How To Get Chocolate Out Of Clothes

We’ve all been there. You look down and suddenly realize that some of your favorite exquisite chocolate you earlier enjoyed managed to stain your favorite immaculate shirt. The worst-case scenario is that you didn’t notice the stain until you washed and dried your clothes. If you’re wondering how to get chocolate out of clothes, don’t worry; it’s not as difficult as you might think.

Chocolate is a tannin-based and oil-based stain—one of the most difficult to try and remove. This challenge is difficult but not necessarily impossible. Your approach will depend on whether you catch the stain when it happens or you notice it long after the fact.

Either way, you’ll need a few items handy to have your best shot at getting chocolate out of fabric. A good arsenal of stain-removing tools includes laundry soap, stain remover, dish soap, color-safe bleach, and maybe a toothbrush or other small brush.

If none of the following techniques work, don’t call it quits yet. You can always hand your clothing over to the professionals at Judi’s Cleaners for one last shot at getting rid of that unfortunate stain.

How to Get Chocolate Out of Clothing

You might think that chocolate stain removal is impossible, but that is far from true. Assuming your chocolate mess is relatively fresh—think of something like a melted candy bar or a chocolate ice cream drip—then this method is for you. If you catch it soon enough after it happens, you can prevent the stain from ever setting.

First, you need to complete the tricky task of removing any excess chocolate without rubbing the chocolate into the fabric. Blotting the area with a paper towel is one reliable option if there isn’t anything else around. On the other hand, if you have thick dribbling excess, a spoon or knife is an excellent way to eliminate the additional layer of chocolate.

After removing any extra chocolate, you should follow these steps:

• Pour liquid laundry detergent or dish soap directly onto the stain.
• Use the toothbrush or another small brush to scrub the stain until it appears entirely or nearly gone.
• Soak in cold water for 30 minutes minimum.
• Rinse your clothing with cold water. (See explanation below!)
• Allow your clothes to air dry or line dry.

Important Tips

You should always soak and rinse the item in cold water when trying to remove chocolate from fabric. Soaking and rinsing are necessary because chocolate, as we mentioned earlier, is oil-based. Oil and grease-based stains are likely to “cook” into the fabric at higher temperatures.

You should also try to line or air dry your clothing when figuring out how to get chocolate stains out of clothing. If you haven’t managed to remove the color entirely, you won’t cook what’s left of it into the shirt. For the same reason, you use cold water when washing out a stain.

Related: How To Get Oil Stains Out Of Clothes

How to Get Chocolate Out of Shirt after It’s Washed

If you’re trying to figure out how to remove chocolate stains in clothes that have been already washed and dried, the process will be a little different. There’s also a chance that a stain already been set may not be removable with this method.

For this process, you’ll need to bring in the stain remover and color-safe bleach we mentioned at the beginning of the article. You’ll want to thoroughly apply stain remover to the area and let it sit for at least five to ten minutes.

At this point, if the stain is still visible, you can choose to use the stain remover again or pretreat the stain with liquid laundry soap or dish soap like you would if it were a fresh stain. Let the clothing soak in cold water after scrubbing the stained area.

It would be best to wash the clothes following the instructions on the tag while adding color-safe bleach like OxiClean to the wash cycle. You can attempt this at least twice before deciding you can’t get the stain out. After washing, you can choose to air dry, line dry your clothing like before, or use the dryer as you normally would.

Related: How To Get Butter Out Of Clothes

How to Get Chocolate Out of White Shirts

Anyone looking to get chocolate out of fabric should be careful which detergents they use. You can use natural products if you’re worried about harsh chemicals on sensitive skin. On the other hand, you can’t remove some tougher stains without adding some substances.

If your clothing is colorful, you should always remember to use color-safe bleach. However, if the stain is on your best white shirt (and isn’t that always the case?), then you can consider using a small amount of bleach to eliminate the stain.

It likely won’t be much harder to remove chocolate from a white shirt than to get a cooked on an aging chocolate stain out of a more colorful piece of clothing. It takes a little elbow grease and patience to make laundry magic happen most of the time.

Don’t worry. You’re not the first person to be online searching about getting chocolate out of clothes. If you react quickly enough, even your white shirts stand a chance at avoiding a permanent stain.

Important Tips

Always make sure you have only plain white clothes in the washer when adding any amount of chlorine-based bleach to avoid discolorations.

Call Judi’s Cleaners for Chocolate Stains. You Can’t Get Out

Have you tried everything you can think of when it comes to how to remove chocolate stains? Are you feeling tapped out on energy after trying and failing to save a favorite piece of clothing?

Just because you couldn’t get the chocolate out of fabric in a home doesn’t mean it’s impossible. It might just take a professional touch to get your clothing back to looking new.

Judi’s Cleaners is a family-owned dry-cleaning service operating in the Greater Sacramento area since 1984. We are here to help you save your favorite pieces of clothing when you can’t figure out how to get chocolate out of fabric.

Whether it was chocolate brownie ice cream, chocolate fudge syrup, or a dropped chocolatey candy bar, chocolate stains are easy to get and hard to get rid of. With convenient pick-up and drop-off, you don’t even have to leave your home for us to be able to take care of your stained clothing. When these at-home tactics aren’t enough, let us take a shot at restoring your clothing.