Part of being human means inevitably getting a stain on your clothing — and if you're anything like me, that happens daily. I have been known to get everything from coffee to ketchup on my outfits, even when I'm trying not to make a mess. And usually when this happens, I'm out and about, so I have to suffer the embarrassment of walking around with a stain on my clothes.
I usually try to blot it out with simple warm water and soap, but that only spreads the stain more — and then I'm walking around with a puddle on my top.
I decided it was time to bite the bullet and find a good — and I mean really good — instant stain remover. To find the best one, I tested 10 popular sprays, gels and wipes that promised to get rid of tough stains. Throughout the process, I enlisted the help of two cleaning experts to answer some questions I had.
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There are many different types of stain removers on the market, from instant stain removers to ones you need to wash out.
Founder of Juliette Cleaning, Rechelle Balanzat, breaks down the benefits of instant stain removers: "They’re convenient, fast-acting and can prevent a minor mishap from becoming a permanent stain." She continues, "They’re a great first line of defense when you’re on the go and can’t get to a professional cleaner right away."
Jessica Ek from the Cleaning Institute of America agrees, saying that "an instant stain remover can help you act fast when washing the clothing is inconvenient or not possible until later."
Before testing these instant stain removers, we decided to use the power of the internet to find the most searched stains to get out of clothing — and we came up with coffee, nail polish, foundation, lipstick, red wine, oil, ketchup and dirt.
Read on to see how they stacked up.
Miss Mouth's Messy Eater Stain Treater Wipes
What we like
- Works fast
- Easy to use
- Great on deep stains
Something to note
- Need to use multiple
Type: Wipes | Features: 25 wipes | Safety: Safe on most fabrics, EPA Safer Choice Certified
Ease of use: 5/5 | Quickness: 5/5 | Effectiveness: 4/5 | Control: 5/5 | Overall Score: 4.75/5
Ease of use: This wipe is really great for a lot of reasons, but what I love most is how strong the wipe is. While testing, it was pretty thick and had a pattern on one side so I could really attack the stains to lift the residue. The other side was smooth, so I could then go back in and smooth out the stain more carefully. It was super easy to use because the wipe had the ability to be tough and gentle at the same time.
Quickness: Once you apply a little pressure to the patterned side of this wipe onto a stain, it works really fast. I was surprised at how it took a lot less time than other stain removers I tried.
Effectiveness: This wipe was by far the most effective out of all the products I tried. It was the only one that got out a majority of the tough stains (like lipstick, oil and some foundation and nail polish). After using these wipes on the stains, I knew instantly that it was a winner. The product does a lot of the work for you, with the design of the wipe being made to really get into the marks.
Control: Because this is a wipe, it's really easy to control where you're applying the stain-removing liquid. You're able to control how much liquid you want to squeeze out of the wipe and essentially guide it over the stain. While testing, this stopped the stains from spreading on the shirt.
Best for tough stains: OxiClean Stain Remover Pen
What we like
- Great for tough stains
- Easy to use
Something to note
- Liquid comes out fast
Type: Pen | Features: 4 pens | Safety: Bleach free and travel friendly
Ease of use: 4/5 | Quickness: 4/5 | Effectiveness: 4/5 | Control: 5/5 | Overall Score: 4.25/5
Ease of use: This pen is meant to be used on tough stains, and it has a very unique composition. The pen itself features a hard tip with indentations to help lift stains. When you push down on the tip, the stain-removing liquid comes out of the side of the tip and travels downward to target stains. You just have to be careful you don't push constantly, otherwise you'll go through a pen pretty fast.
Quickness: This pen works pretty quickly. Because of the hard tip, it's able to attack stains with aggressiveness, unlike other pens. The liquid comes out pretty quickly, too, so you have to work fast on the stain. If you're scrubbing pretty hard with the tip, you can lift stains fast.
Effectiveness: I think this pen is great for really tough stains that might be dry or deep, like lipstick, foundation, etc. The tip of the pen does a really good job of digging into stains, and then you just have to wipe the tip to remove the stain debris after use.
Control: The pen didn't really spread any stains out besides the ketchup, because I think the liquid within the pen made it easy to move the substance around.
Best for easy stains: Tide To Go Wipes
What we like
- Easy to use
- Easy to target stain
Something to note
- Dries fast
- Need to use multiple
Type: Wipes | Features: 30 Wipes | Safety: Bleach free
Ease of use: 4/5 | Quickness: 3.5/5 | Effectiveness: 3.5/5 | Control: 5/5 | Overall Score: 4/5
Ease of use: These wipes are pretty easy to use; you just have to blot stains with water before going in with the wipes. The wipes are thinner than the Miss Mouth ones I tried. Similarly, they have a slight texture to them, but not as much as Miss Mouth's.
Quickness: These wipes took a little bit longer to work because each wipe dried out quickly. Because of this, I had to work a lot faster to stop myself from using too many wipes. However, the stain remover did dry quickly on the fabric after application — so if you have a quick or easy stain, this is your best bet.
Effectiveness: These wipes are better for more opaque stains that don't have a lot of moisture; they worked great on coffee and red wine. I think with a little more TLC, you would be able to get out the ketchup and oil, too.
Control: The stains did not spread at all, and generally, the stain liquid dried fast after application.
Best spray: Miss Mouth's Messy Eater Stain Treater Spray
What we like
- Very effective, says users
Something to note
- Users says it has an odd smell
Type: Spray | Features: 4 ounces | Safety: Safe on most fabrics, EPA safer choice certified
Ease of use: 4.5/5 | Quickness: 4/5 | Effectiveness: 3.5/5 | Control: 4/5 | Overall Score: 4/5
Ease of use: While testing, this spray came out pretty evenly and was easy to target the exact area of the stain. All you have to do before using the spray is pre-treat each stain with a little water and then remove excess moisture. Then, you're good to go in with the spray and a towel.
