How to remove a chocolate stain from your favorite outfit.
You break your diet and sneak a piece of chocolate, OK a few pieces of chocolate. But it was all worth it except you dropped a small bit on your lap.
How are you going to remove that stain?
Always evaluate the stain, color and material of garment before starting. In this case you know it’s chocolate. Break that stain down and you have Coco, Milk Protein, Butter Fat and Sugars. Let’s assume the color and material is stable and will withstand some scrubbing.
Step by Step Instructions
Step One; With your fingers pick off as much of the chocolate as possible without smearing it or imbedding it deeper into the fabric.
Step Two; Take the garment and put it into the freezer and freeze the remaining chocolate until it is hard
.
Step Three; Remove the garment from the freezer and continue to pick off remainder of the chocolate.
Step Four; Use a toothbrush to brush off what is remaining from step three.
Step Five; repeat steps two – four over if necessary.
DO NOT WET the chocolate at any point in this process. Freezing it will remove the moisture from the chocolate as well as hardening it. Wetting the chocolate will cause the butter oil and sugars to dissolve and penetrate into the weave of the fiber making it much more difficult to remove. If the color or material is sensitive the picking and brushing will cause color lose, texture change and the fiber to shift resulting in a change of appearance.
Only after a majority of the chocolate has been removed can the garment be washed. At that point, apply a small amount of dish washing liquid to the chocolate stain area to remove the oil from the butter fat and wash as normal.
Seek professional help if necessary.
Karl Huie
Pacific Heights Cleaners in San Francisco and Sausalito
is your resource for cleaning tips and garment care information.
A certified green dry cleaner by the Bay Area Green Business Program and the San Francisco Environment.
Your non toxic dry cleaning alternative serving you with an EPA approved Eco Dry Clean (Wet Clean) System that is safe for your health and is environmentally friendly.
Other Articles of Interest:
How to remove ink stains
How to remove rust stains
How to Remove Yellow Stains
Can I wash these dry clean only pants?
Environmentally Friendly Dry Clean Video Dry cleaning items that can be washed is often not the best thing to do.
[...] I gave on my blog site under the Cleaning Tips Category, HOW TO REMOVE CHOCOLATE STAINS (http://yourgreendrycleaner.com/how-to-remove-a-chocolate-stain-from-your-favorite-outfit/ ) except you will be doing it in a larger magnitude. Otherwise leave it for your professional dry [...]