oil/grease stain on shirt, can I remove it?

[One Art]

Hi, I'm not sure this if this is the right forum... I took a shirt out of the laundry, a really nice shirt, I should add, and discovered that it had a large oil/grease stain on it. The shirt is cotton and a teal color... as I said, it is a nice shirt, and I'd hate to not be able to wear it anymore... the stain is really dark and obvious. I have no idea where it came from... I get a lot of cooking oil spots on my clothing, but this looks more like car oil. Weird. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Ruthla]

Lots and lots and lots of soap!

I generaly mosten a bar of ivory soap, rub that into the stain, let it soak in a bit, and then wash the item. Repeat as necessary. Any bar of soap should work- I like using Ivory for laundry because it's cheap and there are no fragrances to irritate me.

I've had good results on cooking oil stains with soap- motor oil sometimes is a permenant stain, esp if the item has been in the dryer. You could also try using an oxygen bleach, ideally mixed with some soap.

[77sugaree]

I have had luck removing mysterious oil stains with original Dawn dish soap. I scrub it in with a toothbrush then let it sit in soapy water for a while. Then rinse and wash.
Good Luck!

[wemberly]

Almost all of my cleaning products are green, but I confess, I do keep a bottle of Dawn handy for fabric stains. A little applied directly to the stain is all I ever need.