How to Get Vape Juice Stains Out of Clothes

Thanks for sending in your question—it’s one I haven’t received before but I guess given the popularity of e-cigarettes you may not be alone in this problem.  I don’t actually have any experience with vaping myself, so I don’t know how easy or difficult it is to add the liquid to the device.  I also did a web search to better understand the chemical composition of liquid “vape juice”.  I found this website to be particularly helpful: https://stillblowingsmoke.org

It had a link to a Washington Post article that was also useful:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/the-facts-behind-e-cigarettes-and-their-health-risks/2016/02/22/b18b2684-8c9a-11e5-ae1f-af46b7df8483_story.html

It looks like the most likely culprit making your stain a problem to remove is propylene glycol, the carrier for the nicotine.  This makes an oily stain, so you should be able to remove it by pretreating with liquid dishwashing detergent (the kind you use for hand washing dishes).  The basic technique is to pretreat the stain while the fabric is dry—that is, don’t rinse it with water first.  Apply a little detergent directly to the stain and massage it in.  Wait 5 minutes, and then rinse with a little warm water.  Now you can machine wash the item in the warmest water recommended on the care label using your favorite detergent and ½ cup Clorox® Regular Bleach₂ if your item is white and safely bleachable (check the care label and avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex) or Clorox2® if your item has color.  Air dry and check for success—repeat if needed for complete removal.

I hope this is helpful—good luck, and let me know how it turns out.