How to Remove Stains From Jeans After a Fun-Filled Holi Celebration!

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With Holi just around the corner, the excitement is palpable. But, we can't deny that the day after Holi can be pretty challenging as we struggle to get rid of the splotches of colours on our clothes. 

If you’re wondering how to get rid of these colours without resorting to hours of scrubbing, you are not alone. We’ve been there too and understand your concerns. Thankfully, over time, and after some trial and error, we have been able to come up with an easy method to remove the colour stains on our denim jeans and make them wearable again. Scroll down to know everything about it!

Treat Your Stained Jeans Sooner Than Later!

We’ve noticed that the longer a colour stain is left untreated, the tougher it becomes to eliminate it as the colour tends to sink deeper into the fabric. While you might not be able to prevent your jeans from getting doused in colours, we have seen that treating them as soon as you get home is an excellent strategy for their easy removal! 

Become a pro at removing colour stains from your clothes by clicking here!

How to Remove Holi Colours from Denim Jeans

1. Choose a Gentle Liquid Detergent Formulated for Dark Colours

   Removing Holi colours from our clothes can be quite a hard task, but we have to get to it once the festivities are over. For years, we’ve struggled to scrub out these colour stains with a detergent powder, which often results in colour fading in those specific areas, making our clothes appear patchy. 

   Click here to know about the best laundry detergent powders reviewed by our mommy panel!

   When it comes to denim, we have also noticed white streaks of detergent residue on them, which have ended up ruining their appearance and causing skin irritations.

   Eventually, we realised that we needed a detergent to clean our colour-stained denims effectively and gently. We had heard about liquid format detergents and how they dissolve easily in washing machines without leaving behind any residue.

   One of the liquid detergents that we had heard of was  Surf Excel Matic Liquid Detergent, and so we decided to give it a try. Let’s see how we used it to clean our stained denims.

2. Blot Away the Colour

   After playing Holi for so many years, we have seen that there are bound to be some stains on our clothes that are more prominent than the others, hence we attack these stains first. If the colour is relatively fresh, we use a paper towel to blot away as much colour as possible. 

   If the colour has dried up, we usually dampen it with a few drops of water. We then blot the wet stain with a paper towel to remove any loose colour. Keep moving to a clean area of the towel to prevent spreading the colour.

   Remember to move from the edges on the outside towards the centre of the stain to keep it from getting large. We keep blotting until there is no more colour transfer on the  clean areas of the paper towel.

3. Prepare a Detergent Solution

   tablespoon of liquid detergent to 2-3 litres of cold water. We always opt for cold water for cleaning our denim clothing. Why?

   Well, that's because there are numerous advantages associated with cold water wash for denim items:

   A. It helps prolong their life as heat can break down the dyes in the clothes and cause shrinkage. We’ve observed that when we wash with cold water, our denim jeans tend to last longer and retain their shape, size, and colour.

   B. Additionally, cold water reduces wrinkles and saves the cost and time associated with ironing- making it a win-win for us all the way!

    After this, we soak our denim jeans entirely in the detergent solution for a couple of hours.

4. Wash Separately

   We have had instances when the Holi colours from our jeans have seeped into other light coloured clothes and changed their colour entirely. Hence, with colour stained jeans, be sure to wash them separately, and not with your regular clothes. 

5. Toss into the Washing Machine

   In this step, we take the soaked garment, rinse the stains in cold water and pour some Surf Excel Matic Liquid Detergent on the stains. This detergent comes equipped with a one-of-a-kind stain scrubbing cap that we use to rub the colour stain. We then put our denim jeans into the machine and pour the remaining liquid into it, which dissolves easily in water. We always select the gentle cycle with cold water setting to ensure our jeans last longer.

   After the wash, our denims came out clean, devoid of all the Holi colour stains or any residue and we didn’t even have to engage in any backbreaking scrubbing!

6. Dry Your Clothes

   to prevent any fading of colour. While the fabric is still damp, we turn the garment right side out and smooth out the wrinkles to complete the drying process.

   Learn everything about drying clothes in the machine. Click here!

GSC Tip:-Steer Clear from Bleach

Avoid using chlorine-based bleach on coloured clothes as it will discolour and ruin them.

Spot Treatment as an Option

If you manage to escape holi celebrations with just a few stains on your jeans, then you don’t have to wash the entire garment. We have seen that these stains can easily be tackled with spot cleaning. 

Also, denim jeans, unlike other fabrics, need not be washed often. Denim jeans should ideally be washed once every 10 wears to maintain its shape and fit. In fact, the less you wash your jeans, the longer they last. 

For spot cleaning, we apply a bit of liquid detergent and rub with the scrubbing cap. We let the detergent sit for about 15 minutes and then wash it off with cold water. If the stain remains, we can repeat the process before putting it out for drying. Drying the jeans before the stain is removed completely can make it a permanent stain. Once the stain has gone completely, we air dry our jeans.

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