Material
Tea towel
Cotton or linen cloth built for hard washing. Treat the mark cool, then wash hot, and check which fibre it is before choosing the temperature.
- SurfacePorous
- WashingMachine
- Colour run riskLow
- Reviewed7 September 2026
What tea towel can and cannot take
- Heat Use with care
- Water and soaking Tolerates it
- Acids, including vinegar Tolerates it
- Strong alkalis Tolerates it
- Solvents Use with care
- Chlorine bleach Use with care
- Abrasives Use with care
Always test on a hidden area first and let it dry before you treat the visible mark.
General rules for tea towel
Treat the stain cool, then wash hot. That order matters and it is the only complication.
Biological detergent and a soak deal with the milk. A 60 degree wash afterwards deals with the hygiene question, which is a real one for something that dries plates.
If the tea towel is linen rather than cotton, keep it to 30 or 40 degrees, because linen shrinks and weakens where cotton does not.
Check the label
A tea towel is cotton or linen and is expected to be boiled. It is one of the few things on this site where a hot wash after treatment is not merely allowed but sensible, given what it is used for afterwards.
Stains on tea towel
- Baby sick Rinse in cold water, soak with biological detergent, and only then wash hot. A cotton tea towel takes 60 degr...
- Blood Blot first, then use cold water and a tiny amount of compatible detergent. Work from the edge, rinse or blot...
- Body oil Blot tea towel, pretreat a permitted washable patch with liquid detergent, rinse and use a cool labelled wash...
- Breast milk Blot and cold-rinse a label-approved washable item. Use your compatible biological liquid detergent and a per...
- Bronzer Lift loose bronzer from tea towel before it is rubbed in. Blot cream bronzer, follow the material or care lab...
- Coffee Blot first. If the label permits, gently rinse cool water through the back of the mark, supporting the fabric...
- Concealer Lift the concealer, flush Tea Towel from the back with cool water, pre-treat the oily residue with one drop o...
- Cooking grease Lift and blot cooking grease from Tea Towel, absorb the oil, pretreat both sides with washing-up liquid for 1...
- Deodorant Rub a fresh white deodorant mark off tea towel while it is dry. For residue that remains, follow the care lab...
- Hair dye Blot Tea Towel, flush cool water through the back, pretreat with liquid detergent, wash to the care label and...
- Lipstick Lift lipstick from Tea Towel, work from the reverse with a drop of washing-up liquid, rinse cool, wash to the...
- Motor oil Blot motor oil from Tea Towel, absorb the residue, pretreat both sides with a little washing-up liquid, wash...
- Nail polish Lift free polish without rubbing. A small mark on plain washable compatible cloth may respond to the linked l...
- Period blood Lift any tissue with a spoon edge, then blot. Use cold water and a tiny amount of compatible detergent for th...
- Pet urine Blot until nearly dry, then use only the cool-water quantity tea towel can tolerate. Use a labelled pet urine...
- Tomato sauce Lift tomato sauce from Tea Towel, flush from the reverse with cool water, pretreat the remaining film, wash t...
A tea towel is a plain woven cotton or linen cloth, and its job means hygiene matters more than appearance.
The order is the whole method
Cool treatment removes the milk protein. Hot washing sets whatever is left. Doing them in the right order gets both a clean cloth and a hygienic one. Doing them in the wrong order gets a permanently marked cloth.
Cotton and linen differ
Cotton tea towels take 60 degrees comfortably. Linen ones shrink and weaken above 30 to 40. The label or the feel of the cloth will usually tell you which you have.
It is a replaceable item
Which is worth remembering before spending an evening on one. A faint mark on a tea towel is not a problem, and a tea towel that has been used for sick and then washed properly is fine.
Sources
What we checked and when. Where a manufacturer instruction disagrees with anything here, follow the manufacturer.
-
A guide to newborn laundry, American Cleaning Institute
trade body
Cleaning trade body guide to pre-treat breast milk, formula or spit-up with an enzyme stain remover, soak fresh marks for at least 30 minutes and older marks for several hours, launder, and keep stained items out of the dryer until the mark has gone.
Checked 7 September 2026
-
Norovirus: what to do and how to stop the spread, UK Health Security Agency
authority
UK public health guidance establishing that illness related vomit can carry norovirus, that contaminated laundry should be washed with normal powder at 60 C where the care label permits, and that compatible hard surfaces should be disinfected with a bleach based product.
Checked 7 September 2026
-
How to care for linen, FatFace
retailer
UK retailer care guidance that linen is washed in cold or lukewarm water at 30 C or lower to avoid shrinking, on a delicate or hand wash setting to reduce agitation, with a gentle detergent free of bleach and brighteners, that fabric softener coats the fibres and reduces breathability, and that bleach weakens linen fibres.
Checked 7 September 2026