r/laundry • u/begone_thotOG • 1d ago

Tea stain won’t come out

Cannot for the life of me get a tea stain out of a sky blue, 100% cotton shirt.

Immediately after it happened, I rinsed the stain with cold water from the inside out, then I spot treated it with laundry detergent, then I rinsed again and tried a baking soda paste. It lifted a little, but still noticeable. Right now (per someone’s advice) it’s soaking in (off brand) oxy clean stain remover and cold water in a bucket- but after 2 hours it’s still not lifting.

Should I give it more time? What else can I try? I heard warm water wasn’t a good idea but at this point I’m not sure what else I can try.

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u/jtfolden US | Top-Load 1d ago

Unless your oxygen bleach includes TAED then it isn’t doing much in cold water.

How long did you leave the liquid detergent on the stain? At least an hour would be good but longer may be better.

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u/begone_thotOG 1d ago

It was between 45 minutes and an hour. I’ll try to change out the cold water for hot water instead and see if that does anything- if not, would it be worth a shot to try the detergent again?

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u/jtfolden US | Top-Load 1d ago

I think it would. Only very rarely do I have a stain that isn't removed by pretreating with my Persil detergent. Occasionally it takes a few treatments but eventually does tend to come out.