How to remove tar from clothes

What does it take to remove tar from clothes? To begin with, you need to suppress the inner panic in yourself - nothing terrible has happened. Pine or spruce resin adhering to clothes is washed off quite easily. Another thing is that modern washing powders are unlikely to provide any help, so we will rely on improvised preparations and remedies that are sure to be found in every home.

In addition to the classic methods for removing tar from clothes, we will consider rather unusual experimental methods. They are no less effective, but it is up to you to decide whether to use them or not.

Proven ways to remove tar from clothes

Resin on clothes most often turns out after walking through coniferous forests. It is often brought on their clothes by children playing near trees and not particularly perceiving the danger of soiling a shirt or trousers on resin protruding from the bark of trees. Be that as it may, but with these stains we urgently need to do something.

If the resin lumps are large enough, you should arm yourself with a sharp clerical knife and scrape off the remnants of the resin from the surface of the fabric – the more we remove, the less we have to launder later. Once the excess resin has been removed, you can start working with solvents, alcohol and other means. The same rule applies if you want remove paint from clothes.

We can also remove excess resin by freezing it. To do this, we put the soiled clothes in a clean plastic bag and send them to the freezer for several hours.During this time, the resin will become stoney and brittle enough that we can remove most of it with simple friction. By the way, the same technique is used to remove sticky chewing gum from clothes.

So, we removed the strong traces of resin - it remains to deal with the resin that has soaked directly into the fabric. To do this, we will use turpentine, acetone or nail polish remover. But with the use of these products, you need to be careful - they are not suitable for cleaning delicate fabrics.. This is especially true for acetone and acetate silk.

How to use solvents? We apply nail polish remover, acetone or turpentine on a cotton pad and try to wipe off the resin. If necessary, apply these products directly to the spots and leave for 30-40 minutes. During this time, the resin should completely dissolve. Next, we send the clothes to the wash with ordinary washing powder - this will help neutralize the unpleasant odor and completely get rid of any traces of tar and solvents.

Refined gasoline is an excellent tool for removing tar from clothes. Here we can take the most common gasoline for refueling lighters. As for the gasoline from the gas tank of the car, you can forget about it - most often it spoils things. We soak the soiled area, leave it for 50-60 minutes, after which we send it to the wash. Gasoline does an excellent job not only with resin, but also well washes fuel oil.

Ordinary medical alcohol will also help to remove pine resin from clothes.We apply it on a cotton pad, three spots of resin from the edge to the center. If the spots are strong, soak the stain in alcohol and leave for 40-50 minutes. Next, we send the item to the laundry.

In addition to strong solvents, we can use the most common vegetable oil to remove resin from clothes. We apply it to the resin and leave it for about an hour. In order to prevent the oil from spreading throughout the clothes, we treat the part of the fabric surrounding the resin with water.After the vegetable oil softens the resin stain, wash the clothes with dish detergent - it remove oil from clothes. The next step is washing in the washing machine.

In order to remove resin from jeans, we can use any of the above methods. But here you should definitely check the fabric dye for durability - apply the selected product to an invisible area and wait 10-15 minutes. If the fabric does not change its color, you can safely proceed to remove the resin.

Experimental methods

Interesting results are obtained by using napkins and an iron. The process is very simple:

• We heat the iron;
• We put a paper towel under the stain;
• We lay another napkin on the stain itself;
• Iron the stained area with an iron.

Under the influence of heat, the resin will begin to evaporate and will be absorbed into paper napkins. Whether to use this method or not is up to you. But sometimes the technique doesn't work. (depending on the fabric and degree of soiling).

Another way to remove tar stains from clothes is to use Coca-Cola. The high content of phosphoric acid will dissolve the remaining resin, after which the clothes will only have to be washed.But you need to remember that this drink contains dyes that can leave their marks on many fabrics.