DIY Essential Oil Stain Remover: Multiple Recipes for Multiple Stain Types

Essential oils can relieve anxiety and stress and they might even be able to reduce inflammation and sleeplessness. Even better is that when combined with just a few other ingredients, many essential oils make a fantastic DIY stain remover. What can you clean using essential oils?

Here are some stains that DIY essential oils can treat:

  • Blood
  • Pet stains
  • Ink
  • Mildew
  • Grease

How can essential oils do all that, and which ones should you use and when? In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know. Keep reading for essential oil stain remover recipes that cover every type of stain you want gone! 

How to Use DIY Essential Oils as a Stain Remover

DIY Essential Stain Remover for Cloth and Clothing Stains

Few things are worse than when you buy a nice new shirt or a pair of trousers and, on their second or third wear, you stain them. You’ve tried dabbing at the stain with dish soap and warm water, but the stain just isn’t budging. Before you assume that your clothes are a goner, try some lemon essential oil.

Lemon essential oil is a godsend due to its versatility in stain removal. Not only does the oil dissolve any remaining stain residue, but it can lessen the unappealing discoloration that a stain leaves behind.

To clean a clothes stain with essential oil, here’s what you need:

  • Lemon essential oil (4 drops)
  • Laundry soap (1/2 cup)
  • Water (1/2 cup)
  • White distilled vinegar (2 tablespoons)
  • Washing soda (1/3 cup)
  • Castille soap (1 bar that’s shaved down)

In a saucepan, pour the above ingredients except for the laundry soap and the lemon essential oil. Put the pan on the stove on low and let the ingredients meld together. When everything is significantly melted, turn the stove off and remove the pan from the heat.

Add in the lemon oil and laundry soap, stirring to fully incorporate these ingredients. Let the mixture cool and then pour it into a plastic zippy bag. You can then transport the clothing cleaner to a container like an empty deodorant or lip balm stick.

Apply the cleaner on the stain and then put your shirt or pants in the washer. They should come out cleaner!

Essential Oils For Teeth Stains

You can’t start a single day without a cup (or several) of coffee except for maybe the weekends. Perhaps you’re someone who drinks a glass of red wine every evening to relax. These beverages and other dietary decisions can lead to your teeth becoming discolored.

You’re now self-conscious every time you smile. Brushing hasn’t helped so far either. You’re thinking about scheduling a teeth-whitening session with your dentist. Why not see what essential oil can do first?

The great thing about essential oils is that many are edible. Orange oil is one such edible oil that can make your pearly whites that much whiter. All you have to do is brush with orange oil instead of toothpaste. Apply two drops of essential oil and make sure your toothbrush is dry.

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Gently go over each tooth so you don’t inflame your gums with the rough, dry brush. After two minutes, you can spit out the essential oil. Your teeth should look better already.

The reason this works is that orange oil is rich in the antioxidant d-limonene. As this 2010 study in the Journal of the American Dental Association exemplifies, toothpaste containing d-limonene can remove even smoking stains from teeth.  

How To Remove Blood Stains With Essential Oils

Bloodstains can be especially embarrassing, especially for women on their menstrual cycles who have unintended leaks. Whether it’s a nice set of sheets, a light-colored pair of underwear, other clothing, or even furniture, you don’t have to let dried blood crust up and stick around forever.

Lemon is great at combatting blood, so reach for the lemon essential oil. The oil will likely work better on dried bloodstains, but you can try it on fresh stains too. Assuming the stain is dry, first, you want to try to scrape away as much excess blood as you can. You can use a credit card for this or even your fingernail.

Next, soak the item in cold water for at least five minutes. When the time has elapsed, wring and squeeze out all the water and put the item in a bag. Add half a cup of salt to the bag as well as two cups of lemon essential oil. Tie or zip up the bag.

Rub the essential oil and the salt into the fabric through the bag, really getting in there good. Then let your shirt or underwear air-dry outdoors. Launder the clothing in your washing machine like normal to remove residue from the salt and essential oil. 

DIY Essential Oil Recipe For Carpet Stains

If the kids covertly spilled something behind your back and the dark patterns of the carpet had masked the stain until you did a closer inspection, don’t panic. It’s orange essential oil to the rescue just as you used to make your teeth shiny and bright again.

This time, you want to combine orange oil with hydrogen peroxide and baking soda for some serious stain-removing power. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

  • Distilled white vinegar or hydrogen peroxide (1/4 cup)
  • Orange essential oil (6 drops)
  • Warm water (1/4 cup)
  • Baking soda (1/4 cup)

Take a clean mixing bowl and pour in warm water with the baking soda. Use a whisk to break up any clumps of baking soda. The baking soda does not have to be fully dissolved though. Add the mixture to a small spray bottle. A funnel can come in handy as you pour, as it will lessen spills.

