The Most Effective On

By Rachel Chang

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Just before my first trip back to France in a decade, I upgraded my go-to travel top from my beloved (but worn-out) New Balance pullover to a new Tentree TreeWaffle half zip, thrilled to be markedly more presentable, yet just as comfy, en route to Paris. My first order of business was reuniting with the steak frites I’d longed for from Le Relais de L’entrecôte—but a few bites in, I found myself with a quarter-sized oil stain on said new shirt.

A quick dab of a Wet Ones antibacterial wipe did nothing. Neither did that night's scrub with soap in the ironically named Hotel Fabric. Hopeful it wasn't that bad, I slipped on the shirt again as I continued on to Bordeaux—but after running into colleagues earlier than expected, I splurged on hotel laundry service, pointing out the spot to the lovely staff at Villas Foch. I returned that night to a neatly pressed, but still stained, top—and a 13є bill.

The shirt stayed rolled up in my suitcase the rest of the trip. When I got home, I followed an online suggestion to use baking soda on pesky oil stains. With an old toothbrush, I scrubbed the spot with Arm & Hammer and threw it into the wash. But when I opened the machine door, the powder had turned a huge patch from tan to pink, making the shirt completely discolored.

I couldn't help thinking that the travel disaster was preventable, had I simply brought along on-the-go stain removers. Despite being an overprepared, paranoid packer, I had given up after a history of ruined fabrics.

After this incident, I decided it was time to find a brand I could trust. And who better to test the products with me than good ol' mom—despite being a klutzy kid who left every dim sum meal with a shirt full of sauce stains, all I remember is perfectly pristine clothes thanks to a little magic touch from my mom.

Read on for the best stain remover for clothes to keep on hand while you travel, plus more great back-up options.

When it comes to packable stain removers, Shout Wipe & Go (formerly called Shout Wipes) and Tide to Go Stain Remover Pens have been the biggest names since they came onto the market in the late 1990s and mid 2000s, respectively. But for due diligence, I scoured the internet for any kind of self-proclaimed stain remover that promised to remove stains on the go.

Over the holidays, I took an old T-shirt—one that was 100 percent cotton, as my mom felt the fabric was one of the tougher ones to get stains out of—and caked it with substances travelers might come upon when looking sharp matters (think business trips, destination weddings, or a celebratory getaway). I doused it with mud, chocolate, soy sauce, salsa, red wine, olive oil, and lipstick.

As my mom watched me purposefully create stains, she looked doubtfully at the lineup of stain removers. Her skepticism only gave the lineup of products an even bigger challenge as we started going down the line to test them out.

With its compact design as a 5 ⅛"-long marker-like pen, the Tide to Go Stain Remover Pen is no doubt the easiest to tote around, whether it's in a carry-on, fanny pack, or even a fancy clutch at a wedding, and is my pick for the best stain remover for clothes to take on the go. When a mess does occur, simply uncap the device, and apply firm pressure to the tip to release the formula onto the stain. The design keeps the control in your hands, giving you the ability to regulate how much of the liquid is needed for each particular situation.

Next, take the angled tip with sharp corners and rub on the spot. The combination of the applied friction and the formula itself works wonders on every substance we tried it on. The chocolate smudge completely disappeared and the soy sauce color diluted on contact. While lipstick was harder, it lightened the shade more than any other product on this list. In fact, it whitened the fabric so much that my mom even asked if there was bleach in it. (There isn't.)

Just to make sure that it wasn't a fluke, when I returned home, I tried it on a new set of stains. Squished blueberries and dark roast coffee were easily removed, while an ink pen was about the same as the lipstick. Then I put it to the real test with a Sharpie. Despite it being a permanent marker, some of the stain did start to dilute—but it also started spreading the black ink into a bit of halo around the mark. Even so, this still topped the list for both ease of use and ability to zap out spots.

Billing itself as a "portable stain removal," Shout Wipe & Go's 3" x 2.2" single-use packets each contain one 4.7" x 5.9" wipe. While it definitely takes more elbow grease and effort to really get stains out, the textured surface of the cloth helps create friction to quickly get rid of problem areas. The wipe isn't soaked with liquid, so you won't be left with a big wet spot either.

From the dark soy sauce to the olive oils, it definitely "lightens" the stains, as my mom put it. Though her instinct was to add on, "It seems to only temporarily clean it, and when you get home you need to still work on it." In the end, we did determine it was a solid runner-up, or as Mom put it frankly, "pretty good."

Worth noting: Be sure to use the packets before they dry out. In full disclosure, I haven't had this set long enough to see how long it takes to get to that state, but without any expiration dates on them, some care will have to be taken to maintain a fresh batch. Another downfall: You do literally have to get your hands wet to massage out those spots.

