Something Spilled on Your Clothes — What Should You Do First? Know the Type of Stain Before You Treat It

Last updated: 24 October 2026

Stains are not all the same thing

Coffee, red wine and soy sauce are pigment stains; blood, milk and egg are protein stains; engine oil, lipstick and sebum are grease stains. The three have different chemistry, and they need different treatments — using a degreaser on a pigment stain, or hot water on a protein stain, often “cooks” the stain into the fibres, after which it is hard for anyone to save.

In the first moments: do these two things, and avoid three others

What you can do: blot and absorb with a clean tissue or cloth, lifting what has not yet soaked in; and note what was spilled. What to avoid: don’t rub hard (that pushes the stain deeper into the fibres and can wear the surface); don’t use hot water (protein stains set with heat); and don’t rush to soap or bleach (coloured garments and animal fibres can lose a whole patch of colour, and colour loss is harder to undo than the stain).

Yellowing at collars and cuffs is a different matter

The ring of soil at a collar or cuff is not “leftover dirt from a poor wash.” It is sebum that has oxidised and mineralised over time — quite different from a fresh food stain — and a normal wash cycle won’t move it; it needs targeted pre-treatment. In the same way, an old stain that has sat for a long time oxidises and changes, and is much harder than a fresh one. With stain removal, time is the difficulty.

When you send it in, tell us what it was

If we know the source of the stain, we can choose the right approach directly, instead of trying things out. When we take the item in we’ll look at the material and the stain, judge how far we can take it, and then quote; we treat it only after you agree. Some old stains, or areas that have already lost colour, cannot be restored — we’ll say so honestly at the quote. If you’re in a hurry, firstSend us a photo on LINE,and tell us what was spilled and how long ago.