Removing Self-Tan Stains from Clothes

Self-tan is really two stains

Self-tanner contains two things that leave a mark. One is a temporary bronzer ('guide colour') that shows where you have applied it – it sits on the outside of the fabric and rinses out more easily. The other is DHA, a sugar that reacts with proteins in the top layer of skin and forms a brown colour. On skin that is exactly what you want; on a shirt collar, a sheet or a light towel it becomes a brown stain that develops over a few hours – just as the tan on your skin needs time. So self-tan is two problems in one: you have to both dissolve the greasy bronzer and bleach the brown discolouration.

Be quick – before the colour develops

Because the DHA reaction needs time, a fresh self-tan stain is far easier to remove than one that has been left to sit. Treat it as soon as you spot it, and keep heat away until it is completely gone.

1. Blot up excess cream with a paper towel or clean cloth – do not rub, as that drives the colour into the weave.
2. Rinse the stain from the back under cold running water, pushing the colour out of the fabric rather than deeper in.
3. Rub in a little dish soap, which dissolves the greasy bronzer base, and let it work for a few minutes.
4. Wash at the warmest temperature the fabric tolerates per the care label, and air dry – no tumble drying until the stain is gone.

Yellowed marks on whites, towels and bedding

The brown DHA discolouration tends to settle into white cotton, sheets and towels that lie against the skin while the tan develops. When the colour itself remains after the grease is dissolved, bleaching is what is needed – but the right kind.

• Use an oxygen-based bleach (sodium percarbonate), which is gentle on both colour and fibres. Mix it up and soak the garment before washing.
• Do not use chlorine bleach. Chlorine can react with the self-tan and make the yellow mark worse, and it damages wool, silk and elastane.
• Expect to repeat the treatment. Well-developed DHA colour rarely lets go on the first try, but it lightens with each round.

Silk, wool and delicate garments

On silk, wool and structured garments, hard rubbing, acid and bleaching are all risky – you can dull the silk, felt the wool or leave pale patches. This is where it pays not to experiment. A fine-knit top or a silk blouse with self-tan on the collar is safest handed to professional cleaning before the stain has set.

Prevent the next stain

Most self-tan mishaps come from the application and the first hours afterwards.

• Let the cream dry in completely before you dress, and wear old, dark, loose clothes while the colour develops.
• Wash your hands well and wipe your palms, or the bronzer ends up on everything you touch.
• Sleep on an old sheet or lay a towel over the pillow the night after applying.

Send the garment to us

If the garment is light-coloured, expensive or delicate, or the self-tan has been left to set, you can send it to us wherever you are in Norway. Professional cleaning treats the stain according to the fabric and its care label, so the treatment is correct and gentle – and if the garment needs something else at the same time, such as a repair, we can handle that too. You describe the stain when you order, and you see the price before you order.

Frequently asked questions