Black Stain on Khaki Shorts?

[George8]

I have a pair of khaki shorts that i wear and its my favorite. Just earlier today, I heard something fell while in my apt and had no idea what it was. It wasn't until hours later, I saw it was my khaki shorts where i put it on a clothes hanger that fell. But it didn't fall on the floor... it fell on an old pair of shoe laces / dirty socks and also on a plastic bag where i put a pair of black shoes inside it. But there is no way the black shoes caused it as it was in the bag. So it had to be the dirty aces/socks.


There is like a dark stain on the back of my khakis... it sort of looks like smudge of oil or black paint/ink on it. I immediately put some oxiclean on it and scrubbed it and that doesn't seem to do much. At the moment, i put it in bucket with warm water with oxiclean and will put there for many hours to see if it work clean the stain.


I will take a picture tomorrow. At the moment, its in a bucket of water. Did i screw this up by wetting it? My first thing i always do is put oxiclean on it when i get a stain but these stains are not these type of stains though ... like imagine stains where t shirt gets yellow.


I do have a tide to go pen as well but only used it once on a stained shirt that was brown which didnt work. So what should i do here?


This is so frustrating because I cannot find these pair of khaki shorts. The tide to go pen says it works on fresh food/drink and doesn't work on black ink and those other things. Is that true? I hesitated when this happened because i wanted to use the tide to go pen but never had success with it on other blue t shirt of mine for another stain so i just put oxiclean on it.


Thanks.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

You must really love those shorts! Wash them, if it doesn’t come out then toss them and rekindle this intense, albeit unusual, love affair with a new pair of shorts. Best of luck.

 

[lfd75]

Hopefully it works but be aware that oxyclean may turn khaki colour pink.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

Hopefully it works but be aware that oxyclean may turn khaki colour pink.

oh wow I didn’t know that! Thanks for the tip.

 

[George8]

You must really love those shorts! Wash them, if it doesn’t come out then toss them and rekindle this intense, albeit unusual, love affair with a new pair of shorts. Best of luck.

Yes i like these shorts. How do i wash them in this process? I also am basically washing it from my apt by hand now... due to pandemic. I basically just normally put it in bucket and use powder detergent etc.


But right now, my khaki's are still in the bucket of water.... im not sure what to do. Like if i take it out and hang it and let it dry... will that make it worst? Stain is still there. The warm water of bucket now with my khaki in it is now cold as its been there for ten hours already.


Should i try to tide to go pen? This is so frustrating because had my khakis drop on the floor as oppose to the dirty shoe laces/socks, it wouldn't have gotten stained like this.

 

[George8]

Hopefully it works but be aware that oxyclean may turn khaki colour pink.

I have used oxiclean on khaki shorts previously... not this one but others and never noticed it ever turning pink...

 

[lfd75]

Yes i like these shorts. How do i wash them in this process? I also am basically washing it from my apt by hand now... due to pandemic. I basically just normally put it in bucket and use powder detergent etc.


But right now, my khaki's are still in the bucket of water.... im not sure what to do. Like if i take it out and hang it and let it dry... will that make it worst? Stain is still there. The warm water of bucket now with my khaki in it is now cold as its been there for ten hours already.


Should i try to tide to go pen? This is so frustrating because had my khakis drop on the floor as oppose to the dirty shoe laces/socks, it wouldn't have gotten stained like this.

Try a combination of shout stain remover and dishwashing liquid. Brush it in with an old toothbrush and leave it for at least two hours. This should get most stains out.

 

[George8]

I don't have shout stain remover here.


At the moment, I still have the pair of shorts in a bucket of water. I basically just poured the water out and filled it with warm water again and more oxiclean even though i know it isn't going to work but i want to keep the shorts wet in the entire process.


But does the moment i right now just hand it, the stain will be permanent? My big concern is do i want to let it dry now.


Is there any other alternative besides the shout stain remover?


So don't bother with the tide to go pen right?

 

[GaiusM]

I don't have shout stain remover here.


At the moment, I still have the pair of shorts in a bucket of water. I basically just poured the water out and filled it with warm water again and more oxiclean even though i know it isn't going to work but i want to keep the shorts wet in the entire process.


