Waking up to a blood stain on your sheets or pillowcase is always an unpleasant surprise — but it happens to the best of us. No matter how it got there, it’s best to deal with a blood stain as soon as you spot it. Just like most other stains, Carolyn Forte, director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Cleaning Lab, recommends keeping a few stain-busting products on hand at all times to make sure you have exactly what you need to remove any fresh or dried stains from your sheets.
When your next accident inevitably happens, follow Forte’s easy how-to guide on how to get blood out of sheets (or other bed linens). That way you can guarantee a better — well, cleaner — night’s rest.
How to Get Blood out of Sheets
If you wake up to blood on your sheets, immediately head to your medicine cabinet and laundry room to gather the necessary supplies. Dealing with white sheets or silk pillowcases? Check the care labels first to make sure it’s safe to use bleach. Once you get the go-ahead, follow this step-by-step guide.
- Soak the stain in cold water as quickly as possible. If the stain is super fresh, place it under cold running water to flush out as much of the blood as possible.
- If fresh, sponge the stain with hydrogen peroxide or rub bar soap into the stain and scrub by hand in cold water.
- Apply laundry pre-treater or rub in liquid laundry detergent, and wash the remaining stain in warm water with a fabric-safe bleach until the stain is gone.
- Refrain from putting the sheets in the dryer until the stain is completely gone.
How to Get Dried Blood out of Sheets
More often than not, blood will dry during your slumber, leaving you with a hard-to-remove mess in the morning. While it may take more elbow grease than a fresh stain, this three-step method will remove even the most set-in stains.
- Pre-soak the sheets in a mixture of cold water and laundry detergent or stain remover like Carbona Oxy Powered Laundry Soaker.
- Pre-treat and launder with fabric-safe bleach. (FYI, this may take several hours, depending on the severity of the stain.)
- If this doesn’t work, mix 1 quart of water with 1 teaspoon of laundry detergent and 1 tablespoon of ammonia, and spot treat.
How to Get Blood out of Mattress
In case you don’t have a mattress protector (you learned the hard way, didn’t you?), follow this how-to guide to make your mattress look new again.
- Mix the OxiClean solution and apply it to the stain with cold water. If you don’t have OxiClean on hand, sponge the stain with hydrogen peroxide.
- Continue dabbing and blotting until the stain is gone.
- Rinse with a cloth dipped in clear water and allow it to air dry.
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