What are the three things I never step outside without?
My phone, my keys, and my trusty chapstick.
Be it to protect against the winter dryness, to counter the burning summer heat, or just to touch-up my makeup, having a chapstick handy has countless benefits.
What I don’t like, however, is that I inevitably leave my chapsticks everywhere – pockets, purses, bags – and sometimes they create nasty stains.
Since I can’t avoid carrying my chapstick around, I have learned to deal with the damage.
These are my tried and tested methods for chapstick stain removal.
Remember – don’t freak out; it happens to the best of us.
Wondering How To Get Chapstick Stains Out Of Clothes? These Are All The Tips You Ever Need
Are you stepping out on a hot summer day with your favorite cherry chapstick in your pocket? That is a stain-accident just waiting to happen.
It has happened to me more times than I can count, so trust me when I say that I’m a bit of an expert in this field.
How to remove a melted chapstick oil stain from your favorite pair of jeans?
What do you need?
- Dull knife or spoon
- Clothes brush or old toothbrush
- Liquid laundry detergent
- Hot Water
- Remove excess product from the cloth
Use a dull knife or spoon to scrape off any chapstick residue from the fabric. If you leave it on, it will eventually soak through and create a larger stain. Gently pick up the blob of chapstick from the pocket or stained area.
- Apply the laundry detergent
Treat the spot with a generous amount of liquid laundry detergent. I find that heavy-duty detergents work faster than ones with fabric softener in them. Gently rub the detergent all over the stain. You can use a clothes brush or an old toothbrush to work it into the fabric completely.
Let it sit for 20-30 minutes.
- Launder in hot water
Launder the cloth in hot water in a full wash cycle. Before you chuck it in the dryer, check the spot to make sure that it has disappeared. If you still have any oily marks in the fabric when you put it in the dryer, the heat will make it set permanently. So repeat step 3 as many times as required.
That’s it – 3 simple steps and that nasty chapstick stain is history!
The most important part of this method is the treatment with laundry detergent. Synthetic detergents destroy the chemical bonds in the oil from the chapstick and loosen them from the fabric’s strands.
You can also use an enzyme cleaner if the fabric is delicate and cannot sustain a heavy-duty detergent.
Now, this method is perfect for cleaning clear chapstick marks, like vaseline. If the lip balm is tinted, you will need to deal with the colored stain on your clothes.
Fret not; it’s not as bad as it looks. This is what you need to do fix tinted lip balm stains.
What do you need?
- Thick paper towels
- Clothes iron
- Liquid laundry detergent
- Color-safe clothes bleach
What to do?
- Remove the excess lip-balm residue with a knife, as described in the last method.
- Place the stained part of the cloth between two thick paper towels on your ironing table.
- Heat the iron to a moderate temperature. Remember – do NOT use the steam function.
- Without applying a lot of pressure, make several passes over the paper towel on top. This will melt the waxy substance in the chapstick and transfer it to the towel on the bottom.
- Once most of the oil has been soaked by the paper towel, treat the stain with laundry detergent for 20-30 minutes.
- Launder in hot water and more detergent.
Removing the product thoroughly with the iron’s heat, in the beginning, makes the stain more pliable for the detergent to work on. It also removes the soaked tint from the cloth.
Note: apply minimal pressure while ironing the stain. Otherwise, you will end up pressing the oils into the fabric more firmly than they already are. All you need to do is to melt them just enough that the paper towel can pick them up.
For an even better clean, put a few drops of color-safe bleach along with the detergent in step 5. This will take care of the dye in the wax for good.
Laundry Accidents – How To Remove Chapstick Stains After Doing The Laundry?
This is all too familiar to me. I’m taking out the clothes from the washing machine after doing the laundry, and my heart sinks when I see the tell-tale oily chapstick patch on my favorite blouse.
If you accidentally left a chapstick in your pocket and threw the pants into the laundry, this is a wholly relatable situation. Need some help to manage the crisis?
These are my most efficient hacks to deal with chapstick stains after washing.
What do you need?
- Hot water
- Sponge
- Laundry detergent
- White vinegar
- Remove the culprit chapstick
First, you need to hunt in your washing machine for the lip balm stick or chapstick that is the cause of your stain headache.
Now take stock of the damage. Carefully check all the clothes for stains or waxy residue.
Sometimes, the wax can be deposited in inconspicuous places like inside a pocket or under shirt collars. You may not notice it now, but once it sets, it will create a nasty stain.
Check the washing machine – if there is any chapstick residue left in the machine, it will destroy your next batch of laundry. You need to deal with this ASAP.
- Cleaning the water drum
Soak the sponge with hot water and pour 5-6 drops of liquid laundry detergent onto it. Scrub down carefully to remove all traces of the chapstick. Re-soak the sponge while moving on to a different side of the drum.
Make sure to get into all the nooks and crannies with a generous amount of detergent – if you slack off here, you will regret it when you discover new stains the next time you do laundry.
- Wipe down with water
Take a new sponge or rag soaked in hot water and scrub down the water drum again. This will remove any wax and detergent remaining from the previous step.
The hotter the water, the easier it is to remove the chapstick wax. I suggest wearing a pair of thick garden gloves and using close-to boiling water to clean the drum quickly and efficiently.
- Cleaning the dryer
Run the dryer for 5 minutes with some old rags – this will melt the lip balm residue stuck on the dryer walls. Soak a sponge with white vinegar and wipe down the walls. Once you are sure that you have covered each square inch of the dryer, scrub gently with a damp paper towel or rag.
Along with the countless uses of vinegar, it is also a great oil stain remover. Who knew, right?
What about the stains from the chapstick washed with clothes?
This is a tedious task, but there is no way around it. Check each cloth carefully for traces of chapstick and follow the instructions from the first two methods to get them out.
Chapstick stains are annoying, but thankfully, there are easy home remedies to deal with them. Just have some patience, and with these tips, you can fix them like a pro.
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