How to Remove Paint from Clothes

Paint is a wonderful addition to walls, doors, porches, shutters, and baseboards. But one place that paint doesn’t belong is on your clothes. Removing excess paint from clothes can be a pain and even ruin jeans, shirts, shoes, and other delicate fabrics that you love. 

To dispel the myths, here is some advice for how to remove paint from clothes.

How to Remove Acrylic Paint from Clothes 

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Acrylic paint is often a tricky type of paint to remove from clothes. It forms a plastic-like layer that’s hard to scrub away. If the paint is still wet when you notice it, hold the stained fabric under a faucet with cold water running until much of the paint washes out. Alternatively, you can soak the clothing in a bowl of cold water. Then use a stain removal treatment on what’s left behind and then wash it in a washing machine on cold water with laundry detergent.

How to Remove Latex Paint from Clothes 

For latex paint, you can dry dabbing the stain with warm water and a good amount of rubbing alcohol. Just rub the fabric against itself, add more rubbing alcohol if needed, and rinse it out with warm water. After scrubbing it out, put the piece of clothing in the washing machine in hot water. Other methods for how to remove latex paint from clothes involve using dish detergent or hairspray for the scrubbing process.

How to Remove Oil-Based Paint from Clothes

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For oil-based paint, catching the stain quickly is very important. Try adding a few drops of dish soap onto the stain and allow it to set for about five minutes before scrubbing it away with a brush. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer, nail polish, and rubbing alcohol are also options if the dish soap doesn’t do the trick. As always, run the stained piece of clothing through the washing machine when you’re done scrubbing. 

How to Remove Water-Based Paint from Clothes

Fortunately, water-based paint is among the easiest types of paint to remove from clothes, regardless of whether it’s wet or dry. Hold the stained fabric under running water until the water runs clear. Spray on a little liquid detergent to pre-treat the stain, and then toss it into the washing machine to have it come out as good as new.

How to Remove Dried Paint from Clothes

interior painters

If you didn’t notice your paint-stained clothing until later or didn’t have time to wash it right away, don’t fear because there are some effective solutions for how to remove dried paint from clothes. Instead of instantly tossing the item into your rag bin, spray on some aerosol hairspray and try to scrub out the stain with an old toothbrush or the edge of a butter knife. This will help loosen up the dried paint but only use a knife if the fabric is not delicate. Then you can rinse off the loosened paint with hot water and spray it with some spot remover. You may have to repeat this process a few times before the paint is totally gone. But this method does make a huge difference. 

To protect your clothes and avoid tough stain removal jobs, why not leave painting projects to the professionals? Our local professional painters are hand-selected via a thorough vetting process and can begin your job quickly with no messy cleanup required!