Care guide · Stains & contamination
Oil beats an ordinary wash for a simple reason: it isn't water-soluble, and a 40-degree cycle with everyday detergent mostly just spreads it around. Getting it out is a two-step job — dissolve first, then wash hot. And on flame-resistant kit, it isn't optional.
Why it survives the wash
Detergents bridge oil and water, but an everyday low-temperature cycle gives them too little to work with: not enough heat to soften the grease, not enough chemistry to dissolve it. The fix isn't a stronger machine — it's pre-treatment: getting a degreasing agent into the stain before the wash, so the cycle has something it can actually rinse away.
Speed matters more than product choice. Fresh oil sits in the weave; week-old oil has oxidised into it. The crews whose kit stays presentable treat marks at the end of the shift, not at the end of the month.
The routine
Lift surface grease with a blunt edge and blot with rag or paper. Rubbing drives oil deeper and spreads the mark.
Work a solvent-based degreaser (or neat washing-up liquid — it's a kitchen-grade degreaser) into the stain. Leave it 15–30 minutes to dissolve the oil. Skipping this step is why the stain survives.
The hottest cycle the care label allows, a heavy-duty liquid detergent, and room in the drum for the garment to move. Cold cycles preserve oil beautifully.
Tumble heat sets any oil still in the fabric. Check clean before any heat drying — if in doubt, line-dry.
Run the pre-treat and hot wash once more if needed. Still marked after two rounds? On uniform kit that's cosmetic. On FR kit, see below — it's retirement.
Know when to stop
| Situation | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Fresh oil on poly-cotton polos, trousers, coveralls | Shifts — pre-treat + hot wash, usually first time |
| Old, oxidised staining on uniform kit | Cosmetic — fabric is clean after washing even if shadowed; demote to dirty-work kit if looks matter |
| Any oil saturation on FR / arc / antistatic kit | Launder properly or retire — contamination defeats the protection |
| Oil on hi-vis fluorescent panels that won't lift | Retire — stains mask fluorescence where it's measured |
Questions
Blot off the surface oil, pre-treat with a degreaser or neat washing-up liquid for 15–30 minutes, then wash on the hottest cycle the care label allows with a heavy-duty detergent. Air-dry and check before tumble-drying — heat sets any oil left in the fabric.
Oil isn't water-soluble, and a cool cycle with everyday detergent lacks both the heat and the chemistry to dissolve it. Without pre-treatment the wash mostly redistributes the oil — which is why the mark 'survives' laundering.
No. Hydrocarbon contamination makes flame-resistant fabric ignitable regardless of its certified rating — the oil is fuel held against your body. Oily FR garments need proper laundering before reuse, and kit that won't come clean gets retired.
Yes — it's formulated to cut kitchen grease and works the same way on workshop oil as a pre-treatment. Work it in neat, wait 20 minutes, then machine wash hot. For heavy or repeated contamination a purpose-made solvent degreaser is stronger.
When care can't bring a garment back to compliance, replace it — certified hi-vis and weatherproofs from stock, with embroidery for teams.