Quick answer: To remove an oil stain from clothes, treat it dry on the spotting board with a solvent spotter such as Spot Oil before any water touches it, tamp with a bone spatula over absorbent padding, flush, then wash at the hottest temperature the fibre allows. Grease that has bound dirt into it needs Spot Grease, which adds a surfactant to lift the soil along with the oil.
Oil and grease are two different jobs
Trade spotters separate the two because they need different chemistry. Oil is a clean fat: cooking oil, ghee, butter, hair oil, body lotion, sewing machine oil. It leaves a dull, translucent patch with no colour of its own. A solvent dissolves it and water carries it away.
Grease is oil that has collected dirt. Cuff and collar grime, the black band at a trouser hem, kitchen exhaust fallout on chef coats, chain grease on a delivery rider's trousers. The oil holds particles of soot, dust and skin in place, so a solvent alone loosens the oil but leaves the dirt behind as a grey shadow. Grease spotters pair a solvent with a surfactant so the whole mess lifts together.
Both families are described in the spotting guide. If a mark is dull and colourless, start with Spot Oil. If it is dark, dirty-looking or on a wear point, start with Spot Grease.
How to remove oil stain from clothes on the spotting board
The one rule that matters most: keep water away until the solvent has done its work. Water and oil do not mix, so a wet garment pushes the oil deeper and spreads it wider.
- Find the whole stain. Hold the garment up to the light. Oil marks are often bigger than they look and show as a darker, slightly stiff patch.
- Test on a hidden seam. Solvent spotters are gentle on most dyes, but viscose, silk and some prints can move. A drop on the inside hem, thirty seconds, flush.
- Pad and apply. Lay the stained area over clean white absorbent cloth. Apply Spot Oil sparingly to the dry mark, from the outside edge inwards.
- Tamp with the bone spatula. Short, flat taps that press the dissolved oil into the padding below. Move the padding to a clean spot as it darkens. For bound grease, switch to Spot Grease and give it a minute to work before tamping.
- Flush. Steam and vacuum from the back, or a cool flush on delicate pieces, until the padding comes up clean.
- Wash hot where the fibre allows. Oil emulsifies better in heat. Cotton and linen go through a hot wash with a full dose of Laundry Detergent; blends go warm; silk and wool stay cool with a gentler cycle.
- Check before drying. Hold the wet garment to the light. If a dull patch remains, repeat the board step. A dryer does not set oil the way it sets protein, but it does hide it until the next wear.
Spotter goes a long way when it is applied with a dropper rather than poured. The dosing guide gives working quantities for both the board and the wash.
What not to do with oil and grease
- Do not wet the stain first. Water spreads oil and makes the spotter work harder. Solvent first, water after.
- Do not rub. Rubbing grinds the dirt in grease deeper into the weave and roughens the surface of the fibre.
- Do not reach for chlorine bleach. Bleach does not dissolve oil. It will fade the colour around the mark and leave the mark itself in place.
- Do not press an oily garment. The iron spreads the oil into a wider, shinier patch that is much harder to find and treat afterwards.
Fibre cautions: silk, wool, acetate
- Silk takes solvent spotters well, but tamping must be light to avoid a bruised, matte patch. Flush cool and never hot-wash.
- Wool holds oil in its scales. Give the spotter more dwell and less force. Wash cool with a wool-safe cycle, or dry clean.
- Acetate can be dissolved by some spotting solvents. Use the smallest amount, flush at once, or send it for dry cleaning where the solvent bath does the job uniformly.
Oil at scale: restaurant and hotel linen
A laundry handling chef coats, napkins and kitchen towels cannot spot every piece. The workable approach is to sort oily linen into its own load, run a short pre-wash with detergent at a slightly higher dose, then the main hot wash, and only board-spot the pieces that come out with marks. The hotel laundry chemicals list covers the full wash programme; the food stain guide covers napkins where oil comes mixed with curry and tomato colour.
Stocking the shelf
Oil and grease marks arrive every day, which is why the two spotters that handle them are the first two to run out. Keep Spot Oil and Spot Grease side by side on the board, with Laundry Detergent for the hot follow-up wash and Collar & Cuff 500 for the grease that lives on shirt necklines. All of them are on the Purolix price list at published per litre and per kg rates, GST extra, valid till 31 December 2026. If you handle a lot of restaurant or workshop linen and want a wash programme that reduces board time, contact us and we will work one out with you.
Can an oil stain be removed after the garment has been dried?
Usually, yes. Oil does not set the way protein or dye does; the dryer simply makes it less visible and harder to find. Hold the fabric to the light to locate the dull patch, treat it on the board with the oil spotter for a longer dwell, and wash again. Two passes are normal on an old mark.
What is the difference between Spot Oil and Spot Grease?
Spot Oil is for clean oils: cooking oil, hair oil, ghee, butter and machine oil. Spot Grease is for grease that has bound dirt into it, such as cuff and collar grime, kitchen hood grease, bike chain and workshop marks. The second needs both a solvent and a surfactant to lift the particles out with the oil.
Should oil-stained linen be washed hot or cold?
Hot, if the fibre allows it. Oil softens and emulsifies better at higher wash temperatures, so cotton kitchen and restaurant linen should go through a hot wash with a full detergent dose after spotting. Keep synthetics and blends to warm, and silk and wool to cool with a gentler cycle.