How to Remove Oil Stains from Silk [Without Ruining It]

Everyone has his/her choice of preferred fabric, whether it is cotton, viscose, velvet, nylon, chiffon, leather, linen, wool, satin or silk. While some may be a turn off for some folks others may gladly rock in them.

Among all natural fabrics, Silk is arguably regarded as the strongest. The fabric isn’t just known by its natural lustre and softness, its durability has as well been proved and tested.

... But does that mean oil stains on Silk are durable as well? Smiles... Not really.

It worth mentioning that removing stains from silk often times could be a daunting task but not literally an impossible one. Oil stain is one of the easiest stains to remove from silk.

If you just spill oil on your silk fabric or you want to know how to remove old oil stain, then this guide on how to remove oil stains from silk should help you get the stains out.

How to remove oil stains from silk

There is not just one cause of greasy or oily stains. Fried foods, fingerprints due to oils on the hands, salad dressing, just name it are causes of oil stain.

Follow these steps judiciously in order to get that silk sparking clean again.

The things you'll need

In order to remove oil stains from silk, you'll need

1. A good absorbent powder. [any of these would do]
- Salt
- Cornstarch

2. A dry cleaning kit
- Distilled water
- Cloth
- Dish liquid

Steps on How to Remove the Oil Stain

Step 1: 

Place the Silk material/fabric on a plain surface. There would be a couple of scrubbing and rubbing off so you’ll have to lay the silk item on a plain/flat surface.

Step 2: 

Cover the stain by applying some amount of the absorbent powder (either salt, baking soda or cornstarch) to cover the stain.

Step 3

Allow the powder to absorb the oil by leaving it on the stain for some hours. You could set alarm.

Step 4

Now brush the powder off the silk and scrub gently with a piece of cloth or something.

Step 5

At this point, you should notice the oil stains already removing. But in case the stain still remains, repeat the whole process again. This method works very effectively on fresh oil stains although it could as well work on pretty much older oil stains.

Step 6 (Final Resort)

If you’ve followed this guide on how to remove oil stains from silk from step 1 up and the stain still turns out stubborn, you may want to consider these two options as a final resort.

Option 1

For the first option, you'll be needing a hair dryer or fan alongside. Here's how it works. Using your hands, rub a little dish liquid into the stain, then rinse out with distilled water (in order to prevent water stain). Now get your dryer, set it on cool air and use it to dry the silk. Suppose you don't have a dryer, you could place the silk in front of a fan.

Option 2

The second option requires you to dry the spot with the oil stains it is more or less how to remove oil stains from silk after washing. For this, you'd need to make use of a home drying cleaning kit. These kits are usually available in supermarkets, so when you go shopping next time, do check out the laundry aisle. Instructions on usage are usually on the label of the product you choose.

Have you tried removing an oil stain lately, was it a new stain or an old stain and were you able to get the spot shining as new? Do tell us in the comments below. Don't forget to share this to help keep it relevant to folks who also wish to learn how to remove oil stains from silk.