Get out summer's toughest stains!

Perspiration

Fast fix: If you’re sweating bullets, dry your armpits with paper towels. It’s not glamorous, but it will prevent overwetting and damage to the fabric.

Home remedy: Treat perspiration marks with a prewash stain remover, then launder the clothes in the hottest water recommended for the fabric, using an enzyme detergent and an oxygen bleach.

Ice Cream

Fast fix: Apply cool water at once.


Home remedy: Start by using a pretreatment product, then soak the clothing in an enzyme detergent. “For old stains, soak at least 30 minutes.

Sunscreen

Fast fix: Not required.

Home remedy: Take your pick―either spot-treat with a mixture of dishwashing liquid and glycerin (available at drugstores) or pretreat with a stain remover, a liquid laundry detergent, or a laundry-detergent booster.

Ketchup

Fast fix: For the first line of defense, dab the stain with water immediately. If you have access to some detergent, even better. Spot-treat.


Home remedy: Pretreat the stain with liquid laundry detergent or a prewash stain remover.

Blood

Fast fix: If the stain is wet, soak the fabric in cold water, then rub with a bar of soap.


Home remedy: If the stain is still wet, soak in water and apply a small amount of ammonia with a Q-tip. If it’s a light-colored material, “you can follow up by dabbing with hydrogen peroxide, which creates a powerful bleach,”
Machine wash. With dried bloodstains, apply an enzyme prewash product or soak the clothing in warm water with an enzyme detergent before laundering. If the stain persists, wash with a detergent and a bleach that are safe for the fabric.