Shoes are an essential part of any outfit, but unlike clothing, you can’t always throw your shoes into a washing machine without your shoes getting damaged. You can easily remove most things like dirt or sand from your shoes, but what about more difficult stains like blood?
To remove wet blood out of shoes, dampen a cloth with dish soap or saltwater, blot the blood spot on your shoe until damp, and gently scrub in a circular motion.
To remove dried blood out of shoes, dampen a cloth with white vinegar or hydrogen peroxide and scrub your shoe in a circular motion until the blood stain disappears.
Blood is one of the harder stains to remove, but you’ll know how to get blood out of shoes, including white and canvas shoes, without any problems with the tricks and tips below!
How to Get Wet Blood Out of Shoes
If the blood hasn’t had a chance to set in, your task will be much easier. There are several methods for getting wet blood out of shoes, and they are much milder and gentler.
1. Dish Soap Method
Dampen a cloth with warm water, and lather a dime-sized amount of dish soap into the fabric. Blot the soiled portion of your shoe until damp, then gently scrub in a circular motion.
Keep doing it until the blood disappears.
With the dish soap method, you may need to repeat the process several times for a couple of minutes to achieve the results you want, depending on the amount of blood on your shoe.
Once you have removed all of the blood from your shoe, wash all soap from your rag and give your shoe a final pass over with water only- you don’t want to leave the soap on your shoe.
2. Salt-Water Method
If you don’t have any dish soap on hand, you can use salt water in place of soap.
Follow the same procedure as the dish soap method: dampen a cloth with saltwater, blot the blood spot on your shoe until damp, and gently scrub in a circular motion.
As with the dish soap method, you don’t want to leave any salt to dry on your shoes. Make sure that you wipe your shoes down with salt-free water when you are done.
How to Get Dry Blood Out of Shoes
Getting dried blood out of shoes is a little more complicated than getting wet blood out of shoes, but with the right supplies, you can have your shoes looking good-as-new!
1. White Vinegar
White vinegar is a chemical that breaks down dried blood.
For the best results with using white vinegar to get dried blood out of shoes, first, remove any excess blood that hasn’t set into your shoe with warm water.
Removing excess blood can be done by soaking the shoe for several minutes in warm water or blotting the blood spot with warm water and gently scrubbing with a cloth or a coarse material.
Once the excess blood has been removed from the shoe, and only the set-in blood stain remains, dampen the corner of a cloth in white vinegar and blot into the stain.
Gently scrub the bloodstain with the cloth dampened with white vinegar in a circular motion, adding more vinegar to your cloth to ensure that the spot stays damp.
Once you have removed the stain, run a clean cloth under warm water and use it to wipe down your shoe. Wiping off your shoe will remove any excess white vinegar.
2. Hydrogen Peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is another excellent chemical for removing bloodstains, and the process is very similar to white vinegar. To remove dried blood with hydrogen peroxide, soak or spot-scrub your shoe to remove any excess blood that hasn’t set into the fabric of your shoe.
Once you have eliminated excess blood, dampen the corner of your cloth with hydrogen peroxide and gently scrub any blood spots on your shoe in a circular motion.
Keep doing this until the blood stain disappears. Also, be sure to keep adding hydrogen peroxide as is necessary to keep the stains damp until you are done.
After getting rid of all stains, remove any hydrogen peroxide by going back over your shoe with a clean cloth dampened with warm water only. Let the shoe air dry.
Special Considerations for Getting Blood Out of White Shoes
Now that you’ve learned how to get wet and dried blood out of most shoes, an important question is: how to get blood out of white shoes?
The steps and techniques for getting blood out of white shoes are similar, but there are some special considerations for how to get blood out of white shoes.
First, soak your shoes in lukewarm saltwater for one to two hours before attempting to remove any stains. Hydrogen peroxide will work best for getting blood out of white shoes, but you can use the white vinegar method if no hydrogen peroxide is available.
Like with non-white shoes, you will need to dampen the corner of the cloth with hydrogen peroxide (or white vinegar) and blot it into the soiled portions of your shoe. You will then need to gently scrub the stains in a circular motion until you have removed the stain.
Unlike other shoes, white shoes may take five minutes or longer to remove the stain entirely.
If there was a large amount of blood on the shoe initially, you might need to change washcloths halfway through to ensure that you remove all blood from the shoe.
Once you have entirely removed the stain, wipe the shoes down with a clean damp cloth to remove any hydrogen peroxide or white vinegar from the shoe.
Special Considerations for Getting Blood Out of Canvas Shoes
We’ve talked about getting wet or dry blood out of shoes of all colors, but another important consideration is how to get blood out of canvas shoes.
Sometimes, getting blood out of canvas shoes is as easy as getting blood out of other materials.
First, attempt the hydrogen peroxide method outlined above, blotting, circular scrubbing, and rinsing to remove the stain. If that doesn’t remove all of the blood, there are several techniques for removing any stubborn remaining blood from canvas shoes.
The best way is to find something coarse but not damaging to scrub at the shoes. A toothbrush is a good example. Dampen any remaining spots on your shoes with warm water, and dip a toothbrush into hydrogen peroxide or white vinegar.
Gently scrub the stain in a circular motion with the toothbrush until you have removed the stain. Wipe down your shoes with a clean, damp cloth to remove excess hydrogen peroxide.
Final Thoughts
The right ingredients are key when getting blood out of shoes. Soap and salt can get blood that hasn’t yet set into shoes, while white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide are good for stubborn stains.
Knowing how to get blood out of shoes is the hardest part, but armed with the knowledge from this article, you will be able to get your shoes clean and make them look new!
Now is a good time to learn how to make your shoes waterproof.
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