How to clean a jacket from grease and dirt on the sleeves

Any outerwear inevitably gets dirty while worn, so over time, shiny spots appear on the fabric. It is almost impossible to remove such stains with simple washing. Therefore, methods that will help housewives quickly and efficiently clean their jackets from dirt and grime will be discussed below.

Methods for removing grime

Expert opinion
Natalya Osadchaya

Most housewives mistakenly believe that in order to clean greasy places on their jackets, they will need to spend a certain amount on the purchase of professional products. However, it is not. After all, you can clean a greasy jacket efficiently using both specialized store products and effective folk methods.

The only thing you should consider before cleansing from grease is the care recommendations described on the clothing label.

Using household chemicals

Undoubtedly, professional products can not only cleanse a jacket of grease, they can also effectively wash away other stubborn stains. We list the most common products that will help get rid of greasy stains on outerwear:

Beckmann. A special stain remover will easily remove greasy or oil stains from your jacket, leaving behind a pleasant aroma. It is worth considering that it is not recommended to use stain remover to clean a product made of artificial leather or genuine leather.
K2r. A spray with an active formula is designed specifically to dissolve greasy stains. The main advantages of K2r include the ability to completely clean clothes without washing. Therefore, it is very convenient to use to clean a winter jacket at home from grease.
Vanish. A well-known stain remover will cope with greasy stains after the first wash. Ideal for cleaning jackets made from both natural and synthetic fabrics. In addition, Vanish is able to remove other stubborn stains, for example, from oil, lip gloss, and foundation.
Anti Pyatin. A universal stain remover gel that can clean greasy stains, blood stains, and lipstick. Suitable even for delicate items made of suede or velvet.

Important! Before you try to clean the greasy jacket, you need to carefully read the instructions for use.

Using improvised methods

Proven folk remedies are no worse than store-bought household chemicals for cleaning greasy jackets. Next, we consider what specific methods you can easily get rid of the problem.

Ammonia

If you need to quickly clean a jacket made of delicate fabrics, such as velvet or nubuck, from grime, you should look into the first aid kit, since you will have to deal with ammonia. To carry out the hygiene procedure, you must perform the following steps:

pour half a glass of clean, cool water into a small container;
add five to seven milliliters of shower gel and ammonia;
beat the resulting mixture until a fluffy foam forms;
apply the cleanser to the shiny area;
after fifteen to twenty minutes, wash off the foam with a damp, clean cloth.

Dish gel soda

First of all, it is the collar of the jacket that gets greasy. This is due to the constant close contact of the skin of the neck and the material from which the outerwear is made. In a situation where you need to clean the collar of your jacket from grease, you should use the method discussed below:

mix a little baking soda and any dishwashing gel on a saucer until you obtain a paste-like consistency;
Apply the resulting mixture to the greasy areas of the collar and vigorously rub them with a sponge;
after fifteen minutes, rinse the jacket and spin it in the automatic machine.

It is also recommended to use the considered method to clean the greasy sleeves of outerwear.

Potato

Raw potatoes contain a large amount of starch, which perfectly absorbs fatty particles. Therefore, this vegetable is ideal for cleaning a greasy stain on a jacket made of leatherette, genuine leather or eco-leather. The algorithm of actions is simple. To clean, you just need to cut clean, raw potatoes in half and treat the leather jacket in greasy places. When the potato juice is completely dry, you will need to remove any remaining residue with clean water.

Important! This method is well suited, including for cleaning a white leather jacket from grease.

Petrol

Gasoline is also suitable for cleaning a leather jacket from grease. It is better to use a purified solvent for the hygienic procedure, which does not smell strongly of hydrocarbons. To clean shiny areas, as well as remove traces of foundation and other cosmetics on a leather jacket, you will need to apply a little gasoline to a clean cloth and treat the stained areas. There is no need to rinse off the solvent from the cleaned product.

Household chemicals

In order to return a jacket to a neat appearance, the following cleaning agents are most often used:

"Vanish" . The stain remover is applied to the contaminated areas, foamed and left for 10-15 minutes. After this, wipe the jacket with a rag or soft sponge well soaked in water.
Spray K2r . This is a special aerosol product designed to clean jackets from grease without washing. Use the spray as follows: spray it onto the fabric, wait until it turns into powder, and then clean it off with a stiff brush.

Dishwashing liquid . A universal assistant in household chores. It is used to treat cuffs, collars and jacket pockets. Simply apply the gel to the fabric, lightly foam, rub and leave for half an hour. After this time, the clothes are rinsed and, if necessary, washed as usual.
Laundry soap . The main substance included in soap is alkali. It copes well with fat, dissolving it. The greasy fabric is rubbed with soap and left for 60 minutes for full effect. After an hour, the soap is wiped off with a damp cloth, and the clothes are washed in the washing machine.

