Will Dry Shampoo Lift Oil Stains From Your Clothing? Here's What We Found

The savior of all lazy hair days (or when you have gone a little too long without washing your hair), dry shampoo is a staple beauty product. However, the handy substance may have more than one use. Not just for refreshing your hair, dry shampoo is thought to get those pesky oil-based stains out of your favorite garments. It's designed to absorb the oil and grease from your hair, so it makes sense that it would act similarly for oil stains on your clothes.

In addition to dry shampoo, you'll need dish soap and an old toothbrush to carry out the following method. Everyone gets oil on their clothing from time to time, whether it's from cooking stir fry, spilled beauty products, or housing a burger. Whatever the cause of the stain, oil marks can be tricky to get out and are notoriously stubborn, often sticking around on clothes even after they have been in the wash. However, with this uncommon shampoo hack, you can finally get rid of any lingering reminders of your meal.

First things first, you'll need to wait until the oil has dried before attempting this stain-removal trick. When you're sure it has fully dried, grab your can of dry shampoo and spray a generous amount directly onto the stain, enough so that the powder is fully visible. We recommend using an unscented, translucent dry shampoo, as any other can leave your garment with a strange smell and a worse stain than the one you started with. Leave the shampoo to soak in for a few hours — how long you leave it will depend on how bad the mark is. Next, grab a metal spoon.

Use the spoon to get rid of the remaining powder over the stain. You could also try using a regular cloth or a tissue if you don't have a spoon to hand. Next, apply a few drops of dish soap to where the powder was and work it in with the toothbrush. Make sure you don't scrub too hard. If you do, this could damage the clothing item and set the stain. Afterward, put the item in the wash you would normally. 

Before you get started, there are a few caveats to this cleaning hack. Via lifestyle blog Scary Mommy, Molly Mock, President of Molly Maid, revealed that using dry shampoo on natural fibers may not work as well due to the absorbency of these fibers (meaning the oil will sink into the clothing item faster). Additionally, it could leave behind more than you bargained for. "Dry shampoos often contain starch or powders, which can result in a white or powdery residue on the fabric," Mock stated. "This residue might be more noticeable on darker or colored fabrics. To avoid this, we recommend thoroughly brushing off the dry shampoo after applying it and then laundering the item as soon as possible to remove any remaining residue."

This hack is a good one to try in a pinch, but always do a patch test on the item you're intending to carry it out on beforehand. You can do this by spraying a small amount of dry shampoo on the reverse of your item. This way, you can see whether there will be any issues before you potentially ruin your item. Plus, as Mock stated, it's key to wash the item in question soon after to prevent the dry shampoo residue from causing the fabric to stiffen.