How to Get Poop Stains Out of Clothes

If you’ve had an accident or your baby decided to have an epic pooping session, you might have some tricky laundry to deal with.

Poop stains leave unsightly brown traces on underwear, and can also make items extremely stinky!

While you might be thinking about binning these garments, there is actually a simple solution to the problem! You just need to treat the poop stain, so you get the marks and stench off your clothes.

To eradicate faeces stains from laundry, you generally need to pre-treat your clothes with a cleaner that contains enzymes. This kind of product breaks down the proteins in the excrement, so the stain lifts off the material.

But there are actually several other ways you can remove the mucky blemishes from your garments. Check them out below.

Below you’ll find a selection of methods that can be used to remove poop stains from clothes. In general, if you act fast, you should be able to remove the stain with ease and in one go.

But if you leave the stain for too long it will be harder to remove, and you might have to repeat some of the treatments below more than once.

 

Things to Consider When Removing Poop Stains from Clothes

Here are a handful of tips to think about when cleaning poop stains:

• Wear gloves throughout the cleaning process.
• Wash your hands at the end of the cleaning process.
• Choose a suitable cleaning method based on the material and whose clothes you’re washing (baby clothes should be treated differently, for example).
• Clean your tools when you’re done because you don’t want to contaminate your laundry (washing machine/buckets/sink).
• Always remove clumps of poop before adding an item to a washer.
• Remove poop stains quickly and don’t let them age!
• Don’t dry an item if it is still stained. The heat will only make the protein-based mark set. As a consequence, the blemish will be tougher to remove.

 

Method 1: Liquid Detergent Containing Enzymes

Tip: Baby clothes should be treated with gentler and less chemical-based products because enzyme cleaners and strong detergents can irritate their delicate skin. So, use one of the alternative methods below to treat these items. Similarly, delicate materials, like silk and wool, need to be treated with more gentle products.

Steps to follow:

1. Pop some gloves on.
2. Cover a surface with newspaper. This will be your treatment area.
3. With a plastic spatula or similar implement, scrape off as much poo as you can and dispose of it down the toilet.
4. When you’ve done this, you can throw the plastic spatula in the bin.
5. Go to the cold water tap and switch it on.
6. Hold the item with the poop stain facing downwards under the tap – the water plus the pressure should dislodge any poopy remnants.
7. Go over to your treatment area.
8. Pour a generous amount of biological liquid detergent onto the poo stain. You should purchase a detergent that contains enzymes, like Ariel Original Washing Liquid. However, if you are washing baby clothes, you should choose a different method as enzyme-based detergents can irritate their skin.
9. Gently massage the detergent into the stain. make sure you keep your gloves on throughout this process!
10. Leave the detergent to rest on the stain for a few minutes. During this time the detergent will have penetrated the material’s fibres.
11. Pop the faeces-stained item into the washing machine. Don’t rinse the detergent off before doing so!
12. Make sure you remove your gloves and wash your hands before you touch the dials/buttons on your washing machine.
13. Select an appropriate cycle for the material. The temperature needs to be at least 60°C in order to kill germs in the washing machine, unless you are also using an antibacterial laundry sanitiser product.
14. Add a regular dose of detergent to the washing machine.
15. Start the cycle.
16. When the cycle ends, remove the item and check it over for stains. If you see poop stains, you can repeat the steps above or you can try one of the alternative methods listed below.
17. Don’t dry the item until you’re absolutely sure that there is no poo on the item. Heat will set the proteins in the stain and they will be even harder to eradicate!

Note: If you have multiple faeces-stained items that need to be cleaned, you can use the method above to clean them. It’s up to you if you want to load all of the garments into the washing machine at the same time. But sometimes it’s better to only load a single item at a time into the washer.

Either way, you should make sure that your appliance is free from poop and is hygienic at the end of such a cycle. You don’t want to contaminate your other laundry! So, pop some laundry sanitiser in the wash when you’re cleaning poo stained items, and clean the washing machine out afterwards.

 

Method 2: Bicarbonate of Soda

Bicarbonate of soda is a great alternative to using chemical cleaners. It’s safe to use on baby clothes and won’t damage delicate materials.

To use bicarb on poop stains, follow these steps:

1. Pop some gloves on.
2. Cover a surface with newspaper. This will be your treatment area.
3. Scrape off as much poo as you can and dispose of it down the toilet. Use a plastic spoon or spatula to do this.
4. When you’ve done this, you can throw the spoon/spatula in the bin.
5. Go to the cold water tap and turn it on.
6. Hold the item with the poop stain facing downwards under the tap. The water plus the pressure should dislodge remnants.
7. Go over to your treatment area.
8. Spread bicarbonate of soda all over the poop stains.
9. Massage the bicarb into the stain using an old, soft toothbrush.
10. Wait about five to ten minutes.
11. Don’t rinse the bicarb off.
12. Add your item to the wash, choose an appropriate cycle, add detergent and start the washing cycle.
13. Check the item over at the end of the cycle, and if the stains have gone you can dry the item.
14. If you still see traces of poo, you must treat the item again, either using this method or you can choose another.
15. Only dry the item when the stain has been removed.