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Then squeeze out approximately 6 drops of your favorite orange essential oil. Finally, add the hydrogen peroxide. If you don’t have any hydrogen peroxide handy, then try white distilled vinegar instead, as it works just as well.

Screw on the nozzle for the spray bottle, shake up the contents, and spray the stains on the carpet. Let the ingredients soak for at least 15 minutes; you can double that time for stubborn or large stains.

With warm water and a microfiber cloth, scrub at the stain and then blot it up. Your carpet should be stain-free!

Remove Pet Stains With Homemade Essential Oil Recipe

What if you have a stain of a different nature on your carpet? You know, not from spilled red wine or pasta sauce, but from cat or dog pee. These accidents happen from time to time, but you don’t have to let Fido or Fifi wreck your carpeting.

This time, lemon and eucalyptus essential oils will clear your carpets of urine residue and odor. Make sure you have these ingredients handy:

  • Eucalyptus essential oil (5 drops)
  • Lemon essential oil (15 drops)
  • Salt (1 teaspoon)
  • Water (1 cup)
  • Apple cider vinegar (1 cup)

Mix both essential oils in a small bowl and then add the salt. Stir until the ingredients are incorporated, then funnel them through into a spray bottle. Pour in the water and apple cider vinegar.

Use a paper towel to dry up some of the urine. Then shake up your spray bottle and mist the area until it’s thoroughly wet. Give the ingredients 15 minutes to do their thing and blot up the liquid. Repeat this until the carpet is dry. 

Use Essential Oils To Remove Ink Stains

Although we as a society have largely moved away from writing by hand, pens are still an office staple. Whether your pen exploded in your pants pocket or you tipped a small jar of ink into your lap at work, the dark ink seems like it will be a permanent part of your wardrobe moving forward.

Not if you have some eucalyptus oil handy, it won’t! Pour some of the oil onto a soft cloth and then rub at the ink stain a little bit at a time. Wait for about a minute and then blot only a portion of the stain with the eucalyptus oil. Repeat on more stubborn stains until you can see no more ink.

Then put your clothes in the washer and dryer. You’ll have the best results removing ink with eucalyptus oil if the clothes are woven or cotton and lighter in hue.

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DIY Essential Oils For Leather Cleaning

Whether it’s leather furniture or your favorite faded leather jacket, you can keep it plush and supple with a DIY leather cleaner. You may have heard that oils can be bad for leather, but that’s only olive oil, especially when it’s mixed with vinegar.

Lemon essential oil won’t damage your leather goods, so it’s a suitable material for a leather conditioner. Using a soft cloth, squirt out between 10 and 15 drops of your favorite lemon essential oil. Rub the cloth into the leather, massaging it so the entire surface gets evenly coated.

What can lemon essential oil do for leather? Improve its look and better its odor, for starters. Beyond that, the oil might be able to safeguard your leather from cracks. Condition your leather goods about every 90 days and they’ll look better than ever and they might last longer too!

Remove Mildew Stains With Essential Oils

Not only is mildew dangerous from a health perspective, but the streaky, gross stains the bacteria can leave on your furniture and your walls make it a nuisance as well. All types of essential oils can combat mildew stains (and mold stains too), from eucalyptus to lemon. You can even combine the two.

When applying on grout, start with a drop or two of essential oil at a time. If letting the oil sit for a while doesn’t remove the mildew, then scour with a grout scrub brush. You can also increase how much essential oil you’re using.

DIY Essential Oils For Wool Grease Stains

Did you buy shorn wool clothing recently? Then it’s likely greasy as well. The reason for this is that lanolin remains within the wool, which is an animal byproduct from animals with wool such as sheep. Compounding the problem is that greasy wool might also have contaminants such as sand or dirt.

Wearing this raw wool feels odd, to say the least. Since you probably spent a good deal of money on your wool garments, you’d prefer not to throw them away, but you’re not sure what to do to remove the grease.

A few drops of eucalyptus oil ought to do the trick here. Alternately, lemon oil works just as well. Combine a few drops of oil with baking soda, which is another highly recommended ingredient for buffing away grease and oil stains. Then rub at the parts of your wool shirt or hat that feel greasiest.

In Conclusion

Essential oils are often edible, awesome for aromatherapy, and naturally calming. Best of all, you can use lemon, eucalyptus, and orange essential oils for ridding surfaces of all sorts of stubborn stains. From clothes to leather furniture, wool, and carpeting, your home can be naturally cleaner without harsh chemicals!