A mixture of ammonia and white spirit . Mix the components in equal proportions. Soak a cotton pad in the product and wipe the greasy area with it. Important! This composition is used only on dense fabrics. It is best to try the effect of the mixture on the reverse side of the jacket. This way you will check the reaction of the fabric and dyes to the action of white spirit.
Shampoo, liquid soap or shower gel . One of the listed products of your choice is dissolved in a small amount of water and applied to the jacket for a quarter of an hour. After this, the contaminated area is washed by hand and rinsed. Remaining moisture is blotted with a dry towel.

You can’t rub a dirty place in different directions: this will only rub away the grime. Movements occur from the center of the spot to its edges.

How to clean a greasy collar

As you know, the collar tends to get shiny very quickly. Therefore, this element of outerwear should be given special attention. Let's figure out how to properly clean a jacket collar:

If you need to clean the collar from slight grime, you can simply treat it with a soap solution.
If the pollution is more intense, mustard powder will help. To carry out the hygienic procedure, you will first need to dilute it with warm water until a thick mass is obtained. Then apply to shiny areas. After twenty minutes, rinse off the cleansing mass. This method will also allow you to remove perfume or lip gloss that accidentally gets on the collar area.
The color of the outerwear is of no small importance when choosing a collar cleaning product. For example, it is easier to wipe off grime from a white jacket with freshly squeezed lemon juice, and a black or brown jacket with onion juice.

Features of different types of jackets

The bologna jacket is a common garment for spring or autumn. Before you start cleaning, you need to test the product you are using in an inconspicuous place. To do this, apply it with a sponge and wait for several minutes. If the physical properties of the material have not changed, you can begin cleaning the greasy area.

Cleaning can be done by applying the selected product to a cotton swab. It is not recommended to rub with too much force. In this case, there is a high chance that the material may be damaged.

To clean bologna products, it is convenient to use purified gasoline. Ammonia diluted in clean water will also help.

A raincoat jacket is also very popular. However, compared to bologna, it is more susceptible to contamination. Most often, warm soapy water or ammonia dissolved in water are used for cleaning. When washing, you need to take into account that it is unacceptable to use water hotter than +40 degrees. In cases where the fabrics were not dyed well enough, the upper limit of the permissible temperature is +25 degrees.

In some cases, stains on the collar come off after soaking in water. When it comes to removing greasy stains, gasoline can be effective, but if used carelessly, it can leave streaks that are difficult to remove.

A membrane jacket can only be washed by hand. It is recommended to use only laundry soap to clean stains on the collar. Other products may damage the fabric.

How to remove stains

The cuffs, elbow and collar areas can easily become shiny on a jacket made of any material. Therefore, below we will consider what will help clean outerwear of various textures.

How to clean leather clothes

Undoubtedly, a jacket made of natural and artificial leather is the easiest to clean from grease. Below are several effective ways:

The easiest way to clean the glossy edges of the product is with regular baking soda. To do this, you just need to apply dry adsorbent in a circular motion to the problem areas.
When you need to clean a leather jacket not only from grease, but also from a pen, marker or alcohol-based felt-tip pen, you should vigorously rub the stains with a cotton pad soaked in medical alcohol.
You can also remove traces of a ballpoint pen by treating the stains with ammonia.
If you need to clean a light leather jacket from stains and greasy places, you need to treat the product with warm cow's milk. This method can also be used to remove candle marks from white and beige items.
To clean the lining of a leather jacket from the smell of sweat, it is not necessary to completely wash the product. Simply turn it inside out and walk over the lining with the foam obtained from dissolving the shampoo in water.

How to quickly clean stains from a bologna jacket

In a situation where you need to clean your leather jacket as soon as possible, it is best to use gasoline. The solvent will remove grime in just a moment. In addition, a caustic liquid is good for cleaning fuel oil or ink blots from a bologna product.

Features of such pollution

The reasons why the collar is shiny may be the following:

Sweat got on the fabric.
Grease stains.
Presence of dirt.
The fabric was subjected to friction.
Some other reasons.

It is important to note that regular washing will not solve the problem of a greasy jacket or collar.
For complete cleaning, special methods must be used. In order for cleaning to be effective, you need to perform the following steps:

First you need to understand exactly what fabric needs to be cleaned. To do this, you need to carefully examine the labels on the jacket or collar. When working with different types of materials, the cleaning procedure may vary.
It is necessary to understand the nature of the existing contaminants. These could be, for example, stains from cosmetics, grease or sweat.
Before cleaning the stain, you need to wipe the greasy area in order to partially remove the dirt. It is convenient to use a damp cloth for this.

