How To Get Red Wine Stains Out Of Clothing

While a glass of wine a day might do wonders for you, spilling said glass on your shirt isn't going to do it any favors. Kicking back with a generous pour of red can be awesome, but it also means that you're relaxing while sipping one of the most staining substances around from a comparatively flimsy stemware glass that can be easily knocked over. 

As many people have found to their misfortune, it can be incredibly easy to spill red wine all over your favorite clothes, at which point the relaxation rapidly turns to a combination of frustration and despair. In this unfortunate scenario, it's easy to think that the wine stain means game over for your clothes. Luckily, this isn't the case. If you keep a few handy tricks in mind, you can still quite possibly salvage that favorite white shirt of yours. 

Let's take a look at the various ways to get red wine stains out of clothing.

A red wine stain is not the end of the world, if you act fast

According to Adam Teeter of VinePair, there are indeed a few handy tricks to get rid of red wine stains, as long as you act fast. 

If the fabric is white, your best move might be to soak it in bleach for ten minutes or so. This obviously won't work on other colors — at least, if you want to keep them colorful — but fortunately, there are a couple of chemical cocktails that might help you. For light-colored clothing, covering the stained area in a 50-50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and Dawn dishwashing detergent should work like a treat. For darker colors, you might want to first pour white vinegar on the stain and then quickly rub in some liquid detergent. Regardless of which of these three tricks you use, always remember to launder the stained clothes immediately afterward. 

If you don't have any of the above materials at hand, you might always try some of the simpler tricks, though be advised that they work best on other fabrics. Pouring boiling water through the fabric is a good trick for tablecloths. There's also the old salt trick, which works well for carpets: Dab as much of the wine with a paper towel as possible and then cover the stain with a bunch of salt. It should soak the wine from the fabric, and after the salt dries, you can just remove it.