Soy sauce is a staple condiment of many Asian cuisines, and a tasty one at that. But, it’s also one of the messiest since it’s extremely thin, and therefore easy to spill. A lot of people end up with a soy sauce stain on their clothing from time to time, especially when they’re eating sushi, and dipping each piece into soy sauce that drips everywhere. Fortunately, soy sauce stains aren’t impossible to remove if you follow the directions right.
What Makes Soy Sauce Stains So Tough to Remove?
A soy sauce stain actually isn’t the toughest stain to remove. It’s quite simple, in fact, if you act quickly enough. The reason why it can stain in the first place is because of its dark color, compared with its liquidy nature which takes little time to absorb fully into the fibers of your clothing.
What is the Process of Removing a Soy Sauce Stain from Clothing?
If you have had the misfortune of wearing some soy sauce on your clothing after indulging in a tasty meal, follow the steps below and your clothes should be remedied in no time.
Step #1: Blot Away the Excess
First, you’ll want to grab a cloth or paper towel and start blotting the stain directly. Blotting will allow the towel or cloth to absorb as much of the soy sauce as possible, preventing more from absorbing into the fibers of your clothing, while lifting some of it out of the clothing as well.
Step #2: Flush Away the Stain with Cold Water
Now, hold the garment under a faucet and flush as much of the stain away as possible with cold water. Make sure that it is cold water, because warm or hot water can make the stain tougher to remove by helping the color penetrate the fibers more effectively. Keep running cold water through the stain until as much of it has faded as possible. This step may even be enough to remove milder soy sauce stains.
Step #3: Apply Detergent Directly
Now, if the stain is still there, take some laundry detergent and use your fingers to massage it into the stain. Allow it to sit for about 5 minutes so that it can really soak into the fibers and do its job. Then, give the stain another cold rinse to remove the detergent. As a side note, make sure that you’re using a laundry detergent that’s appropriate for the type of clothing you have – for instance, if you have a more delicate fabric like silk, you’ll want to use a detergent made for delicate.
You can also pick up Grab Green 3 in 1 Laundry Detergent Pods, Grab Green 3 in 1 Laundry Detergent Powder, Grab Green Bleach Alternative Pods, and/or Stoneworks Laundry Detergent Pods, in order to really get those soy sauce stains off your clothing for good.
Final Step: Look It Over
If the stain is fully removed, which it should be at this point, you can run it through a drying cycle if you wish so that you can go back to wearing the clothing item.