To remove stains on a jacket or collar, you can use household chemicals or home treatment methods.

Jackets and other items made of wool

What to do if abrasions appear on a woolen product? There are two options to solve the problem.

Option No. 1 - alcohol:

Take diluted alcohol or vodka.
Apply to shiny areas.
Wipe with a brush and dry.

Option No. 2 – salt:

Prepare a paste of salt and water.
Apply to damaged areas and leave there until completely dry.
Brush off the product with a stiff brush.

General cleaning rules

You can wash a shiny down jacket in different ways, but it is recommended to adhere to the same rules.

First, they try to wipe off dirt and greasy stains on clothes using the softest and most gentle means. If they do not bring results, they move on to more aggressive substances. The fact is that under the influence of chemicals, any fabric loses strength, and the service life of clothing is slightly reduced.
Before using any cleaning product, first test it on an inconspicuous area of clothing, such as the underarm seam of a down jacket. Apply the product to the fabric for 10 minutes and make sure that the material does not lose color or become deformed.

Important! You can only use homemade and chemical products with bleaching properties on light-colored fabrics; a dark down jacket will be completely ruined by such treatment.

We recommend reading: How to remove brilliant green from linoleum

Cleaning a fur collar

First you need to use less aggressive agents; if the stain remains, use more effective substances. Cleaning methods:

Adsorbents are used: bran, flour, talc. Use any of the products; there is no need to mix them. The spots are covered with an adsorbent substance. For the product to work, it must be rubbed into the material with moderate force. Then the jacket with fur must be shaken out well. Remains of bran, talc or flour will have to be combed out additionally, since small particles remain on the fur.
Alcohol, gasoline. The substances are used separately. It is necessary to moisten a rag or cotton pad and apply it to the greasy areas for a few minutes. After this, the collar needs to be rinsed. If the smell remains, the item is washed and then dried in the open air.

Dry cleaning

Some down jackets cannot be washed with water. Such items can only be dry cleaned - remove stains using chemical solvents.

Dry cleaners carry out this operation using:

perchlorethylene;
silicone solvent;
hydrocarbon.

Dry cleaning will not remove odors from sweat or perfume. But stains from tobacco, coffee, and milk can be removed.

If the down jacket is filled with goose down, it is better to dry clean it. When washing at home, feathers break and up to 30% of the fluff is lost. This causes the winter jacket to become a windbreaker.
You should also use dry cleaning if the down jacket cannot be wetted due to the properties of the fabric. In this case, the manufacturer’s label will have a “no washing” icon.

At home, there is no way to properly dry a down jacket from traces of chemical solvent. Dry the jacket in a special container on hangers, blowing it with air.

How to choose?

When choosing a company, you need to check reviews from friends and online. Monitor how the staff treats clients and how competently the cleaning document is drawn up. Ideally, the receptionist should ask about stains and other defects.

Before handing over items, you need to find out what technologies are used when cleaning and drying items. Leading specialists use Italian and German equipment.

If necessary, you should take a sample item to dry cleaning. If after it flattened plastic parts appear, the fabric has significantly lost color, the dog or buttons are lost or broken, then it is better to clean the down jacket in another place.

Why do greasy spots appear on my jacket?

The most problematic areas are collars, pockets, and the back of sleeves. It is not difficult to guess that these places most often have contact with the body. Skin secretions, invisible to the eye, eat into the fabric of the collar. Sleeves most often come into contact with various surfaces. Hardly anyone manages to avoid using pockets at all. Sooner or later, any outerwear in these places becomes worn and begins to shine, which does not have a very good effect on its appearance. To understand the best way to wash a greasy winter jacket, you need to determine the composition of the fabric.

In what cases is it needed?

Dry cleaning for a down jacket or jacket is chosen in the following cases:

if the contamination is minor and you don’t want to wait a long time for the product to dry;
if washing is prohibited by the clothing manufacturer.

A label sewn to the inside of the product will help you determine whether to wash your down jacket or not .

The padding and material will tell you how and how to clean a down jacket. Attention should also be paid to the nature of the contamination.

So, if the down jacket consists of:

polyester or nylon with down and feather filling, you can use both wet and dry cleaning methods;
membrane or Teflon coating, then washing the product in a washing machine is prohibited; For such jackets, a manual version using special detergents is recommended.