How to Remove Permanent Marker Ink (Sharpie Sharpee)

Have you ever use a Sharpie / Sharpee marker to write your name or something else in permanent ink and then wanted to remove it? Well here you go.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sharpie / Sharpee Permanent Marker
• Cotton Cloth or Rag
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Spray Bottle

1. 

   Over a sink, fill your spray bottle with rubbing alcohol about half way to the top. More then that is a waste unless you are going to remove lots of Permanent Marker.

2. Spray your clean cotton cloth or rag with the rubbing alcohol until it is fully wet. No need to have it dripping as it will only waste the rubbing alcohol and smell up the place.

3. 

   Use the rubbing alcohol covered cloth to rub away the marker from the surface. Start with small circular motions and when you see that the Permanent Marker is disappearing continue to rub in larger circular motions until the writing is completely gone. You may need to reapply more rubbing alcohol flip it to expose a clean potion of the cloth.

4. NOTE: Test Results after experimenting with several surfaces, using a Black, a Red and a Blue Sharpie. Red is the easiest by far to remove without using much efforts I could 100% remove all traces of the marker. Black took a little more effort but I was able to remove without using much effort I could also 100% remove all traces of the marker; However Blue on the other hand took much more effort regardless of the surface. In some cases the blue Sharpie left a ghostly image behind from the original marking. I have not yet tested using the non-standard colors like Yellow, Orange and Green. When I do test more colors I will update this eHow article.

Tips & Warnings

• If the permanent marker Ink does not remover all the way you can spay the spot that is marked on.
• Make sure you are in a fully ventilated area.
• First test a very small area of the surface that has the permanent marker ink before applying too much rubbing alcohol.
• Rubbing Alcohol is extremely flammable, don’t use near flame or electricity.

[achenoweth]

on 4/25/2009 Thanks for sharing I have a 3 year old that colored on the wall. I am going to try this. 5* and a rec

[pamelaa75]

on 4/21/2009 Thanks for the tips 5*/rec

[goodselfme]

on 3/29/2009 this tip to remove sharpee magic permanent marker ink is really good. TX

[veryirie]

on 3/28/2009 Super helpful article to remove a Sharpie permanent mark. Thanks!

[MrHuguley]

on 3/18/2009 It works on most hard surfaces but first test a very small area of the surface that has the permanent marker ink before applying too much rubbing alcohol. I have not tried it on things like cloth or other porous surfaces like wood. But I have tried it on plastics, metals, laminates, glass and other hard, non-porous surfaces.