How to Remove Fake Tan from Clothing

It’s incredibly easy to get fake tan marks on clothing (especially white clothing), but it’s not always as easy to get them out. The best thing to do is to act quickly. The trick to getting fake tan out of clothes for good is speed, cold water, and staying well away from the dryer until the stain is completely gone.

 

Quick Tips

• Flip the garment inside out and flush the stain with cold running water to push the tanner out from the back of the fabric.
• Dab (don't rub) with a paste of bicarb soda and water, or a mix of white vinegar and dishwashing liquid.
• Launder as normal with a heavy-duty detergent, checking the stain before it goes anywhere near heat.
• If colour remains, soak in an oxygen-based stain remover like Napisan before rewashing. Never bleach on colours.

 

What You'll Need

Most of these things probably lives in your laundry already:

• Bicarb soda
• White vinegar
• Dishwashing liquid or a stain-specific laundry liquid
• Oxygen-based stain remover (Napisan, OxiClean or similar)
• An old, soft toothbrush
• Cold water

 

Why You Need to Remove Fake Tan from Clothes Quickly

Self-tanners get their colour from dihydroxyacetone (DHA), a plant-derived sugar that reacts with amino acids to create a tan. On your skin, that reaction is exactly what you want. On fabric, DHA can bind to fibres in a similar way. Laboratory studies have found that temperature is the single biggest factor driving how quickly and deeply the browning develops. 

 

Simply, heat accelerates the exact chemistry that turns a rinseable stain into a set one. That's why every laundry guide (including this one) is so strict about avoiding the dryer, hot water, and even hot rooms until the mark is gone.

 

 

How to Remove Fake Tan from White Clothes

 

Cotton and Sturdy Whites

For anything machine-washable and bleach-safe, an oxygen bleach soak is the most reliable option. Mix the powder with cool water per the pack instructions, submerge the garment for up to eight hours, then wash as usual. Repeat the soak if any colour lingers before you dry it.

 

Whites You Can't Bleach

Delicate whites or anything with trims that can't handle bleach still respond well to a bicarb paste. Apply it directly to the mark, leave for fifteen minutes, then rinse in cold water before a gentle machine wash.

 

How to Remove Fake Tan from Coloured and Dark Clothes

Oxygen bleach can dull or patch coloured fabric, so skip it here. Instead, mix white vinegar with a splash of dishwashing liquid and dab it onto the stain, working from the outside edges inward so you don't spread it further. Patch-test on an inside seam first, particularly with anything hand-dyed or printed.

 

Removing Fake Tan from Delicate Fabrics (Silk, Activewear, Lace, Bras)

Bra straps and the underside of activewear are notorious for picking up tanner as it develops overnight, and these are exactly the fabrics you can't scrub. 

 

For silk, lace, or moulded activewear, use a much gentler vinegar solution, apply with a soft cloth (not a brush), and never wring or twist the fabric. If the piece is precious (like silk shirts or good lingerie), a professional cleaner who knows what caused the mark will get further than a DIY attempt without risking the fabric. It's the safest way to remove fake tan from clothing when the fabric itself is the priority, not just the stain.

 

How to Get Fake Tan Out of Sheets, Towels and Bedding

Bedding usually means a bigger surface area but a more forgiving fabric. Soak overnight in cold water mixed with an oxygen-based stain remover, then launder as normal in the morning. For white towels and sheets, this overnight soak paired with a hot wash cycle (once you're sure the colour's lifted) tends to finish the job in one go.

 

Set-In or Dried Fake Tan Stains: Can They Still Be Removed?

It's harder, but not always hopeless. A dried stain has usually already been through some heat exposure, which means the colour has bonded more firmly to the fibres. Your best shot is to repeat the soak-and-wash cycle 2 or 3 times rather than expecting a single attempt to clear it. If you're several washes in and still seeing no improvement, it's likely time to accept the mark or take it to a professional cleaner.

 

Mistakes That Make It Harder to Get Fake Tan Out of Clothes

• Tumble-drying before the stain is gone. Heat sets the colour, turning a treatable mark into a permanent one.
• Using chlorine bleach on coloured fabric. It won't touch the tan and will dull or ruin the colour instead.
• Scrubbing hard. This spreads the stain into a wider area rather than lifting it out.
• Ignoring it overnight. The longer tanner sits on fabric, the more time that chemical reaction has to bond.

 

How to Prevent Fake Tan from Transferring Onto Clothes

The easiest fix is stopping the transfer before it starts. Let your tan finish developing fully, then rinse off as directed before you get dressed. Jumping the gun is the single biggest cause of stained sheets and clothing. While your colour is still developing, wear loose, dark clothing (or nothing at all, if you're home) to give it room to set without rubbing onto fabric. Blot rather than rub as you dry off, and give extra attention to friction points like inner elbows, underarms, and inner thighs.

 

If you tan regularly, switching some of your routine over to a gradual tan can also help. Gradual formulas build colour in lower, more controlled doses, so there's less concentrated product sitting on your skin (and less risk of it landing on your good sheets) at any one time. If you're wondering how your current tan compares in terms of wear and fade, our guide to how long fake tan lasts breaks down the factors that affect its longevity.

 

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