The aromatic coffee drink has one, but quite serious, drawback: it leaves stains. Once on clothes, coffee drops do not disappear after drying, but stand out as noticeable marks that must be removed correctly. We'll tell you how to restore cleanliness to such popular clothes as jeans.
Important! Washing trousers is carried out only after removing the stain.
Removing stains using pharmaceutical products
Regular medications stored in home medicine cabinets can help in cleaning jeans.
Ammonia
Ammonia is used to prepare a solution that will cope with contamination. To dilute ammonia you will need cold water.
Proportions for making a solution: water - 0.5 l, ammonia - 10 - 12 drops.
Procedure: moisten a cotton pad, cotton rag or clean brush in an aqueous solution of ammonia. Then apply the solution to the stain and wipe the coffee stain until it completely disappears.
Advice! In order not to increase the size of the contamination, the stain is cleaned starting from its borders and moving to the center.
After removing the dirt, wipe the fabric with a cloth soaked in clean water. After this, the denim trousers are washed.
Lactic acid
Using lactic acid and purified (distilled) water, you can make a stain remover that will rid jeans of coffee stains.
Proportions: purified water – 20 ml, lactic acid – 4 g.
Procedure: add lactic acid to distilled water. The resulting composition is applied to the problem area using a sponge or cotton pad and left on the jeans. After 15 minutes, wet the jeans with clean water and then put them in the wash.
Important! Place napkins folded in several layers under the fabric to be treated. This will protect the bottom layer of denim from coffee dissolved by lactic acid.
Hyposulfite
If a coffee stain appears on white jeans, it can be removed using hyposulfite. Denim processing is carried out traditionally. The prepared hyposulfite solution (200–250 ml of water and 2 tsp of hydrosulfite) is applied to the stain, left for 15 minutes, then the jeans are washed.
How to remove fresh coffee stains from jeans
The basic rule for removing coffee stains from clothes is to take every opportunity to start treating the stain as early as possible. To do this, you can use the most common means.
Salt and soda help
The simplest remedy for coffee stains is table salt. It is very simple to use: you just need to pour salt onto the problem area and grind it. The faster you can add salt to drops of coffee that end up on your jeans, the faster the coffee will be neutralized. The salty gruel is left on the clothes for a while, then shaken off and removed from the jeans. When you return home, all that remains is to wash your jeans.
Advice! Adding a few drops of glycerin to the salt will increase the effectiveness of the effect on the stain.
If you have on hand not salt, but soda, you can also pour it onto the dirty area, let the coffee soak in, and then shake off the soda. As usual, the procedure ends with washing.
Laundry soap is one of the best stain removers
Laundry soap attracts with its affordability and effectiveness in combating traces of an invigorating drink. You should not rub soap on a dirty area. It is better to prepare a soap solution and then apply it to the fabric. The laundry soap solution is left on the denim for 15 to 30 minutes. After this, the contaminated area is washed by hand. If necessary, do this several times until there is no trace left on the fabric. The jeans are then machine washed.
How to remove old coffee stains on jeans
If it was not possible to start fighting the stain immediately after it appeared, coffee penetrates deeply into the structure of the fabric fibers. Old pollution can also be dealt with, but you need to use other means.
Citric and oxalic acid
Citric or oxalic acid works well on old stains.
Reference! You can apply either one acid (citric or oxalic) to denim, or you can mix them in a 1:1 ratio.
The selected acid or their mixture is carefully applied to the stain. Leave for some time to take effect. The duration of exposure of coffee-impregnated fibers to acid depends on the degree of contamination and the “age” of the stain. Minimum time – 30 minutes, maximum – 90 minutes. After this, the jeans are sent to the wash.
If the stain does not disappear completely after one time, the procedure can be repeated.
Professional stain remover
In addition to available products, you can clean jeans using special stain removers. Their use is carried out only after studying the label with care instructions, which is sewn to the stained jeans.
Attention! When choosing a stain remover, you need to carefully study its composition. It is not advisable to use chlorine-containing substances to clean jeans: by removing traces on the fabric, they can change the shade of the area of the trousers that was dirty.
Methods for removing coffee stains with milk or cream
The coffee drink attracts with the variety of flavors that it acquires thanks to various additives. The classic additive is milk or cream. Coffee with milk or cream also leaves marks. They require more painstaking work because the components of the drink (coffee, milk or cream) are removed from the fabric in different ways.
Steps to remove café au lait stains from jeans
Defatting (effect on milk)
At the first stage, they act on the fatty trace left by milk or cream. Therefore, you first need to degrease the denim. To do this, apply laundry soap, starch or glycerin diluted to the consistency of sour cream, which is preheated in a water bath, to the problem area.
Removing coffee residue
Then clean the fat-free cloth on which the brownish trace of coffee remains. Any remedy we talked about is suitable for this: salt, soda, ammonia, etc.
Washing trousers
At the final stage, you need to wash the jeans to remove any remaining dirt and products used.
What not to do when removing coffee stains from jeans
When cleaning jeans, it is important, when removing traces of coffee, to act on the denim carefully so as not to damage the fabric.
The following products are not recommended for use on jeans:
- hydrogen peroxide;
- chlorine;
- substances made on the basis of chlorine, for example, Whiteness.
These substances will cope with stains, but will have an aggressive effect on the fabric. They can destroy the fiber structure and change the color of the treated area. With caution, they can be used for white jeans.
When you see coffee stains on your jeans, you shouldn’t be upset for long. The most correct thing in this situation is to start fighting the stain as early as possible.
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