Has Anyone Had Trouble with the Equate Brand for Dawn Dish Soap Staining Clothes

I have used dishwashing detergent on clothing a couple of times - mostly for grease problems. Once I dripped some olive oil on a t shirt that I liked and washing didn't get rid of the grease spots. So I treated them with Dawn and washed them again and they were completely gone. Another time was spaghetti sauce on someone's shirt. So it can be helpful for grease spots or food stains.

I haven't used Equate brand, but I found this:

http://www.cleaninginstitute.org/clean_living/laundering_...

About half way down you'll see "Problem: blue stain left behind from detergent or soap etc" and it suggests white vinegar. Hope that helps.

I used Dawn for anything that gets on clothing with grease or oil in it. (My husband always gets salad dressing on his expensive dress shirts). I even put it on the stain and then toss it in the "to be washed" basket where it sits for up to a couple days.

I think this is where a true blue (pun intended) product beats a generic product. The generic may have had blue dye added to make it look like Dawn where as Dawn is blue because of the oil de-solvers in it.

I would treat it like I would an ink stain...white vinegar, arisol hairspray (gets out blue pen ink), or bleach if the item is white (a bleach pen could work if the area is white but the whole garment isn't).

Sorry this happened to you! Buy the equate brand for dish washing and then buy a small bottle of the real deal Dawn to keep in your laundry room for those oily stains.

Good luck!!

I am a stain machine I hate them on our clothes and go after them with a vengeance.

I once got red ink out of a white dress shirt...that was my biggest stain accomplishment ever!!

I'm not sure that the response critiquing you is fair. I don't read this necessarily that you are presoaking in blue dish soap, but rather that some blue dish soap got on the clothes, stained them, and you are presoaking to get that out. Not sure, but you might want to edit your question with more info to keep the responses on target.

I've used dish soap for grease stains but have never had staining. I use white vinegar a lot though, plus regular laundry stain remover, Maybe one like Oxy Clean would help? But in general, I start with natural products and check the stain before I ever let anything get near the dryer. Air dry first, because you can't always see stains on wet fabric, then the reappear when things are dry. If you use a hot or warm dryer, you're sunk.

Good luck!

The shirt is made of what fiber? Is it a natural fiber like cotton, linen, silk or wool, synthetic or a blend? What are the directions for care?

Is the whole shirt blue or just blue in spots? Did you soak the shirt in the detergent in an attempt to remove the blue stain or did the shirt become stained after soaking? What caused the stain that you treated by soaking? Did that stain come out?

Did you use fabric softener? It can leave an oily stain. Are you sure the Equate brand is chemically the same as the Dawn brand?

If you already dried the shirt in the dryer, the stain may be set.

I suggest calling Equate customer service. They will ask you some of these questions.

When home care products are colored, I expect they have dye in them. I've never heard it suggested that you soak an item in Dawn. The directions say rub the Dawn into the oily stain before washing it.

I use OxyClean for all my soaking. I leave the item in overnight. Recently, I soaked blood stained undershorts for 3 days. The stain was completely gone. I think I haven't been soaking blood stains long enough. That is the one stain I've had difficulty getting out of fabric.

I also apply liquid laundry detergent to stains before putting them in the washer. That removes recent stains most of the time.

ETA: I can't find anywhere on the Internet that Equate makes a dishwashing product. I learned that Walmart owns the Equate Brand and only sells pharmacy and beauty products. I don't know how you could contact the manufacturer. Or If the detergent you used is actually an Equate brand.

I use dawn for son's baseball pants on grass and dirt stains and it is awesome. I pour a little on the stain and toothbrush it in and scrub for a minute and toss in the wash. Also works great for oil based stains. Sorry never tried equate for this. I think you just left it on too long??

I have had success by treating those blue type stains with a clothing stain remover. I've used the spray kind and also the roll on gel kind. I've even had some success with using clothing detergent right on it, then washing as usual.
But some have never come out.
I think the blue dye in the soap set on your clothes. Especially for a few days of soaking. What happened likely is the dye did not dissolve and sat on your clothing. And then set.

I have had this happen with detergent in my washer before. I changed detergents and hasn't been so much of a problem. But it would happen if my detergent (cheaper brand) would not be fully diluted before I put my clothes in.

good luck :)

I get your dilemma. As to critiques to you--not everyone can afford to buy separate products for stain removal.

You have other good responses to both questions. Use those. Good luck.

I don't want to sound snarky, but if it says it's "dish" soap, then it's for dishes, not clothes. I mean, did you purposely put it on your clothes or it spilled on them when you were doing the dishes? Anyway, I guess to answer your question, no, I have not had this issue. Good luck.

ETA: I just saw your second question that said you were "pre-soaking" your clothing. I've never heard of this. If you have a stain, they make products specifically for that. Good luck.

Have you tried boiling it or putting hot water on it? My mom uses dishwasher detergent and boiling hot water that she puts on the item to get rid of grease and the detergent. You could also try vinegar. I have used Ajax (from the dollar store) and let it sit for a day, without stains. I buy the yellow one. I wonder if there is some sort of dye that has permeated the clothing but if not, it could simply be a matter of letting it soak in water for some days and scrub the detergent out by rubbing the item. Maybe you used too much detergent and need to rub and rinse out the article of clothing well. If not, like someone else suggested, I would call the product manufacturer and see what they advise.