The only thing more frustrating than sweat stains is deodorant stains. But Hollywood Fashion Secrets Deodorant Removing Sponge clearly has a marquee-worthy superpower. Taking an old stick of Dove deodorant, I obnoxiously rubbed in every which way on the inside of a dark blue shirt, caking it with a full-on layer of white. Impressively, the unassuming pink sponge erased every mark like it was nothing—or as Mom put it, cleaned it all off "like a lint remover."

While lightweight at 0.64 ounces, the 3.5" x 6.5" x 0.5" sponge may seem big to tote around; to save space, you could cut it in half. After all, it does the same work no matter how big it is.

My steak frites-induced oil spot wasn't the only stain tragedy I had on that recent European trip. While I was at a formal banquet dinner for the European Capitals of Smart Tourism in Valencia, the young man sitting next to me flung his arm at one point, completely knocking a generously-filled glass of red wine into my lap all over my dress. Every person at the table immediately looked at me with sympathy, understanding the horror of a red wine stain.

I was thrilled to locate this two-ounce size of Wine Away, a non-toxic formula with no bleach or phosphates that also helps neutralize odor with a light citrus scent. Even with just one spray, the red wine seemed to evaporate. With a few more pumps, the stain was completely gone within minutes. The shockingly impressive results also worked on soy sauce, but not quite as well. As Mom pointed out, "Wine Away only works for wine!"

It's hard to resist anything with a homemade-like label and squeeze bottle. The two-ounce bottle is easy to stash on the go, though the directions are a bit contradictory. On the one hand, it says "just a drop is all it takes to remove…" with a list of items from oil and grease to make-up, grass, rust, and blood. But the actual step-by-step instructions say to let it sit for five to 10 minutes and then to wash by hand or in the machine, and then rinse thoroughly to get rid of stains.

We tried it both ways. Indeed, as soon as it made contact with the coffee and soy sauce stains, they vanished. Even lipstick lightened quite a bit with just touching it with a few dabs. Then I washed them all out in the sink, with pretty impressive results. All of the soy sauce was gone, and while the lipstick was tough, it still was fainter than most others—though I was now left with wet clothing. That said, I also tried a few squirts of the stain remover on a months-old white stain on my black Zara leggings that I had been dousing with regular Shout every time I put it in the wash. And low and behold, one section came out completely clean for the first time and another was dulled to the point it's barely noticeable. So apparently there is some truth to a grandmother's formula—as well as a mom's expertise.

When I pulled out the pen-style stain remover—just a wee bit bigger than the Tide pen at 5.5" with 20 millimeters in each—my mom immediately had brand recognition. "This one is famous—I think a lot of people use OxiClean for regular laundry," she said. But moments later, she flipped sides. "Ai yo! This one doesn't remove anything at all," she said. "Oxi is no good."

Still, she kept trying, as bubbles started popping out of its grooved surface as she rubbed. That traction helped with the salsa and soy sauce, and it didn't create that problematic halo effect as some of the other similar ones.

A tad larger than a Shout Wipe packet at 3.5" x 2.5", the Emergency Stain Rescue—full name: A Little Red Wipe of Emergency Stain Rescue—comes in glossier and seemingly stronger packaging. Inside, the 4" x 6" wipe is all about clean ingredients, bragging that it's free of peroxide, chlorine, phosphates, parabens, or any "nasty stuff"—and is also Environmental Working Group-certified.

While the natural ingredients are a major check in the plus column, and it worked fairly well on basic food and drink spots (including red wine), the Emergency Stain Rescue didn't fare so well on tougher stains, especially lipstick. After rubbing it out a bit, there was a pink halo around the original stain—and it only set in more as it dried out. Perhaps it's because, despite it being billed as an "on-the-spot" solution, the directions on the back actually say it does require running it through the wash after treating the spot as well.

There was something very familiar about this Miss Mouth Messy Eater's Stain Treater packet despite its clearly designed-for-kids facade—complete with the labeling, "A parental essential: non-toxic and effective." That's when I noticed it was from the Hate Stains company, just like the Emergency Stain Rescue above. In fact, they have the exact same ingredients, just with different packaging.

The set we purchased also came with a spray (slightly too large for air travel at four ounces). A few pumps on the lipstick stain did nothing, but the wipe did remove a bit of it after some friction was applied. After washing it out in the sink, it all looked like a layer had been lift, yet still wasn't anything standout.

If fun is a factor, then Delta Carbona Push & Wipe wins by a landslide. These 1.5" circular pods contain two chambers, one to keep the 9" x 8.6" wipe dry and the other with the cleansing formula. When you’re ready to use it, push down on the perforated portion, which will reveal the wipe and release the liquid. Give it about 10 seconds and watch it grow, then remove and use.

"How neat—it's something new," my mom said. "What a good device." But sadly, that's where the excitement ended. We found the wipes to be dryer than the other towelette, which was a mystery. Once we started scrubbing, another odd sensation started. "It feels like it's just soap all over," she said. "It's sudsy." While it had moderate results on most substances, the lipstick stain was its downfall. Instead of lifting it off the fabric, it actually spread and stained a greater area.