Are you struggling with a stubborn hot sauce stain on your shirt?
You can get hot sauce marks out of your clothing using the right technique and some readily-available household materials. These include dishwashing liquid, vinegar, cornstarch, salt and lemon juice, OxiClean, or your standard washing machine.
Get to the stain as quickly as possible, follow the right cleaning procedure, and use the appropriate solution for the fabric.
In this article, you will discover some cost-efficient and quick ways to remove a hot sauce stain from your shirt. Learn how to easily remove a stain from your shirt without damaging it.
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Does Hot Sauce Wash Out of Clothes?
Yes, as with any other stain, you can wash hot sauce stains off your clothes.
Hot sauces are made of spices, peppers, and vegetables. Their high oil, tannin, and color content can cause notorious stains. Even a minor splash or a dollop of hot sauce on your clothes can stain them.
Deal with the stain as soon as it gets on your clothes. It is harder to tackle dried stains than wet stains.
Another factor that determines your success in washing off hot sauce from your clothes is the severity of the stain. Big and deep stains that have been sitting for too long are harder to remove in comparison to fresh, small stains.
It can also be quite a task to remove stains from a hot sauce with high artificial food coloring content.
How to Get Hot Sauce Out of Shirt: 6 Methods
The best way to get hot sauce out of your shirt is to work on the stain immediately. Acting quickly will prevent the stain from settling deep inside the fabric of your shirt.
Apply one of the six methods listed below, and you’ll have a clean, immaculate shirt in no time.
Remove Excess Sauce
The first step to cleaning off a stain is to remove the excess sauce left on the clothes. The excess hot sauce can be removed using a knife or the back of a spoon. Make sure to swiftly get the extra sauce on the tool of your choice without rubbing the sauce deep into the fabric.
If the sauce sits on for too long, or if you rub the sauce into the garment you are wearing, the material, especially delicate fabric like silk and cashmere, is at the risk of getting damaged.
1. Dishwashing Liquid
A dishwashing liquid works equally well on wet stains and dry stains. It is a cheap, easily-available option that gets the job done quickly.
How To Do It:
- Squirt a small amount of the liquid on top of the stain. If the stain is small, apply a solution of water and liquid.
- You can also immerse the whole shirt into a bucket of dishwashing liquid and water solution.
- If you are only treating a spot, use an old brush or your fingers to rub against the stain and try to get off as much of it as possible.
- Once the soap particles break the oil molecules of the hot sauce stain, the mark will completely go away.
- Finally, wash the shirt in the washing machine.
2. Vinegar
Vinegar adds the right amount of taste and acidity to your food, but did you know vinegar acts as an incredible cleaning agent too.
One of the best characteristics of vinegar is its toxin-free nature. It is also readily available at shops and stores.
As it is free of any harsh chemicals and toxins, you can treat a stain without worrying about damaging your shirt.
How To Do It:
- Make a solution of vinegar and water. You can use any type of vinegar.
- Take a sponge, dip it in the water-vinegar solution, and rub it on the stain.
- Keep rubbing till the sponge removes all the stain completely from the shirt.
- The vinegar solution will also make your shirt smell good and leave it sanitized.
- Finally, give your shirt a machine wash.
3. Cornstarch
Mostly used as a thickening agent in foods, dry cornstarch can also remove the mischievous stains on your shirt. It is affordable, natural, and can absorb stains quickly. Cornstarch is the second-best substitute if you don’t have baking powder, and sometimes, even the first.How To Do It:
- Pour a generous amount of cornstarch powder on top of the stain.
- Let the powder sit for a good 10 to 15 minutes. This will ensure that all the cornstarch absorbs most of the oil content from the stain.
- After that, sprinkle a little bit more of the cornstarch powder and rub it using a garment brush.
- Once the stain is out, wash the garment.
4. Salt and Lemon Juice
Treat your stained shirt with a salt and lemon juice solution and leave it out in the sun to lift stains in no time.
Lemon has a low pH value, high citric acid content, and plenty of antibacterial properties. On the other hand, salt has robust dehydrating properties that can easily break oil components.
A combination of both these elements works to remove stains effortlessly.
How To Do It:
- Squeeze a good amount of lemon juice onto the hot sauce stain on your shirt.
- Slightly rub the juice on the stain.
