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.