You can use permanent markers for everything from marking packing boxes to tie-dying t-shirts, but once in a while a marker slips and stains your clothes. Do you need to throw away the marker-stained garment, or can you rescue it? The good news is that you can learn how to get permanent marker stains out of clothes at least most of the time! The best way to get permanent marker stains out of clothes is to use an alcohol
solution. You can use rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer, or even hairspray containing alcohol. Other household products such as nail polish remover, WD40, and some kinds of toothpaste can also remove permanent marker stains. In this article, you will find easy step-by-step instructions for how to use common household products as marker stain removers. You will learn how to get dried-on marker out of the fabric after clothes have gone through the dryer. Finally, you will find out how
to get Sharpie out of a sofa or upholstery. Quick Navigation
Can You Get Permanent Marker Out of Fabric?You can quite easily remove permanent marker stains from fabric such as clothing or upholstery most of the time. For the best success, you want to make sure you catch the stain while still fresh. You will find the ink much easier to remove if you notice it right away! That said, you can sometimes get permanent marker stains out of clothes even after you have washed the clothing and put it in your dryer. For this method, check out the section on “How to Remove Permanent Marker Stains (After Being Washed)” later in this article! The second critical step in removing permanent marker stains is to apply a two-part process. First, you will need to apply a solvent to break down the alcohol and oil in ink. Then you will need to follow up this treatment with a regular wash using laundry detergent to make sure all the color particles wash away. In this article, you will find ten handy pretreatments you can use for that first crucial step. These solutions include things like rubbing alcohol, vinegar, and even bleach! As one final word of caution, you should always check the care label inside your garment before trying any of these treatments or even before placing the clothing in the washing machine. If you have a dry-clean-only garment, you should ask your dry cleaner about the stain instead of trying to remove it yourself. Does Sharpie Wash Out of Clothes?Sharpie does not wash out of clothes in the washing machine unless you apply acidic pretreatment to the stain to break down the alcohol and oils in ink. On its own, sharpie has a pretty permanent hold on fabric! Sharpies and other permanent markers have a soft, spongy tube inside the plastic pen case. Manufacturers use a small needle to force the ink into this spongy material, creating an ink reservoir for you to write with later. Sharpie ink is primarily composed of several different types of alcohol that act as solvents to carry color pigments. The ink often also contains some type of polymer or resin to bind everything together. Some of the chemicals contained in Sharpie ink include Propyl, Butyl, and Diacetone alcohol. Washable ink contains color particles carried on a water-soluble solvent. Sharpie markers use alcohol and resin as the dye carriers, and these do not dissolve when exposed to water or soap. This is why you need to take that additional step of applying something acidic to the stain as a first treatment. You can get permanent marker stains out of clothes using several different acidic solvents, including common household products like rubbing alcohol or vinegar. The “permanent” label in this kind of ink just means that it does not dissolve in water on its own, not that you can’t ever remove it from your clothing! Of course, as with all stains, you will have the best luck if you catch the stain while it is fresh. If you don’t notice that you accidentally scribbled Sharpie on your favorite jeans and put them through the washer and dryer, the ink tends to set in the fabric almost like real fabric dye. In this case, it gets much tougher to remove. Even if you do catch the stain right away, you may need to patiently apply a stain removal treatment a couple of times to make sure you lift all the color away from the fabric. Small dots or lines of ink will likely come out quickly, but large inkblots may take more work. All of the ten methods listed here follow the same basic concept: you apply a solvent to the stain first and then follow up this pretreatment with a cycle in your washing machine. Plus, all ten methods use simple, basic household products that you probably already own! As a safety tip, please note that you can try more than one method if you try one and don’t like it. However, please do not mix the stain removal products–make sure you thoroughly rinse out the fabric from one solvent before trying another! In general, you never want to mix cleaning products, as this can sometimes create a toxic reaction. 1. Rubbing AlcoholBy far the easiest, most effective way to remove permanent marker stains is to apply rubbing alcohol as a first treatment and then wash the garment in your washing machine. Rubbing alcohol will break up the alcohol and polymer carries that bind the dye to the fabric. After this, a good cycle in the washing machine will carry away any lingering dye particles!To apply rubbing alcohol to sharpie or permanent marker stains:
2. Baking SodaBaking soda is alkaline, which can easily break down the oils in an oil-based stain. It is not necessarily the best way to get a permanent marker out of the fabric, but it will work if you catch the ink stain while it is fresh. Plus, baking soda is non-toxic and does not even have strong odors like some other methods listed in this article!To use baking soda on a permanent marker stain:
3. VinegarNo products found.Vinegar has a natural acidity that makes it an excellent cleaning agent for all kinds of household needs, including ink stains! However, since it is not quite as strong as a treatment like rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide, you will want to let the vinegar sit on the stain for a while.
4. Hand SanitizerMost hand sanitizer is made almost entirely of alcohol, which means it works just like rubbing alcohol to remove ink stains. You can also use hand sanitizer to remove permanent ink from many surfaces, such as the wood or metal of your desk at work! The great thing about this is that you almost always have sanitizer around you in public, so you can perform an emergency stain treatment even when away from home! It probably goes with saying, but you do not want to try this with one of those colorful or glittery mini sanitizers you may have in your purse. Make sure you use a plain, clear sanitizer with high alcohol content.
5. HairsprayBack in the old days, most hairspray had a high alcohol content, but this is not always the case today. Make sure you check the ingredient in your spray before trying this method! If your hairspray does contain a lot of alcohol, you can try this easy marker removal method. This technique tends to work well, even on synthetic fabric like polyester. Sometimes ink stains can get tricky to remove from that type of fabric, so keep this method in mind!
