Stains are an unfortunate part of life – even the neatest and most fastidious among us will still fall foul of spills, splashes and general mishaps.
So, unless you exclusively wear army fatigues or you've based your wardrobe around mission brown, you're going to have some stubborn stains gracing your laundry.
Pre-wash stain remover sprays are an easy way to battle these blights on your laundry, pronto. To misquote RuPaul, just spray and sashay away.
Some sprays will have you back on the runway in no time, but others will leave your clothes so stained you'll be serving hobo-chic realness when you wear them.
Powders are a triple-threat: they whiten, they brighten and they boost
Powders, on the other hand, are a triple threat: they whiten, they brighten and they boost. These versatile laundry queens can go in the wash to amp up your laundry detergent, or be used as a soaker for those times when you've spilled too much tea on your best white frock.
When we test stain removers, we treat different types of stains – everything from olive oil and makeup to sweat and mud – and let it sit for five minutes to do its thing. Then we wash everything using the same detergent.
So, when the results come out in the wash, which ones slay, and which ones are a drag to use?
On this page:
- The stain remover powders that topped our tests
- The stain remover sprays that topped our tests
- The stain remover powders to avoid
- The best products for sweat stains
- The best products for grass and mud stains
How to smash stains and still save money
Many of the top-scoring stain removers in our tests come from the big-name brands: Vanish and Sard. But with big names come big prices.
If you're trying to slash your budget but don't want to settle for stained slacks, we have some good news: you can spend less and still banish blemishes from your clothes.
Our testing revealed several cheaper stain removers, particularly pre-treater sprays if that's your bag, that perform as well as the well-known brands – but for less than a sixth of the price!
Aldi Di-San stain removers were among the cheapest products we tested, but they punch well above their weight, scoring the same as – and sometimes even more than – more expensive products.
Our testing revealed several cheaper stain removers that perform as well as the well-known brands – but for less than a sixth of the price!
More affordable products from Coles and Woolworths also impressed in our tests.
If you opt for these cheap champions, you'll pay a fraction of the price for the same stain-busting power.
When you add up how many loads of stained washing you'll do each year, it can be hard to justify those higher prices, especially in our current cost of living crisis.
The savings can add up when you think about how many loads of washing you'll do each year.
The stain remover powders that topped our tests
We tested the soaking power of 30 different powder stain removers, from brands such as Sard, Vanish, Aldi, The Pink Stuff, Ecostore, Coles, Woolworths and more.
Of the nine products our experts recommend, four come from Sard, four are Vanish brand (in fact, Sard and Vanish share the top podium spot) and the other is a low-cost hero from Aldi.
The equal top-scoring products were the Sard Whiter & Brighter Stain Remover Major Stain Types Antibacterial Soaker and the Vanish NapiSan Oxi Action Gold Pro Advanced Crystal White Stain Remover. Both topped the charts with a score of 74%.
Grass, mud, tomato, chocolate ice cream and baby food were no match for their stain-removing muscle, though they were somewhat less effective on blood, oil and sweat.
At $1.10 per 100g for the Sard product and $1.90 per 100g for the Vanish product, though, they're some of the more expensive powders we tested. Can you still get dazzling whites and brighter brights without spending as much?
Performance at a lower price: Aldi's Di-San Pro Oxy powder.
Coming in at 71%, and still recommended by our experts, Aldi's Di-San Pro Oxy Laundry Soaker & In Wash Booster delivers serious bang for your buck, busting stains on a budget.
The Aldi powder costs less than a third of the price of the top scorer.
It was neck and neck with the Sard product on most stains, falling behind on mineral oil and olive oil. (So maybe not the best product if you're a mechanic by day, Italian chef by night.)
Sard's stain-busting Whiter & Brighter powder was the highest scoring powder in our tests.
Here are the top three scorers from our stain remover powder test:
Sard Whiter & Brighter Stain Remover Major Stain Types Antibacterial Soaker
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 74% (Recommended)
- Price per 100g: $1.10
Vanish NapiSan Oxi Action Gold Pro Advanced Crystal White Stain Remover
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 74% (Recommended)
- Price per 100g: $1.90
Sard Power Stain Remover Major Stain Types Antibacterial Soaker
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 73% (Recommended)
- Price per 100g: $1.10
Find out all the other stain remover powders/soakers our experts recommend in our latest stain remover review.
The cult Aldi stain remover spray that beats the big brands
Aldi has done it once again, delivering a product that kills it in both the price and performance departments.
Aldi's cheap-as-chips stain remover spray-wiped the floor with products costing more than six times the price.
Aldi Di-San Pro Ultra Degreaser with Enzymes scored a solid 73% overall, coming second by just one percentage point to Sard Super Power Stain Remover Toughest Stains, which scored 74%.
But at just 28 cents per 100mL, the Aldi spray is less than a sixth of the cost of its rival, and beats products from other big brands such as Vanish and White King.
