Comments on: How to Remove Ink Stains From Fabric

on 2/4/2008 Use regular clear alcohol. Dab on the stain and let set for a few minutes. Then rub the fabric together with alcohol. You may have to soak clothing in alcohol if you have already dried it. Don't give up! It really works.

on 8/22/2006 I used the hairspray tip to get Sharpie out of one of my daughter's outfits, but I washed the outfit with her whole load of clothes. When I removed them from the washer, the stains were gone from that outfit, but they bled onto other clothing in the load. I can't get it totally out of the other clothes. If you use hairspray to get Sharpie out, wash the item by itself!

on 8/8/2006 I had a whole load of blue (ball point) ink splattered clothes. This was a load of whites with some color therefore I could not use bleach. It also wasn't worth my time or effort to tackle each little spot and hope it might come out. I desperation I tried Oxyclean.

1) I filled my bathtub (didn't want to stain washer, thought I could more easily scrub this if needed) with the hottest water my house would allow (slightly scalding) -just enough water that all clothes were wet.
2) I added 1 scoop of Oxyclean per estimated gallon. (8-10)
3) I let the clothes soak and noticed ink changing to purple hues after about 20 minutes. I wasn't sure if this would just alter color or remove it. I stirred my concoction with a wooden spoon to drown the bits of clothing with air pockets in them.
4) I left clothes soaking while I went to pick kids up from school (40 minutes).
5) Returned, most stains were gone! I stirred some more to get remnants of stains soaked. They too disappeared!
6) I wrung out the clothes as best I could by hand. Thank goodness for washing machines and driers!
7) I used a laundry basket to transport the wet clothes to the washing machine.
8) Washed/dried clothes as usual. No items claimed by the Ink Monster!

on 8/8/2006 I did a few other searches and ended up trying toothpaste. To my surprise it worked, you can't even tell the ink was there. To get right down to removing the ink, try a dab of toothpaste, let it sit for a minute or two then gently rub it out. It comes right out!

on 8/8/2006 So, making a long story short, there was quite the heated debate about who's fault it was that the red felt pen had stained the entire load of "lights" laundry. The person who left the pen clipped to the collar of his polo shirt or the person who searched all pockets of shirts and pants for various laundry staining items, but missed said pen.

The rift mending miracle was OXY Clean that we picked up at our local Target (by the detergents/pre-treatments) for about $4.
Many of the suggestions here are for daubing with hair spray and milk and who knows what else... what happened when we used the OXY Clean was like a miracle (and required very little elbow grease).
We came home, and much like a previous tip shared here, filled the bath tub with hot water and dunked all of the stained clothes in it. Next, we dumped 3 little scoops of the OXY Clean into the water. Churned everything around for a good 2 minutes to make sure the oxy-goodness had permeated all of the clothes. We sprinkled one more scoop on top and went to watch the Stanley Cup Finals. I checked on the mixture after about 15 minutes and the red spots had begun to fade already. I mixed things up again and when my man went to go and check on things about 20 minutes after that, every single spot was gone! From the boxers to the button-ups-- CLEAN!!

We rinsed everything in cold water, wrung it out and then threw it all in the washing machine with a very minimal amount of detergent, and when the whole cycle had finished you would never be able to tell that the spots had been there at all.

on 8/8/2006 I wanted something cheaper, a little research unveiled some interesting things. Alcohol Denat is the primary ingredient of hair sprays. The denat means denatured, chemicals are added to make it bitter or toxic for consumption. This exempts it from many taxes that apply to alcohol that can be imbibed.

So using this logic, I assumed that ethyl alcohol would work the same to remove ink stains. Since the chemical formula for the main ingredient in hair spray and ethyl rubbing alcohol are the same.

Ethyl alcohol = same + cheaper.

on 8/8/2006 All these methods are good, some better to an extent, but make sure you wash the garment in the hottest water that the fabric can be washed in! I used cold water and all it did was set the stain.

on 7/30/2006 My kids wrote on my desk with a black Sharpie. I applied hair spray 20 minutes later. The stain is gone now. I proceeded to wipe the surface with a water dampened clean washcloth. To my dismay I found that after the water dried, there were big white stains on my desk. If using hair spray, test on a small spot first.

on 7/21/2006 The minute you get a stain on clothes, dip it in warm water and squirt about three sprays of hairspray on it and rub. Keep doing this until it is gone. It totally worked for me, so it will definitely work for you. Good luck!

on 7/6/2006 I dropped an exploded ink pen on my khaki pants while I was at work. It landed right between my legs at the beginning of my work day. I discovered a First Aid kit in the back of my Dept., so I took a bunch of rubbing alcohol wipes and spent 20 minutes in the bathroom rubbing out the stain with the wipes and cold water, and it worked! 20 minutes later these was no evidence of any stain ever existing. My co-workers were amazed. :)

on 6/30/2006 If your Sharpie stain is on a hard surface, like wood, plastic or surfaces that aren't smooth (not drywall); First, take some regular old mint Crest toothpaste and smear it on the Sharpie stain. Don't be shy, smear it on quickly and leave it for 30 seconds. Then take a washcloth and start rubbing hard and fast for about 30 seconds. If the stain is gone; great! But if not, dip a Kleenex in some non-acetone fingernail polish remover. Rub it on to the stain. Repeat a few times, then put a bit on the stain and leave it there for 5 minutes. It should be gone!

on 3/11/2006 I did a little research and unveiled some interesting things. Alcohol denat is the primary ingredient of hair sprays. The denat means denatured, chemicals are added to make it bitter or toxic for consumption. This exempts it from many taxes that apply to alcohol that can be imbibed. So, using this logic, I assumed that ethyl alcohol would work the same to remove ink stains (since the chemical formula for the main ingredient in hair spray and ethyl rubbing alcohol are the same).

Ethyl alcohol = same + cheaper.

on 3/8/2006 We just pulled out a load of clothes from the dryer, including my work shirts, only to find that they were covered in red ink. I jumped onto Google and found this site. I saw that supposedly, hairspray would work. While myself and my wife were very skeptical, we put hairspray all over the clothes with the ink. She also put Spray 'n Wash on 2 pieces before we learned of the hairspray. We put it all back in the washer, thinking that we would be throwing the clothes in the garbage. When the washer stopped all of the clothes were free of red ink! We were amazed to say the least.

on 11/22/2005 Black sharpie pigment appears to be iron based. I just got a big blotch from a black sharpie on light tan cargo pants. I tried mixing about a teaspoon of Iron Out powder (see the laundry aisle of your grocery store) with very hot water and rubbed the paste into the stain. I laudered the pants separately with Tide With Bleach Alternative and 1/4 cup Oxyclean (for peroxide relase) and 1/4 cup Iron Out. Note: be careful around Iron Out. Iron Out powder or fumes from the liquid may cause serious respiraroy distress. Wear rubber gloves to protect your skin.

on 11/22/2005 Put Orange Glow over the stain and rub, the ink is gone.