Paint can help brighten up your world, but get some on your clothes and you’re more likely to feel frustration than joy.
As a parent, you can be extremely proud of your kids when they show you the painting they did for their arts and crafts project in the kindergarten, but you may not like having to deal with their paint-stained outfit.
Paint stains are combination stains featuring pigments, grease and proteins and will vary between paint type, such as water-based paints, like acrylics, or oil-based paints. Paint dries quickly, so you need to act fast while it’s wet, ideally using cold water to remove the stain. Also, you’ll want a washing detergent, such as Ariel, with powerful laundry technology that can remove combination stains in the first wash. Learn how to remove paint from your clothes with Ariel Matic Concentrated Liquid, in just a few simple steps.
Remove paint stains from clothes
Step 1
Act immediately
If you want to get rid of that paint stain from your clothes, it’s best that you don’t allow the stain to set into the fibres of the fabric. You need to be quick and remove the excess paint with a spoon or fork as soon as the stain happens.
Step 2
Rinse it with…
Cold water: If you’ve managed to stain your clothes with an oil based paint or tempera, rinse your garment under cold water.Oil-based paint stains contain oily elements as well as pigmentation, and since paint tends to dry quickly, your best chance for stain removal is to act quickly while the stain is still wet. Although tempera is a water-based paint, tempera stains are a mix of pigments and grease, and while it’s easier to remove than oil-based paints, it’s still a stain removal challenge.
WARM WATER: Should your garment get stained by a water-based paint, like finger paint, use warm water.
Water-based stains are actually the easiest to get rid of: Just hold up the stained part of the garment and rinse it under warm, running water, until the water runs clear.
Step 3
Pre-treat
If you can still see a small amount of discolouration on the garment, pre-treat the spot by rubbing some liquid detergent into the fabric.
Step 4
Wash
When it comes to placing your garment inside your washing machine, carefully add the recommended dose of Ariel Matic Concentrated Liquid to your machine’s dispenser drawer and wash on your usual cycle, following your garment’s care label. When the cycle is complete, unload the garments immediately.
Step 5
Drying
Only dry the items once the stain is completely removed, as drying stained garments will set the stain. If the paint stain persists after washing, repeat the above steps before drying.
How to remove dried paint
While water based paints can be easily removed from your garment in both wet and dry form, getting rid of acrylics is more challenging. For that reason, before going through the usual steps of rinsing, pre-treating and washing, you should first try and gently scrape off any excess of paint with the back of a spoon. This way, you will not only have better chances for a completely stainless garment, but you will also avoid damaging the fabrics.
Follow our stain removal guide to get rid of even the most stubborn stains in one wash. If you can act fast, paint stain removal is easy, especially with some help from Ariel. Ariel Liquid and Ariel Washing Powder dissolve quickly in your laundry and remove even the toughest stains in just one wash, while keeping your clothes bright and vivid.