When it comes to being a general 9-5 worker, stains aren’t really something that occur – apart from, perhaps the occasional drop of ketchup.
When it comes to being a healthcare professional, however? Well, going home with a uniform full of stains is usually just the norm.
Of course, while there are some stains that happen by our own clumsiness – working in a fast-paced, busy healthcare environment and dealing with patients each day can often mean that various other types of stains can occur – and most of them are totally out of our control, such as ink stains!
But, no matter what type of stains you happen to have on your scrubs (or how they got there, for that matter) – this guide is going to show you how you can lift them away and get rid of them to ensure you maintain a professional appearance and maintain your patients well being.
From how to get ink out of your scrubs as well as other fluids, this is the ultimate guide for healthcare professionals who often get stains on their scrubs (see also ‘How To Wear Scrubs‘).
Read on!
How To Get Ink Stains Out Of Scrubs
Kicking our guide off, we are first going to be showing you how you can easily get ink stains out of your scrubs .
As one of the most common types of stains that healthcare professionals can find themselves getting on their scrubs, it’s a good idea to make sure that you know how to get rid of them to save yourself from having to keep purchasing new pairs.
In order to effectively lift away ink stains out of your scrubs, you’ll need to take some rubbing alcohol and saturate the area of the scrubs that have become stained for a period of anywhere from 15-30 minutes.
Once you have done this, you can then take a sponge (or similar cleaning item) that has been soaked in water in order to fully lift away the stain after you have allowed it to fully saturate itself in the rubbing alcohol solution.
Alternatively, if you do not happen to have any rubbing alcohol to remove the ink stains, you can also opt to use toothpaste.
Following the method that we have already outlined to you above, simply swap out rubbing alcohol for some toothpaste.
After you have applied the toothpaste to the area that has become stained, simply take a wet cloth and gently begin to scrub until the stain has been lifted. You can even use a clean toothbrush.
How To Get Blood Stains Stains Out Of Scrubs
Along with getting ink stains out of your scrubs, another stain that you are likely going to encounter during your time as a healthcare professional are blood stains.
When it comes to lifting blood stains out of your scrubs, you are going to want to make sure that you are avoiding hot water, as this can sometimes cause congealing which can then, in turn, make the process of lifting out blood stains even harder. For this reason, we recommend sticking with cold water.
To start, you are going to want to take some bleach or hydrogen peroxide (either one can be used) and then gently start the stain with your chosen cleaning solution.
After leaving to saturate for a few moments, you can then go ahead and take a clean cloth or sponge that has been soaked in cold water to lift the stain away.
However, it is important to keep in mind that you shouldn’t use bleach products on colored scrubs, as this can cause the colored dye to be removed.
So, if you have blood stains in your colored scrubs, then you can alternatively opt to use vinegar which works in a similar way to how bleach products do.
If you would like to remove blood stains with vinegar, all you will need to do is simply saturate the stained area of your colored scrubs with the vinegar and allow it to sit for a few minutes.
After you have allowed the stained area to soak in the vinegar for a few minutes, you can then take a cloth or sponge soaked in water and gently begin to scrub the stained area to lift all of the blood out of your scrubs.
You can also follow this vinegar method to remove blood stains from white scrubs if you do not have bleach or hydrogen peroxide.
How To Get Medication Stains Out Of Scrubs
Lastly, the final stain that you are likely to encounter along with ink stains are medication stains.
If you have an oil-based medication stain, all you are going to need to do is to simply take some baby powder to remove the grease.
From there, you can then proceed to wash your scrubs in the washing machine with your choice of detergent as you usually would.
On the other hand, if you are dealing with an alcohol-based medication, you will need to simply opt to treat the stain with a strong detergent and allow it to saturate and soak for around 15-30 minutes.
After you have done this, you can then go ahead and rinse with cold water.
The Bottom Line
There we have it! You have made it to the end of our guide. Now that you have read through this guide, we hope that we have been able to show you how to easily clean ink out of your scrubs, as well as how to clean other types of common stains healthcare professionals often get on their scrubs, too.
Before you click off this guide, why don’t you consider giving this page a bookmark?
That way, if you ever need to come back and refresh your knowledge on how you can lift ink stains and more off your scrubs, you will know exactly where to find us. Thanks for reading!