6. Nail Polish RemoverNail polish remover is mostly acetone, a powerful solvent that can dissolve many kinds of stains, including ink and paint stains. You do want to use this with care, as it can damage some fabric types. Instead, try dabbing a tiny drop on an inside seam in your clothing to make sure the solvent will not hurt your clothing before attempting this method.
7. Without Alcohol – WD40If you want to avoid using any type of alcohol or strong chemicals on a permanent marker stain, you can try using WD40 instead. The danger with this method is that the oil may create a new, oily stain on your clothes, so use it with care!All you have to do to remove a permanent marker stain with WD40 is soak the stain in a generous amount of the WD40, let it sit for ten minutes, and then blot with a paper towel. You will then want to apply laundry detergent to the oily area and wash the garment promptly to avoid getting an oil stain on your clothing. 8. ToothpasteThis one may seem like a stretch to you, but you can use some types of toothpaste on permanent marker stains quite effectively! The key here is that you can only use a non-gel type of toothpaste for this. You can also mix the toothpaste with a teaspoon of baking soda to create a thicker, more effective paste.
9. Hydrogen PeroxideHydrogen peroxide works much like bleach to make stains colorless rather than removing them from the fabric. It does a great job on permanent marker stains in particular! Hydrogen peroxide has the chemical ability to break up the molecular bonds between dye particles and solvents and will essentially make the dye colorless as a result.This is the same process most types of bleach use, though they contain even stronger chemicals.
10. Oxygenated BleachIn some cases, you can remove permanent marker stains by using oxygenated bleach such as OxyClean. This type of bleach contains a large percentage of hydrogen peroxide and works in much the same way.Follow the instructions on your bleach bottle to try this method. In most cases, you will mix a solution of water and bleach and allow the garment to soak before washing it in your washing machine. If you have a completely white garment, you may want to try using chlorine bleach. Remember that this super-strong product can damage some types of fabric, though, so read the care label inside your clothing before trying this! How Do You Remove Permanent Marker from Colored Clothes?The trick to removing permanent markers from colored clothes is to get out the ink without damaging the fabric dye in your clothing. Rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer, or vinegar will usually safely remove the ink without damaging the dye job. That said, you can always test a cleaning product on your garment before committing to one of these methods. Just turn the piece of clothing inside out and find the finished edge of a seam. Dab a drop of the product onto the seam allowance. Wait fifteen minutes and check for any bleaching or discoloring of the fabric. If you do not see any damage to your test site, you can safely try using the product as a stain remover. You do not want to use chlorine bleach on colored clothing! If you decide to use color-safe oxygenated bleach, use it with care. These products are designed for use with colored clothing but can sometimes negatively affect certain types of fabric anyway. How to Remove Permanent Marker Stains (After Being Washed)It’s much harder to remove permanent marker stains after washing and drying the garment, but it’s not impossible! The key to getting dried permanent marker stains is finding a really strong version of rubbing alcohol. You will need 91% alcohol for this process.
How to Get Dried Sharpie Out of Clothes?To get dried permanent marker stains out of clothes, you can often use the rubbing alcohol method described earlier in this article. That said, your success will depend on how long the ink has remained on your clothing. Also, if you have already washed the dried sharpie, you will need to use the process described above in the second on how to get permanent ink out of clothing after washing. If you have not washed your clothing, but the ink stain has dried, you can use a strong solvent like rubbing alcohol, vinegar, or nail polish remover on the stain. Make sure you rinse this product away afterward and then wash your clothing in the washing machine. It’s true that sharpie stains come out most easily if you catch them immediately, but you can usually still get out a somewhat set stain with a little patience and the right solvent! How to Remove Permanent Marker From Fabric SofaGetting permanent marker stains out of a fabric sofa or other upholstery may seem impossible, but you can do it by applying a multi-step stain removal and rinsing process. You need patience for this method, but it’s worth it to rescue something as expensive as a sofa! You will need several different cleaning products for this method.
ConclusionYou can get permanent marker out of clothes by using several different types of solvents such as rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or nail polish remover. You can also use household products like vinegar, baking soda, or toothpaste as stain removers! Any alcohol-based product such as hand sanitizer or some hairsprays will also work in a pinch. The best way to treat a Sharpie stain is to catch it while still fresh, but you can remove stubborn dried stains by using stronger rubbing alcohol and salt scrub. You can also get a permanent marker stain out of upholstery by applying a multi-step rinsing and blotting process to the marker stain. Have you ever gotten a permanent marker stain out of fabric? What method did you use? Leave a comment below to let us know! Does hand sanitizer take out permanent marker?Alcohol-based hand sanitizers do a good job of removing permanent marker ink. They reactivate the ink, allowing you to easily wipe the stain off. Cover the entire ink stain with hand sanitizer. Let it sit for about 30 seconds and then wipe off the ink with a soft rag.
What removes dried permanent marker?Rubbing alcohol, hand sanitiser, hairspray, nail polish remover, or non-gel toothpaste can all be used to remove permanent marker from everyday fabric items like clothes, pillows, or bedsheets.
How do you remove permanent marker off clothes?Place the stain face down on clean paper towels. Sponge rubbing alcohol into the area around the stain, and then apply it directly to the stain. Continue sponging the stain with alcohol, transferring as much ink as possible to the paper towels, and replacing the towels as needed. Rinse thoroughly and launder.
Does rubbing alcohol get rid of permanent marker?Rubbing alcohol — Ethyl alcohol or isopropyl alcohol (often called 'rubbing alcohol') is very effective at breaking down the chemicals in permanent inks. Always read the label before using and test on a small, inconspicuous area first. Apply the alcohol to a clean towel and wipe away at the stain until it disappears.
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