But does the moment i right now just hand it, the stain will be permanent? My big concern is do i want to let it dry now.


Is there any other alternative besides the shout stain remover?


So don't bother with the tide to go pen right?

This may be a last-ditch effort for khakis but I have had success in getting stains out of shirts with shampoo and sea salt. Soak the stained area then add a few dabs of regular, non-perfumed or oiled shampoo and a pinch of salt or two. Rub into a lather and get the salt scraping the stain.

Again I cannot say for sure that will not mess up khakis but if you have no other alternatives might as well go for it. It has worked well for me with OCBD and cotton dress shirt stains in the past. Try the above dishwashing liquid and toothbrush method first.

 

[George8]

Okay now im extremely upset. The last few days I just decided to let the khaki shorts stay in the bucket of water. I basically just pour some hot/warm water over it to keep it soaked.


Then when i took it out since it doesn’t seem to get rid of the small black stain… now i see on the back of my khaki shorts, there are like brown smudge stains throughtout the back of it? Does anyone know what that is and how it turned like this?


Im so frustrated now because it went from a small black stain on the side/back of my khaki shorts… to the back of the shorts having like brown smudges throughout the back of it? What can i do in the meantime? Do i just pour all the water out and fill it with warm/hot water again and leave it soaked or do i take it and hang it? I am so upset now because now i wished all i had was that small dark stain… this stain makes it not wearable. I have the worst luck with everything. I will post the pictures of it soon.

 

[George8]

Here are some pictures i took right now.

This first picture is that small black stain on the side/back of my khakis that i tried to get rid of with oxiclean and it didn't work.





The rest of these pictures, i put my wet shorts on a plastic bag on the bed so you guys can see the back of the stain. At the moment the pants is wet still. I just left them back in the water bucket again with some warm water.


Can someone tell me how i got these brown stains in the back? The only thing i could think of is i might have dropped some water on it or something? Or will these stains go away when it dry out? Because a while back i recall when i wet my khaki's i then put it in oxiclean and water bucket, then next day just hang it in a hanger in my apt and the stain went away. But this does not look like the same type of stain?

 

[George8]

What kind of stains are these? Again i left my khaki shorts in a bucket of water for almost two weeks... yes i did that everyday for over a week with oxiclean daily to see if it gets rid of the black stain but it didn't... and i didn't want to hang it in case that would dry the stain and make it not possible to remove. Now my issue is why do i have so many of these brown stains on the back of my khaki shorts now? These aren't just stains that will go away when i hang it out and let it dry right? I am so frustrated/angry at myself about this. That small black stain wasn't even that bad... now i think i destroyed my khaki shorts.

 

[George8]

I also read if you leave clothes in water for a few days, this could happen? But i also read it could be mildew? But if i leave it to dry in hanger inside the apt... will these stains go away?

 

[mhip]

The shorts are maybe beyond saving at this point, but the best stuff I have ever found is Puracy. It's fairly inexpensive on Amazon, and it's what the person who's in charge of laundering The Blue Man Group's clothes uses.
It gets coconut oil stains from my natural deodorant out of my shirt pits. Nothing else I have ever tried has been able to do that.

 

[George8]

Okay in the first picture ignore the left side of it as that is more like the lighting... but you see like a small black stain.


In the other pictures, yes in the back of it... you see like smudges in several places. But what is that? Is that mildew? Is that color fading? Again i had these shorts in a bucket of water for almost two weeks... everyday for like a week almost i pour the water out and put new water in and put oxiclean on it for a week and it didn't work. Then the last week or so i basically just replaced the water with new water daily because i was concerned just hanging it would make the black stain permanent... only to now see i gotten these brown stains on the back which makes it not even possible to wear.


I never heard of puracy and im positive i cannot get it where im located. Im not in the us at the moment. Anyone else have opinion/advice on this? I am so frustrated right now because i had no idea leaving khaki shorts on a bucket of water can cause this? Well of course i left it for way too long. Is there a chance if i just hang it, those spots will be gone? Or do i need to put something on it the moment i leave it not in water for a long period? I still have it in a bucket of water now... but now not sure if i should leave it there since that is what probably caused this?