Given that they’re on your bed night after night, your pillowcases see a wide range of messes. Whether you’ve scratched your face in the night, gotten hurt getting ready for bed, or had a range of other incidents, you might need to know how to get a bloodstain out of your pillowcase.
The good news is that we’re here to help, so keep reading!
What You’ll Need to Get Blood Out of Your Pillowcase:
- Stained pillowcase
- Cold water
- You’ll want to use running cold water, so a sink or bathtub is a great place to do this
- Hydrogen peroxide or bar soap
- Pre-treatment laundry detergent
- Fabric-safe bleach
- A place to hang your pillowcase to dry
How to Get Blood Out of a Pillowcase
Step 1: Soak the Stained Area
As soon as you notice the bloodstain on your pillow, you will want to take action immediately! The best way to get rid of a pesky stain like this is to get it under cold water while it’s as fresh as possible. You’ll want to run the stain on the pillowcase under running cold water for about 15 minutes. This will help to flush the stain out.
Step 2: Start with Hydrogen Peroxide or Bar Soap
Still working in cold water, you’re going to want to grab either some hydrogen peroxide or bar soap. Remember, before you use any material on your pillowcases, you should make sure it’s safe on the material. Synthetic or darker fibers may get discolored from the use of hydrogen peroxide, so bar soap may be more appropriate.
Once you’ve verified that, you can start scrubbing the stain by hand in cold water. Don’t worry – you’re just trying to lighten it, you don’t need to get it all out in this step.
Step 3: Getting Ready for the Washer
This is another step in that you’ll want to double-check that your pillowcases won’t get damaged to discolored from a laundry pre-treatment before you use it, otherwise, you might want to skip it. Then, just put in it the washer with detergent as you normally would and set your washer to a warm cycle. If it’s appropriate for your pillowcase fabric, you can use fabric-safe bleach in this step as well.
Step 4: Do Not Use Your Dryer
The last step is really important: skip the dryer and let your clothes hang to dry. This might take longer but it’ll make sure that if you have to repeat these steps, they’ll be more effective each time. If you throw the pillowcase in the dryer, the heat will set the stain.
How to Remove Blood Stains from Pillowcases with Salt Water?
Step 1: Create a Salt Water Solution
This method is great for more delicate fabrics. So, if you like to treat your hair and skin to silk pillowcases, this is a good place to start when you encounter a blood stain. To use this method, you’ll want to mix two tablespoons of salt with one tablespoon of dish soap. You can multiply this 2:1 ratio as much as needed.
Step 2: Soak and Rinse
Soak the stain in the mixture you just made for half an hour after dampening the fabric. Then, rinse it in cold water and let it air dry.
How to Remove Blood Stains from Pillowcases with Club Soda?
Step 1: Pour Club Soda on the Stain
Once you notice the stain, if you have some club soda around, pour it directly on the stain. Let the club soda sit and let the carbonation pop on the stain for a minute.
Step 2: Blot the Stain
After a minute, you can start blotting the stain out of the fabric. This might take a few repetitions of these steps, depending on the severity of the stain but it can be repeated or even paired with other methods we’ve discussed here.
How to Remove Blood Stains from Pillowcases with Dawn Dish Soap?
Step 1: Apply Dawn to the Stain
We’ve already mentioned that you can use dish soap and salt to get a stain out but did you know Dawn dish soap has some unexpected stain-fighting powers of its own? To start, you’ll just need to apply a few drops of Dawn directly onto the stain on your pillowcase. Work the Dawn into the stain – you can just massage it in with your fingers.
Step 2: Machine Wash the Pillowcase
From here, you can machine wash your pillowcase on a cold cycle. Once again, you won’t want to throw the pillowcase in the dryer until you’ve ensured the stain is completely gone.
How Do You Get Dried Blood Out of a White Pillowcase?
When you’re working with white pillowcases and stains, you have a few more options when it comes to tough stains. For one, these fabrics are often more receptive to fabric-safe bleach which you can use to remove blood stains that have dried in place.
How Do You Get Dried Blood Out of a Silk Pillowcase?
If you want to get blood out of a silk pillowcase, you need to keep in mind that you’re working with a delicate fabric, so you’ll want to avoid harsh chemicals. The salt method we discussed earlier is a great option when it comes to silk.
You should be able to keep your pillowcases clean, no matter what gets on them. Did these methods work for you? Let us know in the comments below and share this tutorial with someone who needs it!
How Can You Get Blood Out of Sheets Without Ruining Them?
There are some stains that might make you think that you just have to throw your linens out and replace them. Don’t grab your trashbags just yet, though, because there are actually a few different ways that you can get blood out of your bedding without absolutely ruining them.
How Do You Get Body Oil Stains Out of Bed Sheets?
The good news is that Dawn dish soap is also a great cleaning tool when it comes to getting those tough stains that your body oil can leave behind on your pillowcases and bed sheets. Use a few drops directly and follow the tutorial we outlined earlier and it’ll work just as well on body oil as blood stains.
How Do You Remove Blood Stains from Sheets That Have Been Washed?
If you have a small bloodstain on your pillow, you might not notice it right away. So, what can you do if you notice after you’ve already done the laundry?
To start, it’s a good idea to soak the pillowcase in cold water overnight to loosen the stain as much as possible. Then, apply the hydrogen peroxide method to pull the stain out the rest of the way.
