Picture this: you’re having the time of your life at the beach (or lake, or pool), enjoying a day with friends and family, and basking in the sunlight while splashing around in the water – but when you get out, you notice you’ve somehow stained your brand new suit. But you don’t have to worry; we’re here to show you how to remove stains from swimsuits, so you can save your favorite swimwear from getting ruined. Learning how to get stains out of your bathing suit is pretty easy, and you only need to follow a few simple steps. In this post, we’ll show you how to get your suit looking brand-new in no time, plus some basic ways to care for your swimwear!

Step 1: Rinse Your Swimwear
Catching the stain and treating it as soon as possible is the best way to guarantee that the stain will come out completely. The best thing you can do after you’ve spilled something on your swimsuit is to rinse and wash it immediately, if possible. Rinse your swimsuit in cold water for around 10 minutes. Then, follow our washing instructions to get the best possible clean.

Basic Care Bonus Tip: Hand-wash Your Swimsuit
Going along with rinsing your swimsuit, we just wanted to highlight a few important tips for caring for your Lime Ricki swimwear. Whether your suit has a stain or not, you always want to rinse it after each wear. You’ll also want to wash it, but it’s important that you do so by hand. Tossing your suit into the washing machine might seem like a quicker fix, but you can actually end up damaging the fabric. Hand washing will help preserve your suit’s color and extend the life of the swimsuit. You’ll also want to use a gentle soap instead of a harsh detergent.

Step 2: Dealing With Stubborn Stains
Sometimes, you might not notice that you’ve stained your swimsuit until after it’s already dried. Or maybe you were in a place that didn’t allow you time or access to rinse your suit right after you noticed you’d stained it. These things happen, and unfortunately, you’ll probably find that hand washing won’t work as well on those tougher dried stains. So what do you do? If this is the case, we recommend treating these areas with a vinegar-water solution. Simply fill your sink (or spray bottle) with equal parts white vinegar and water, and soak the suit in the solution for about 30 minutes. Then give it a rinse with clean, cold water and lay it out to dry. This trick will work well for the areas that stain easily, like the straps, ties, underarms, or along the edges of the top.

Basic Care Bonus Tip: Never Use Bleach
When you’re trying to figure out how to remove stains from swimsuits, you might be tempted to use bleach. However, you never want to do this! You shouldn’t use any products with bleach or other harsh additives when washing your swimsuit, because they can break down the fabric and cause the colors to fade. Stick with the vinegar-water solution for those tough spot-cleaning jobs!

Step 3: Specific Types Of Stains
Since you’re wearing a swimsuit, it makes sense that you might encounter stains from things other than food. Products like sunscreen and tanning lotion are commonly used at the beach, which means you’ll often find yellow-colored stains on your suit. This can be an issue because the longer these stains sit on your swimsuit, the more you’ll risk permanent discoloration. To avoid this, you’ll want to know how to remove these specific types of stains. Here are our tips:

  1. 1. Sunscreen
    Sunscreen stains are pretty common to find on swimsuits because everyone needs to protect their skin from harmful UV rays. If you’re noticing a yellow-colored stain on your suit, it’s probably from either sunscreen or chlorine. The same white vinegar trick from earlier should do the job for these types of stains as well. However, if you want to avoid this problem in the future, make sure you’re researching the type of sunscreen you’re using. Check the ingredient list and avoid buying sunscreens that have chemicals that can turn yellow.

  2. 2. Tanning Lotion / Spray Tans
    Tanning lotions or oils are another popular product used at the beach that can cause serious swimsuit stains. Additionally, many people like the convenience of getting a spray tan, so they can enjoy a bronzed glow without damaging their skin. These chemicals can easily rub off onto your swimsuit, causing stains that you might not notice right away. To remove the stains, you’ll want to get rid of the oils with a gentle, colorless dishwashing detergent. Add a small amount directly on the stain, and rub it in with your fingers. Then wash the suit with cold water and rinse it thoroughly. Depending on the severity of the stain, you might have to repeat this a few times.


We hope this post has helped you learn more about removing stains from bathing suits. If you take anything away from this blog, it should definitely be to act quickly. Your best bet for getting your swimsuit stain-free is to take action against the problem as soon as you notice a stain has formed. That way, you can enjoy a clean swimsuit and get back to having fun in the sun!