How to get lemon stain (bright yellow!) out of white tee shirt ? ?

APennySaved

I need advice re how to get lemon stain (bright yellow!) out of white tee shirt :
i.e. advice re how to get RID! of lemon juice, rather than advice re how to use lemon juice to get rid of OTHER stains!

As I wore a brand new top out to a restaurant, only to get lemon juice on the top I was wearing, when the squeezer that was supplied with the salad sprayed the juice from the lemon segment all over the top. :sad:

And it was the first time I had worn the top: brand new - and WHITE! So I knew that, although lemon juice is an organic substance, the stain would no doubt take some getting out of the tee top i.e. would need some soaking. As it is of course:
(i) citric ACID!
(ii) a bright yellow stain on white
Yikes! :eek:

It's a stylish top with lovely crochet detail/edging, so I don't want to have to bin it.

What larks! (Not!)

So the next day I soaked the top in a solution of hot water + Persil Non-Bio liquid detergent. The tee-shirt part of the top is made of cotton material; that is the stained part. (The crochet-lace edging is, fortunately, untouched.) Then some hours later I washed the top as per the usual washing machine process for such a top.

But those 2 processes haven't done the job, as the main part of the stain is still on the top, & the yellow is visible on the white material !!

So does anybody have any Old Style ideas - or new ideas, for that matter! - as to how to get rid of this yellow stain.

All help appreciated!

Callie22

The stain is more likely from the oils in the lemon rather than the citric acid, since citric acid can be used as a bleach. One of the things that can activate it is sunlight, so for a first attempt I'd try sticking the top in the sun for a few hours, to see if it makes a difference. If that doesn't work then I'd give oxygen bleach a go - I think with some of the Vanish stuff you can make it into a paste, work it into the stain, rinse and then wash. I wouldn't suggest that for coloured clothes, but as it's a white top you don't have much to lose, and as long as you rinse it well I'm sure it'd be ok.

Failing that, then I have used 'real' bleach on white shirts etc with success. If I get an annoying stain - like tomato, for example - then I've managed to get it out by carefully dabbing the stained area with some bleach on a cotton bud. Again, you need to rinse it well and I'd say this is something that you do at your own risk (and ONLY on white clothes!), but it's worked for me and if it's a case of binning a top or possibly getting it clean again, you might as well take the risk.

sparrer

I've used bleach but not neat, with success on pure lime juice spilled on white cotton trousers. I mixed it with a teaspoon of Stardrops and a splash of water then scrubbed it in a circular motion with an old toothbrush, washed it at 40 degrees and hung it on the line. There's a vague mark but you'd have to know it was there to see it. Good luck getting the stain out.