- Then, put a good amount of salt on top of the juice that you have wet the stain with.
- Gently rub the salt and the lemon juice using your fingertips or an old, small brush.
- Once the stain is off, treat the garment with some cold water.
- You can also repeat the process multiple times until the stain completely disappears.
5. OxiClean
Oxiclean is made of emulsifying oils. Once these oils touch the spots and greases, they easily get them off the clothes. You can also use OxiClean to clean your kitchen tiles and make your other tools look spick and span.
How To Do It:
- Spray OxiClean cleaner onto the strain. Ensure the amount of liquid you spray is proportionate to the size and color of the stain.
- Leave the cleaner on for a few minutes so that it seeps into the shirt.
- Once you see the stain has come off, dump the shirt in the machine for one last wash.
6. Washing Machine
When no other procedure or hack works, try running your shirt in the machine and giving it a thorough wash.
It would be best to run all your shirts in the machine through a final wash after treating the stain spot using any of the methods mentioned earlier.
How To Do It:
- Separate the garments in terms of their fabric or color. Wash delicates and whites separately.
- Make sure to check the care label on your shirt before putting it in the machine.
- Choose a suitable fabric-friendly washing cycle to prevent damage.
- Set the water temperature according to your shirt fabric and the severity of the stain. Avoid hot water as it may shrink your shirt or make the colors of the shirt fade away.
- Add a good detergent and fabric cleaner to the machine.
- Drop the shirt in and run the washing machine.
How to Get Dried Hot Sauce Out of Clothes
Removing a dry stain will not be easy. Because they have settled deep into the fabric, it will take quite a bit of effort to get out these marks.
Here is a fool-proof process you can implement to remove a dried stain.
Follow this step-by-step procedure to remove the dried hot sauce from clothes:
- Pretreat the garment and wash it again.
- Apply a few drops of dishwashing soap and gently massage on the stain.
- Leave on the soap for 5 minutes, and then wash it off with warm water. The warm water will help break up the oil molecules.
- If the stain remains, treat it again.
- You can treat sturdy garments—that is, fabric apart from the delicate ones like leather, wool, and silk—with mild bleach.
- Repeat the steps till the color comes off completely. For effective and quick results, you can increase the water’s temperature after every step.
How to Remove Hot Sauce Stain From White Shirt
A laundry dilemma is inevitable when you get a red hot sauce stain on your white shirt. These stains are difficult to remove. Follow these steps to salvage your white shirt:
- Dab the stain with a dry paper towel. Do not rinse the shirt under cold water.
- You can use a good stain remover directly on the stain. Stain removers are usually available in liquid and dry forms in any local store near you. Select a stain remover that is meant for the type of stain on your shirt and the fabric type.
- Read the instruction manual and remove the stain.
- After you’ve removed the stain using the remover, throw the shirt in the washing machine for a wash. Make sure you select the right temperature for washing.
- Alternatively, you can also make a Hydrogen Peroxide cleaning solution or benefit from one of the procedures mentioned above.
- Make sure to do a patch test on your shirt. Apply the solution to a discreet part of the shirt and observe how it reacts with the fabric and the stain.
Things to Avoid While Removing Hot Sauce Stains
Removing a stain from your garments can be difficult. But if you take care to avoid certain things and follow these steps below, you can make things easier:
- Never start the cleaning process without scooping off all the excess sauce that gets onto the clothes.
- Do not rub the stains into the shirt. Instead, always blot it using a paper towel or a white cloth.
- Always attend to the stain as quickly as possible. Wet stains can get off your clothes with minimal effort.
- If you are handling a delicate fabric, make sure that the solution you are cleaning it with is not too potent.
- Do not treat the garment too rashly or roughly once it is stained with hot sauce. Avoid folding, squeezing, or rubbing it too harshly.
Conclusion
All the treatment methods listed above are fool-proof. Hundreds, if not millions, of people have tested them and experienced incredible results. You, too, can benefit from them without burning a hole in your pocket.
The materials mentioned as quick fixes are available in most kitchen pantries or as toiletries. This will save you from spending dollars on expensive yet ineffective chemical-and-toxin-dense products.
If this article helped you remove the strong-willed hot sauce stain that refused to leave earlier, share it with your friends and family too. You might just end up helping a hot sauce fan.