The 9 most effective tricks to remove wine stains

Next, we will see some tricks to remove red wine stains and make our clothes or table linens look like new. Very important: the stained garment must be cleaned as soon as possible. The more time we allow to pass, the more likely it is that the wine stain will be fixed to the fabrics and the more complicated it will be to remove.

1. TABLE SALT

As we said, the time that we allow to pass since the stain is produced is crucial. It will always be easier to deal with a recent wine stain than trying to clean the stain once the liquid has dried. In this sense, one of the first reactions we usually have to a recent wine stain is to resort to table salt. Some people advise applying a little salt directly on the wine stain, however, common salt will not really help to remove the stain. But it's not that it's a completely useless reaction either, since applying table salt directly on the stain will help absorb the moisture from the wine more quickly, preventing it from spreading through the fabrics. In any case, if we apply salt on the stain, we should not leave it too long, as this could work against us and fix the wine stain with greater force.

2. WHITE WINE

The best option when it comes to removing a recent red wine stain, whether or not we have applied salt before, is to soak the stained area with white wine. White wine tannins help neutralize the stain caused by red wine tannins, therefore, applying white wine to the stain will always be our first option. We must moisten a clean cloth or sponge in white wine and gently tap it on the stained area. Try to avoid rubbing the stain so that it does not spread, so it is better to moisten it little by little with white wine instead of rubbing it directly. Afterwards, the white wine is allowed to act for a few minutes and to finish we will wash the affected garment with soap and water.

3. SODIUM BICARBONATE

In a complementary way, we can add the application of sodium bicarbonate to the previous method. To do this, once we have soaked the stained area with white wine and let it act for a while, we apply a thick paste made from bicarbonate of soda and water. We let the mixture work for several hours, always making sure that the area remains moist, after which we will proceed to wash the garment normally.

This trick to remove wine stains is based on the great property of adsorption (not to be confused with absorption) of sodium present in baking soda. It is a quality that makes some sodium compounds able to attract and retain different dissolved gaseous, liquid or solid particles on their surface. In this way, the sodium bicarbonate would capture the wine particles from the stained fabric, leaving the garment clean.

4. MILK

Wine stains are somewhat more difficult to remove once they have dried. However, there are also ways to combat them.

One of the most effective methods is to treat the stained garment with milk. To do this, we will heat milk in a container and introduce the garment to soak. We will let the milk act for the necessary time until we see that the stain is diluted. When this has happened, we will be able to wash our clothes in the usual way.

5. DILUTION OF PEROXIDE WATER AND AMMONIA

The above methods should be enough to remove most red wine stains you come across. In any case, if the stains do not disappear or if we are dealing with particularly persistent stains, there is a more aggressive method that will undoubtedly work.

To eliminate these especially difficult stains, we will make a solution with the following proportions:

5 parts of water.

1 part hydrogen peroxide.

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4 parts ammonia.

Remove our mixture and introduce the stained garment. Let it soak for a few hours and then rinse with plenty of water. Once this is done, we can wash our garment in the normal way.

6. HYDROGEN PEROXIDE AND LIQUID DETERGENT

Another very effective trick to clean wine stains is to use a mixture in which we will use hydrogen peroxide again, this time together with liquid soap or liquid detergent. To do this, we will make a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and 50% liquid laundry soap. We will apply the mixture on the stain and leave it to act for a few minutes. Then, we will proceed to wash the garment in a normal way. In this case, we turn to hydrogen peroxide again due to its great oxidative capacity. When oxidizing a substance, what we are doing is "stealing" electrons from the atoms that compose it. These electrons are of great importance when it comes to giving color to the substances and materials of which they are a part. They do this by "trapping" a certain amount of energy from the full spectrum of white light that falls on them and repelling the rest. Thus, depending on the wavelength of light that these electrons "trap", so will be the color projected by the material or substance that contains them. In this way, when oxidizing a wine stain, what we are doing is preventing its electrons from absorbing light, so they will bounce the entire light spectrum and our eyes will perceive it as white light. Or put another way, we will be bleaching the wine stain.

But be careful, because this bleaching capacity of hydrogen peroxide can also affect the dyes of the fabrics that we want to clean. For this reason, it is preferable to use cleaning methods that involve the use of hydrogen peroxide only on white garments or on light-colored fabrics. We must also do it for a short period of time to avoid damage to our clothes or table linens.

7. BOILING WATER

If the fabric that has been stained with wine is part of a piece of resistant table linen, we can treat it with boiling water. To do this, we will bring to a boil a sufficient amount of water to be able to submerge the stained part of the fabric in it. We will introduce the clothes in the container in which we have boiled the water and we will let it act. We can also add a little liquid soap to the boiling water to help us remove wine particles. When the water loses temperature, we can proceed to wash the piece normally.

8. WHITE VINEGAR AND LIQUID DETERGENT

White vinegar also has blocking and cleansing properties. Using it mixed with liquid detergent will help neutralize the wine's own pigments, mainly red and purple. To speed up the chemical process that allows the cleaning of the wine stain, we can heat the solution of white vinegar and liquid soap a little, with which the cleaning capacity of the mixture will be more effective. After letting our solution act directly on the stain for a few minutes, we can go on to wash the fabric in the usual way, preferably with hot water.

9. BLEACH

The whitening properties of bleach are well known. Not surprisingly, it is a cleaning and disinfection product used very often in the home and also in industrial processes. Bleach for domestic use is a compound of sodium hypochlorite diluted in water in a proportion of between 5% and 10%, so in this case we will again benefit from the adsorption capacity of sodium particles. In addition, bleach is also a very powerful oxidizing compound, which, as we have already seen, favors the whitening of substances and materials.

The use of bleach to remove a wine stain should be a measure to be used only as a last resort, since it is a very drastic and aggressive method with the fabrics. We will only use it on white and resistant pieces of clothing, since we will almost certainly eliminate the fabric's own dyes if we use it on colored garments. For greater safety, we can apply the bleach diluted in water directly on the garment. We will let it act for a few minutes and then we will wash the piece in a normal way.

These are some ways to remove red wine stains from our clothes, tablecloths or carpets. Some, such as cleaning with white wine, can also be applied to wine stains on the wall, after which we will rinse the area with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and 50% water.

In any case, it must be taken into account that these cleaning methods are designed to treat white fabrics and we must be especially careful when applying them to colored clothing so as not to remove the fabric's own dye. When in doubt, do not forget to always check the manufacturer's labels and carry out tests on inconspicuous areas of clothing before applying our solutions to stains.

We no longer have to worry about anything when it comes to tasting a red wine. And if not, we can always switch to a good white wine, which will surely be much more harmless for our favorite clothes. Health!