Top 5 Summer Stains (and How to Get Rid of Them)

1. Ketchup

It wouldn’t be summer without a few outdoor parties serving grilled hot dogs and burgers. And what goes better on a burger than a healthy smothering of ketchup! It doesn’t take much for some of it to drip down the front of a new white shirt.

How to get rid of it

1. Remove as much of the excess ketchup as possible and then lightly dab stain with a wet towel.
2. Rinse stained area with cold water.
3. Apply a small amount of stain remover (like the Bright Solutions® 'Activate' Odor-Removing Bioculture) or some laundry detergent to the stained area and lightly scrub to loosen the stain particles within the fabric.
4. Rinse with cold water.
5. If stain is no longer visible, launder shirt as usual. If stain is still visible, repeat steps 3 & 4 until gone, then launder as usual.

2. Grass

The kids are home for summer vacation, and although you love them dearly, you need them to work off some of their excess energy. A few games of tag in the backyard with the neighborhood kids will do the trick. At the end of the day you have tired kids but also a pile of grass-stained clothes.

How to get rid of it

1. Cover stain with a detergent or stain remover with enzymes (try our CleanFreak® 'Pet Patrol' Urine & Feces Carpet Spotter Stain Remover ) and rub into the stained area.
2. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
3. Launder clothing with an oxygenating laundry detergent.

3. Berries

Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, oh my! Fruit picked fresh and eaten immediately is one of the best parts of summer. Trying to get out those berry-juice stains has to be one of the worst. They are notorious for staining clothing and skin with their natural dyes.

How to get rid of it

1. Dab water on the stain as soon as possible.
2. Drape stained fabric over a sink or bucket and rinse with boiling water.
3. If stain is not removed, use a laundry pre-spotter (such as Bright Solutions® 'Eraser' All Purpose Spotter), let sit for a few minutes, then rinse. Repeat until stain is completely removed.
4. Launder clothing as usual

4. Ice Cream

What better way to cool off on a hot summer day than to indulge in the occasional ice cream cone. Problem is, the hotter the day, the faster that ice cream melts... often dripping down the front of your shirt.

How to get rid of it

1. Gently lift away any globs of ice cream.
2. Dab the stained area with cold water.
3. Pretreat stain with an enzyme spot remover (like the CleanFreak® 'N-Zyme' Enzymatic Cleaner) and let sit for about a half hour.
4. Launder clothing as usual.

5. Sunscreen

If you’re going out in the sun, especially in the summer (when you’re likely to have more skin exposed), sunscreen is essential. Since most people do wear at least SOME clothing in the summer, it’s likely that some of that sunscreen will end up on your clothes.

How to get rid of it

1. When clothing is dry, sprinkle stained area with baking soda & leave on for at least 30 minutes, then dust off all baking soda.
2. Rub stained area with a dish soap (such as Dawn® Professional Manual Pot & Pan Dish Detergent) and let sit for 5 minutes.
3. Mix a small squirt of liquid laundry detergent in a pail of hot water and soak the clothing for at least an hour.
4. Rinse clothing with hot water and launder as usual.