 

Method 3: White Vinegar

Like bicarbonate of soda, white vinegar is great at removing odours and stains from laundry, and it’s also a family friendly product.

To use white vinegar to dislodge brown poop stains from clothes, just mix a tablespoon of white vinegar in a large bowl of cold water, and soak the stained item in the water.

After about 30 minutes, the acetic acid in the vinegar will have tackled the stain for you, so all you need to do is gently rub the poop stains with an old, soft toothbrush to remove the dirt. When you’re done, you can launder the item as normal.

If you still see a stain after washing the item, you will need to re-treat the garment. You can either repeat the method above or try one of the methods mentioned below. You must not dry the item until the stain has been completely removed!

 

Method 4: Lemon Juice

Lemon juice contains citric acid, and it’s this acid that acts like a natural bleaching agent on laundry and can bleach brown stains.

However, it’s because of this ‘bleaching effect’ that you should only use this technique on white coloured laundry. If you were to try this method out on coloured clothes, they might end up discoloured or slightly faded.

To remove poop stains with lemon juice, follow these steps:

1. Put some gloves on and remove as much poo as you can from the item.
2. Run cold water through the stain to dislodge any faecal remains.
3. Lay your poop-stained item out on some newspaper.
4. Make sure the stain is facing upwards.
5. Squeeze fresh lemon juice all over the stain.
6. Wait about 20-30 minutes.
7. Massage the stain with a soft, old toothbrush.
8. You should see the stain lifting away from the material.
9. Launder the item on an appropriate setting with a liquid detergent.
10. If the poop stains persist, you can try another alternative method on this list to remove the remaining traces of faeces!
11. Don’t dry the item until all the stain has been removed!

 

Method 5: Oxygen/Colour-Safe Bleach

In some cases, it’s better to treat clothes with a tougher solution to rid the laundry of poopy stains once and for all.

So, if you’ve got colourful garments that can be bleached, you can treat them with oxygen bleach.

Follow these steps to use oxygen bleach on poop-stained clothes:

1. Put some gloves on and remove all the clumpy poo that you can from the stained item.
2. Flush cold water through the stain.
3. Check the tag to see if the item in question can be bleached. You should either see a triangular symbol with two horizontal lines going through it or an empty triangle. Carry on with this method if you see one of these symbols.
4. If you can’t bleach the item, you’ll see a triangular symbol with a giant cross going through it. In this case you must stop what you’re doing and try another method.
5. In a large bucket, dilute a dose of oxygen bleach in water (see product’s packaging for exact dosage).
6. Pop the item in the water.
7. Wait an hour and check the item.
8. If you still see poo stains, leave the item in the water for longer.
9. Once you’re done and there are no stains on the item, you can wash it as normal.

Note: Never mix bleach with any other cleaning product. Bleach should only be mixed with plain water.

 

Method 6: Chlorine Bleach

If you’re having trouble removing poop stains on your white laundry, it might be time to call in the bleach.

Chlorine bleach is an aggressive chemical that will eradicate most stains, but it cannot be used on coloured clothes or baby clothes.

To use bleach, follow these steps:

1. Put some protective gloves on and remove all the poo that you can from the item.
2. Flush cold water through the poop stain.
3. Check the tag to see if the item in question can be bleached (you’re looking for a blank triangle). If you don’t see this symbol, stop what you’re doing and find an alternative treatment.
4. In a clean bucket dilute a measure of chlorine bleach in water. See product’s packaging for the exact dose.
5. Pop the item in the water.
6. Using a long spoon, agitate the item in the water.
7. Leave the item to soak for about five to ten minutes at a time, but generally no more than this.
8. Once the stain has been completely removed, empty the water away and rinse the item under fresh, cold water.
9. Launder the item as you would normally.

Note: Don’t mix bleach with any other cleaning product. Bleach should only be mixed with clean water.

 

Can You Remove Old Poop Stains?

It’s possible to remove old faeces stains from clothes. However, removing old stains that have been allowed to dry is never an easy task.

So, you might have to repeat the methods above a few times to see a significant result. This, in turn, could be time consuming, and in the end, it might be better for you to bin the item in question and buy a new version of it.

Unfortunately, in some cases, it doesn’t matter how much effort you put into removing the poop stain from your laundry, the blemish just won’t budge.

In this case, it’s better if you just pop the item in question in the bin and replace the garment.

It’s always better if you try to remove stains as soon as they appear. This way your item(s) won’t be plagued by number-two mishaps!

In addition to this, you should never dry a garment before a poop stain has been removed from it.

If you dry stains, particularly protein-based ones like poo, they’ll start to bond with the material’s fibres, and they’ll become extremely difficult to remove.