We Tried Three At-Home Dry-Cleaning Products, and There’s Only One Worth Buying

There aren’t many at-home dry-cleaning brands, but we wanted to test three of the better-known products—Dryel, The Laundress, and Janie Dry Cleaner in a Stick—to find out how well they clean three articles of clothing: a cotton dress shirt, a silk tank top, and a merino wool scarf. Before cleaning each item, we mucked them up by adding one tablespoon of vegetable oil, tomato sauce, and liquid foundation makeup to each piece and letting the stains sit for two days. We then tested the products on the third day. Two out of the three products include stain remover sticks.

I also asked CR’s resident Laundry Expert Richard Handel his thoughts on at-home dry-cleaning products. Although he didn’t personally test them for CR, he says he tried Dryel a few years ago. “It freshened the item I tried it on, but I don’t remember being impressed,” Handel says. According to Handel, most stain removers recommend testing on an inconspicuous area first to ensure it’s safe to use. “Dry-clean-only items are generally more delicate, and general stain removers may be too harsh for them,” he says. All the more reason to put our faith in the at-home dry-cleaning stain removers to work effectively. 

I was hoping to have the opposite reaction as Handel because, boy, would I like to save some money and time on dry cleaning. But results don’t lie. Here’s what I discovered—photographic evidence included.