After a busy 2023, my best friend, husband, and I ushered in the New Year by watching movies and enjoying our preferred Noble Vines Cabernet Sauvignon. Even though the evening was relaxed and cosy, I ended up being clumsy and accidentally spilled wine on my favourite tea towel while pouring our second glasses. As a keen follower of #CleanTok, I recalled a video by the acclaimed TikTok personality Grandma Babs as I was getting over the shock of potentially ruining my festive holiday tea towel. But, the ensuing process shocked me even more as this was the first instance where a viral trick did not work as expected.

The red wine stain removal hack of Grandma Babs required a surprising ingredient: more wine! Specifically, white wine. In the video shared by Babs, the white wine miraculously erased the dark red stain right after she soaked up the excess with paper towels. Fortunately, I had a roll of paper towels and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, typically used for cooking, but it seemed good enough for the task at hand.

I poured an equal amount of white wine corresponding to the spill (a little less than 1/4 cup) and let it rest for approximately a minute. I began blotting with the paper towels and even used one in between the towel to soak up as much red wine as possible. At first, when I saw some red colour on the paper towels, I harboured some hope, but it soon vanished as the stain appeared almost identical to when I had just spilled the wine.

My best friend, who is a big fan of cleaning hacks just like me, proposed using some baking soda. I sprinkled sufficient amount to cover the stain and lightly rubbed it in, allowing it to sit for five minutes to work its magic. Unfortunately, after wiping off the baking soda, the three of us were horrified to see a black blotch ruining my beloved tea towel.

Because home remedies didn’t seem to be working, I decided to put some OxiClean Stain Remover on the stain, let it sit for 15 minutes, and throw my tea towel in the wash as my last resort. I was relieved to find out it worked — for the most part, at least.

There was a very faint stain, but overall my tea towel was restored back to its cute glory. Even though Grandma Babs’ wine stain removal trick didn’t work for me, I’ll definitely continue to follow her sage advice, hacks, and tips and keep up with the trials and errors of home cleaning. Moral of the story? Always be skeptical of viral cleaning tips and tricks — and when all else fails, stick to tried-and-true cleaning methods (like these red wine stain removal tricks).