It's hard to justify spending so much more on the Sard product for such a minuscule difference in performance. The Aldi product actually outperformed or equalled Sard in some tests, taking on stains such as tomato, mineral oil and grass and mud more effectively than the more expensive product.
And apparently it doesn't only clean clothes: many CHOICE Community members swear by it as a grout cleaner. While we haven't tested it for that purpose, it's only $2.15 a bottle so it won't cost you much to try it for yourself.
Cheaper supermarket sprays come out on top
It's good news all round in fact if you're looking to save a few bucks on your laundry routine. Of the six pre-treater stain remover products our experts recommend, five are cheaper supermarket own-brand options from Aldi, Coles and Woolworths.
The Coles Ultra Pre-wash Stain Remover received our third-highest score of 72% and costs just marginally more than the Aldi product at $2.15 (43 cents per 100ml). It performed particularly well on removing stains such as tomato, baby food and grass and mud.
The stain remover sprays that topped our tests
Top-scoring spray: Sard Super Power Stain Remover Toughest Stains.
These are six top-scoring stain remover sprays that our experts recommend:
Sard Super Power Stain Remover Toughest Stains
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 74%
- Price per 100mL: $1.90
Aldi Di-San Pro Ultra Degreaser with Enzymes
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 73%
- Price per 100mL: $0.28
Coles Ultra Pre-Wash Stain Remover
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 72%
- Price per 100mL: $0.43
Aldi Di-San Pro Oxy with Enzymes
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 71%
- Price per 100mL: $0.28
Woolworths Clean Ultimate Oil and Grime with Enzymes Pre-wash Stain Remover
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 71%
- Price per 100mL: $0.28
Coles Ion Enzyme Action Gold
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 70%
- Price per 100mL: $1.78
To see the full list of products, check our stain remover reviews.
The stain remover powders to avoid
The bad news is that, although there are some cheaper products in our test that outperformed their more expensive counterparts, there are a batch of low-cost powders we tested, including products from IGA and Woolworths, that just didn't stack up.
So while you might save a few pennies, your laundry may still be lacklustre.
Low price but lacklustre performance: the Woolworths Clean Laundry Soaker and In-Wash Booster was one of our lowest scorers.
These are the ones to cross off your shopping list:
- Bloody Awesome Laundry Stain and Odour Remover (CHOICE Expert Rating: 56%)
- Community Co Loads Cleaner Oxy Action Multi-Action In-Wash Booster & Soaker (59%)
- Woolworths Clean Laundry Soaker and In-Wash Booster (60%)
- Black & Gold Laundry Sanitiser Soaker and In-Wash Booster (60%).
The most common stains
When we asked Australian shoppers what kinds of stains they typically encounter on wash day, the most common culprits were:
- perspiration
- grass and mud
- cooking/food oil
So, which product is best for which stain? And are there other ways to get rid of these common stains?
The best products for sweat stains
When we tested our sprays on some sweaty stains, there were three products that stood out, each scoring 70% in this particular test.
One was our top scorer – Sard Super Power Stain Remover Toughest Stains – and the others were the Woolworths Clean Ultimate Oil and Grime with Enzymes Pre-Wash Stain Remover, and the Sard Oils and Grime Stain Remover Expert Action spray.
The Sard product scored 70% when we used it to remove sweat stains in the wash, but it got a CHOICE Expert Rating of 64%, so there are better overall performers in our list.
In the powder department, Vanish NapiSan Oxi Action Gold Pro Advanced Crystal White Stain Remover is the go-to sweat buster. It's also one of the top-scoring powders overall and is recommended by our experts.
The best products for grass and mud stains
If you've regularly got family members coming off the sports field or playground with grass and mud stains, the Aldi soaker stain remover is your best bet to wish them away – the cheap-as-chips soaker scored 80% on removing grass and mud stains.
The top-scoring powder, Vanish NapiSan Oxi Action Crystal White Powder Fabric Stain Remover + Whitener costs substantially more but received the highest score in the grass and mud stain test, with a score of 85% in this test.
A home recipe of hydrogen peroxide and dishwashing liquid can do a decent job of removing stains.
Try a home recipe
Some stains can actually be easily treated with some staples from your cleaning cupboard. If you're dealing with grass and mud stains, firstly remove any solid bits.
For mud, wait for it to dry and then scrape or brush off as much as you can. Put some liquid laundry detergent on the mud stain and let it sit for 15 minutes, then wash as usual.
Some stains can actually be easily treated with some staples from your cleaning cupboard
If that doesn't work, you can try soaking your clothes in detergent overnight. And if it's a particularly stubborn stain, try soaking it in a solution of water and oxygen bleach (not chlorine bleach) following the label directions, then wash as usual.
You could also try making your own stain removal spray by mixing 200mL of hydrogen peroxide and 100mL of dishwashing liquid in a spray bottle and spraying on the stain. In our test, this home recipe scored 63% overall, with good results for grass, mud and tomato stains.
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Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
