How to Pre-Soak Clothes Before Washing

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Learn to presoak clothes in a washing machine or separate container

Co-authored by Ayad Mirjan

Last Updated: May 8, 2023 References

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Pre-Soaking in a Washing Machine

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Soaking in a Separate Container

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Soaking with Care

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Q&A

Soak your clothes to help removing stains. Remember: not all clothing can withstand soaking, so read the labels beforehand. You can pre-soak your fabrics in the washing machine, or you can use a separate container if you're hand-washing.

Things You Should Know

Add a capful of detergent to a washing machine full of cold water, add in your clothing, and let the clothes soak for 20-30 minutes.
Add about a capful of stain remover or detergent to a sink or bucket filled with cold water. Place your clothing into the container and let sit for 20-30 minutes.
After soaking your garments, rinse with plain water and wash as usual.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Pre-Soaking Clothes in the Washing Machine

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1
Pre-soak your clothes before washing. You can soak clothes directly in the chamber of your washing machine if you plan to machine wash them afterward. All you need to do is add detergent to the water drawn into the washing machine, then let the clothes soak for 20-30 minutes in the mix of detergent and standing water.^{[1]
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- It will be easier to soak clothes in a top-loading washing machine than in a side-loading machine. Check your side-loading machine for an integrated pre-soak function.^{[2]
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- Pre-soaking in the machine can be convenient because you won't need to transfer the fabric after the soak. However, you don't need to soak in the washing machine if you plan to hand-wash your clothes.
Start the wash cycle with the machine empty so that the chamber fills up with water. Then, when it is at least half-full, stop the cycle so that you can prepare the soak.

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Add detergent or stain remover. Use the regular amount that you would use to wash your clothes.Swish and stir the cleaning agent to ensure that it dissolves into the water. When the detergent is evenly distributed and the water is soapy, you are ready to add your clothing.
- The recommended dose of detergent should be listed on the bottle of the cleaning product. If there is a cap to the detergent, you can usually get by with filling the cap.
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Soak your clothes. Put all of the clothes you wish to wash into the chamber of the laundry machine. Make sure that all garments are completely submerged beneath the water-and-detergent mixture. Leave the fabrics to soak for up to an hour unless otherwise directed.
- Leave tough stains to soak for even longer. If the fabric is resilient—say, denim or canvas—you can soak for several hours to launch a more powerful attack on the stain.
- Don't soak for too long! Fragile fibers like wool and cotton may begin to come apart or dissolve with extended exposure to stain-removal agents. This is especially the case if you are using an industrial-strength product like bleach.
When the hour has passed, take the clothing out of the washing machine and rinse it thoroughly to remove the soaking detergent or stain-removal fluid. This step is generally considered optional if you plan to immediately run the clothing through the wash.
Wash clothing as normal. If the soak did not remove the stain, then you may consider soaking again – but be careful not to be too hard on the fabric. A more intensive, localized soak or scrub might be the way to tackle a tough stain.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Soaking in a Separate Container

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Fill the soaking container. Use a bucket, tub, or trough deep enough to submerge the entire garment underwater. Suitable soaking spaces may include a clean laundry sink, a clean bucket, or even a baby's bath. Add enough water that you can submerge all of the clothing, but not so much that the addition of the clothing will displace the water and make it spill over. To avoid this problem: try first filling the bucket with the clothes that you want to soak, and then pouring the water over the clothing.^{[3]
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- You will need to locate a suitable container that can be filled with water and still take the added clothing size. Remember that the weight of the clothing will increase the water level!
Use the regular amount that you would use to wash your clothes. Swish and stir the cleaning agent to ensure that it dissolves into the water.
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Submerge the clothing. Add the clothing and push deep under the water so that all of the garments are completely covered with water. Push down any pieces of fabric that pop up above the waterline.
- If you are trying to remove a small, localized stain, then consider only soaking the stained corner of the fabric. This way, you won't need as much room.^{[4]
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- If the water spills over, then you've added too many garments. Try soaking in stages, or soaking simultaneously in multiple buckets.^{[5]
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Let the clothing soak. The length depends on the fabric: e.g. denim can be soaked for hours, and wool or cotton should not be exposed to stain remover for longer than 20-30 minutes.^{[6]
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Research source} Do a light soak (20-30 minutes) if you're just having a routine wash. Soak for longer if you're trying to intensively remove a heavy stain.^{[7]
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- Rub detergent gently into the stain for 30 seconds to help loosen it from the fabric.
Wash the soaked clothing as normal. Rinse the fabric out before washing to remove the detergent. If the soak did not remove the stain, then you may consider soaking again – but be careful not to be too hard on the fabric. A more intensive, localized soak or scrub might be the way to tackle a tough stain.^{[8]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Soaking with Care

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Read the care labels before soaking. This is an absolute must. Some fabrics are ideally suited to soaking, but others will not stand up so well to the procedure. In general, heavy, durable fabrics are great to soak, whereas delicate garments might be better suited to a scrub.
- Be careful about soaking wool. It is a soft, delicate fabric, and a wool garment runs the risk of shrinking if you soak it for too long.
If stains are especially bad, then it usually pays to rub on a small amount of detergent or the suggested stain removal agent directly to the stain. Run a web search to determine the best practice for a particular type of stain: e.g. grass, blood, food, urine.

Community Q&A

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Question

Will soaking of a cotton t-shirt lengthen the shirt?

Community Answer

Soaking shirts with 100% cotton materials will not make the fabric longer, as it's a tight-woven material.

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Question

Do I need to soak hand-washed garments that do not have stains?

Community Answer

No. If it says hand wash, put it in the washing machine on a hand wash setting then manually turn to spin; it should take around 30 minutes to hand wash, ten minutes to spin. If you need to disinfect, soak in a bucket with Dettol for half an hour or add Dettol to the wash with the soap powder.

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Things You'll Need

Stain removal liquid/paste or washing detergent
Container such as a laundry sink, bucket, or baby's bath; the big bath is also suitable. Make sure all are clean
Water