle does too
With grease this works out differently from most stains, and that is worth saying plainly.
On a fresh grease stain, powder and washing-up liquid are not the cheap option. They are the best one. An expensive stain remover does the same work there, with the same sort of ingredients in it.
The limit is grease that heat has baked in. A grease stain that has been through the tumble dryer, or that has sat on a pan for months, has changed: it has become a hard layer, and at that point no degreasing product works properly on it any more. It is the same layer you meet when you are cleaning an oven.
There heat is on your side after all, in the form of steam, because steam softens what has set hard. On fabric you can use that on upholstery and carpet, where there is no way to rinse. On a garment you do not need it: that can go straight in the wash.
And after all of it you still pick up a cloth to blot with. Ours are under laundry and textile care.
Frequently asked questions
How do you remove grease stains from clothes?
Blot first with kitchen paper, then put something powdery on it such as cornflour or salt and leave that for at least half an hour. Brush it off, work undiluted washing-up liquid into the spot and wash as warm as the care label allows. Never hold it under the tap first, because grease does not dissolve in water and the water pushes it deeper into the fibre.
Why has the grease stain come back after washing?
It has not come back, it was never gone. As long as the fabric is wet, water fills the fibre and hides the grease that is still in there. As it dries the water leaves and the grease shows up again. So always judge a grease stain on dry fabric, in daylight, and treat it again if you can still see it.
How do I get an old grease stain out?
The same approach, only slower. Leave the powder on overnight instead of half an hour, and give the washing-up liquid an hour to soak in. Two or three rounds is normal. If that does not do it, a scoop of soda crystals in warm water is the next step, with gloves on and a test on a seam if the fabric is coloured.
How do I remove dried grease stains from clothes?
A dried-in grease stain is still grease, it has only gone deeper and picked up dust, which is why it looks darker. Nothing in the method changes: powder overnight, then washing-up liquid, then the warmest wash the label allows. Expect two or three rounds rather than one, and check the result on dry fabric before you decide it has worked.
Which home remedy works best on grease?
Washing-up liquid, and it is also the cheapest. It is literally made to make grease dissolve in water. What comes before it matters just as much: take the loose grease up dry first, with cornflour, talcum powder or salt.
Why should a grease stain not go in the tumble dryer?
The heat bakes the last of the grease into the fibre, where it becomes a hard layer that no degreaser gets through any more. This is the most common way a stain that would have come out turns into a permanent one. So always check on dry fabric before the garment goes into the tumble dryer.
Can a grease stain still be removed after drying?
Once heat has baked it in, it is a different problem: the grease has turned into a hard layer, and no degreasing product works well on that any more. It is the same layer you find in an oven. The honest answer is that this is the point where a stain that was removable becomes one that stays, which is why the check on dry fabric before the tumble dryer matters so much.
Does salt work on grease stains?
Yes, salt pulls the grease back up out of the fibre. Cornflour and talcum powder are finer and therefore work slightly better, but salt is in everybody's kitchen and that saves you time. Leave it on for at least half an hour, longer for an older stain, then brush it off before you go anywhere near washing-up liquid.
Does the trick with the iron and kitchen paper work?
It works, but with a risk. If the iron gets too hot, or there is still a lot of grease sitting in the fabric, you bake the stain in instead of lifting it out. Use the lowest setting, and only when the stain has largely gone already.
How do I get an oil stain out of clothes?
Exactly as you would grease, because oil is grease. Cooking oil, motor oil and deep-frying fat all follow the same order: blot, powder, washing-up liquid, warm wash. Motor oil can need one extra round, so run the sequence again rather than switching to something harsher.
Can I use soda crystals on coloured clothes?
Test it on a seam or the inside of a hem first. Soda crystals work well on grease but on dark colours they can leave a pale patch. On wool and silk, do not use them at all: those fibres want gall soap or a detergent for delicates, and lukewarm water.
Does vinegar work on grease?
Barely. Vinegar tackles limescale, not grease. And do not mix it with soda crystals, because the two cancel each other out and you are left with water and a little salt.
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