Quickness: Besides the pre-treating, this cleaning agent was pretty quick when it came to working on the stain. It added a lot of moisture, so I had to work fast to make sure I coated all of the stain prior to use.
Effectiveness: We chose pretty tough stains on these white T-shirts, and with this spray, it was particularly good at getting out coffee and red wine. It was not able to get out some of the harder stains, like oil and lipstick. I do think if you had more time on your hands to work on these stains, you could eventually get some more to come out. But the reality of a stained shirt is that you want it to come out asap.
Control: Because this is a spray, you will have more liquid on your shirt than with a wipe or pen after use. The only stain spread I noticed was on the ketchup.
Best pen: Tide To Go stick
What we like
- Easy to see how much you have
- Good for light stains
- Travel-friendly
Something to note
- Angled tip is hard to use
Type: Pen | Features: 3 pens | Safety: Safe on most fabrics and bleach free
Ease of use: 4/5 | Quickness: 3.5/5 | Effectiveness: 3.5/5 | Control: 5/5 | Overall Score: 4/5
Ease of use: This product was easy to use in general. I feel like when you think of an instant stain remover, you always think of the Tide pen. I have used it before on minor stains, but this was my first time testing it on eight stains. To use it, you have to blot any wet stains with water first, and then you need to press the tip into the stain, followed by using the tip to get into the stain. The bottom of the pen is also clear, so you can see how much of the liquid you have left.
Quickness: The pen works pretty fast in general because the liquid from the tip comes out quickly. The tip is angular, so you have to hit each stain at a certain angle to get deep into it. It takes a little getting used to at first.
Effectiveness: The pen was great at getting rid of opaque stains like coffee and oil. It was also pretty good on tough stains like foundation and ketchup. I think if the tip had more texture, it would work better.
Control: The stains did not spread at all with this pen.
Best gel: Dryel Dry-Clean Safe On-The-Go Stain Removal Pen
What we like
- Gel is thicker
- Brushed tip helps get stains
Something to note
- Tip gets dirty
Type: Gel Pen | Features: 1 Pen | Safety: Peroxide-free
Ease of use: 4/5 | Quickness: 3.5/5 | Effectiveness: 3.5/5 | Control: 4/5 | Overall Score: 3.75/5
Ease of use: This pen features a gel substance that comes out from the top — and the top of the pen has a rubbery, brush-like design. To use it, you need to squeeze the pen and then scrub with the tip after the gel is released.
Quickness: The gel comes out a bit slower than liquid and you do have to use a lot to get some stains out. The gel also took a little bit longer to dry.
Effectiveness: The gel pen was best with the coffee and oil stains. For tougher stains, it was harder to keep the pen clean because the material got stuck in the brush part of the pen. I think if you wipe the pen tip every now and then, you should be good.
Control: This pen did not spread stains at all, thanks to the gel formula.
To test the stain removers, I put eight stains on white shirts in the same order (red lipstick, pink nail polish, foundation, oil, coffee, red wine, ketchup and dirt). I tried to put the same amount of stain on each of the 10 shirts.
I then followed the directions of each stain remover and tried to spend an equal amount of time on each one. My processes included wiping, scrubbing, dabbing and more to use the products to their best ability.
I rated the stain removers on four key factors and then scored them on a scale of 1 through 5, determining the following:
- Ease of use: Are the directions easy to understand? Is it portable? Do the directions work? Do you have to use a lot of force?
- Quickness: How fast did the stain remover work? Did it require a lot of time to get a simple stain out? How fast did the product dry?
- Effectiveness: Did the stain come out? What worked about the product? Did it work on different types of stains?
- Control: Did the stain spread and get bigger after use, or was the remover easy to control in one section?
There are four main types of instant stain removers:
- Sprays, which are meant to be sprayed directly onto stains and then wiped away.
- Wipes, which are embedded with a stain-removing solution, are meant to be blotted, scrubbed and wiped on the stain itself.
- Pens, which release a cleansing liquid and then are used to scrub a stain away.
- Gels, which are a thicker than liquid stain removers that are meant to be scrubbed away.
Balazant and Ek say that there is no clear better option out of the four. In fact, Ek notes, “They work to remove stains in a similar way. A wipe can be easier to bring on a plane due to carry-on restrictions. A pen can be convenient because the applicator is built in. A spray can be quickly applied to larger stains.”
The fabric type beneath the stain is also important while understanding how to properly treat it. Balazant says that “delicate fabrics like silk, wool or anything labeled ‘dry clean only’ should be treated with caution.” She continues, “Instant stain removers can contain harsh chemicals that might damage or discolor sensitive textiles.” Ek also mentions if you are unsure about a fabric, you should only test a small area of the fabric to see how it reacts.
When it comes to the stain itself, Ek says that red-colored stains like wine or tomato-based products are the hardest to remove, as well as oil and coffee.
Why trust Shop TODAYAnnie Shigo is an editorial assistant who started reviewing and testing products to write about in 2023 in the beauty, tech, fashion and cleaning space, so she knows how to tell what works and what doesn’t. Annie Shigo has also worked on a Ranked piece on finding the best steam mops.
Meet the Experts- Jessica Ek is the Associate Vice President of Strategic Communications at the Cleaning Institute of America
- Rechelle Balanzat, founder and ceo of Juliette Cleaning Services
Annie Shigo
Annie Shigo is a social media editorial assistant for Shop TODAY.
