Comments on: How to Remove Latex Paint from Clothing

on 8/13/2008 Mineral spirits and a good old fashioned washing worked fine......scrub paint stain hard with mineral spirits & tooth brush or detail brush....then wash normally....can't hardly see the old paint on a pair of dark shorts......oooorah!

on 1/19/2007 GOOF OFF worked....it melted the paint right off my $100 pair of 7 jeans. The bottle lists it as made by Lilly Industries....at www.goof-off.com and a number of 1-877-goof-off. Turpentine and dishwashing liquid only got out 10% of the paint (it never dried on my jeans either...it got wet and within 5 minutes I noticed and started the turpentine/dishliquid cleaning). After spending an hour working through hand rubbing the material I gave up and ran into the Goof off on the counter...tried it and it melted the paint away. Be careful about how much of this stuff you inhale though as I got a little too much in my system. Good luck!

on 1/19/2007 GOOF OFF WORKED! I started with my $100 pair of jeans having wet latex paint on them after sitting on the top of the paint can....turpentine with dish liquid only removed around 10% of the paint...the GOOF OFF seemed to melt the paint right off and left my jeans looking like new! Jeans are in the wash - may take a couple washes to get rid of the turpentine smell. You can get this product through Lilly Industries at WWW.goof-off.com or call 1-877-goof-off. Not sure where this bottle came from as I'm in my sister's house helping her out with some painting. Good luck!

on 1/6/2007 I've used Goof Off -- a commercially available paint remover -- to remove dried latex from clothes with great success (especially denim). It's potent stuff, though, so I'd avoid certain fabrics and wash immediately.

on 8/8/2006 The rubbing alcohol and Scotch Brite worked wonders, and it came out! Thanks and good luck on your paint stains.

on 8/8/2006 I had this beautiful pink dress and got ball point ink on it. I took it to the cleaners, used bleach, neither took it out. But hair spray takes it out with a squirt. The ink dissolves and fades away. Give it another squirt, wait for a few minutes and wash the garment.

on 8/8/2006 Or, in this context, "tough stains require tough tools".

Take $5.00 with you and go to Home Depot to buy a Nicholson 8 File Cleaner [Made by Cooper Tools].

It's a brush that has very fine metal bristles. The length of this brush is 8 inches. The actual filing surface is 1.5" X 4.0". Make sure you rub the paint spots on your Jeans gently, and in one direction (follow the direction of the jean texture).

Slide one hand inside the jeans, stick a finger right under the paint spot and push up. This will not only compress the tip of your finger against the spot to be brushed, it will also prevent the brush from rubbing the area surrounding the paint that needs to be removed. Use the other hand to perform the paint removal.

Technique: Use fast strokes with the length of the brush pointing perpendicular to the length of your Jeans but with the strokes barely hitting the paint and applied in the direction of the fabric's texture (parallel).

Caution: Do not rub back and forth. Do it in one direction only (that of the texture). From top to bottom, for example, if you're right-handed; bottom to top if left-handed.

I suggest wetting the paint with warm water and letting it set for a minute or two prior to starting the removal.

Personal experience: There were about a dozen paint spots on my jeans. Nine were removed successfully. The others were perforated. I experimented directly on my jeans and used several methods. I did not use water at all. I should have. Plus, I almost brushed off my fingertips when I made those holes.

Reasons for the holes:

1. Applied too much brush pressure,
2. Back and forth motion of strokes,
3. Dry spots (no water used).

Advice: I recommend the use of a thimble to protect your sacred finger. The advantage is evident. The disadvantage is that you won't feel how close the brush bristles are to your fingertip as you're rubbing the painted surface, which means that you could make a hole in the fabric. Solution: Gloves. Use several pairs at once if it's latex or just one pair if it's work/garden gloves.

If you're afraid your jeans will end up with holes (but no paint), I suggest buying a piece a denim, or looking for old jeans, or asking family and friends if they have some they no longer need, etc. in order to experiment first. Of course, you'll need to let some paint drip on them and wait a few days before you perform the test.

Funny note: I bought this brush to remove rust from the body of my vehicle.

on 7/22/2006 Pure acetone removes dried latex paint on clothing. I used a Q-tip and acetone on sneakers, and it came right off. You can buy it in hardware stores near the paint thinners, but you can also get it at a beauty supply store, since it's used to remove nail polish (but make sure you get 100% acetone, not nail polish remover). And is very cheap.

on 7/3/2006 The rescue can be found at your local hobby store. It's call "CA Debonder", and is used (mainly by radio-control airplane modelers) to remove hardened cyanoacrylate glue from fingers!. This glue is what folks commonly call "crazy glue", and as this stuff bonds within three or four seconds - the debonder is the only way to get your objects apart. I just finished painting our living room with a flat, pale green, latex in a pair of bone-colored shorts. Big mistake - but the debonder softened the hardened latex, Tide detergent and the washing machine finished it off - all before my wife came home!

on 6/30/2006 I poured on the alcohol as others suggested, scrubbed with toothbrush, an SOS pad and a pocket knife (which nearly took the blue off the jeans), and finally decided to try what I had already considered before finding these other hints. I laid them on the driveway and hit them with the pressure sprayer. Alcohol, pressure sprayer, done.

on 6/30/2006 I was painting my son's magic wands for a school project and got red paint on my favorite white cotton shirt. I knew to quickly rinse the stain with water and throw into the washing machine. What I missed was a big splotch that dried hard and I almost thew away the shirt. But then I read this site and attacked the dried spot with dishwashing liquid. When that made a little difference, I rubbed the spot with peanut butter. When that made a little bit rinse away, I worked the stain with alcohol, then WD40, then detergent again, then alcohol, etc. All these things worked a little bit, and all together with some rubbing and scrubbing, finally the spot is almost entirely gone. I have just happily thrown the shirt into a hot wash with a warm rinse and feel confident that if there is any stain left at all, I can work the remainder out with all the solvents mentioned above.

on 4/16/2007 The rubbing alcohol and Scotch Brite worked wonders! The stain is gone!

on 3/27/2006 I had dried latex paint on my husband's Polartec jacket. I tried the alcohol and it just melted away. I could not believe it. It is now as good as new.

on 3/17/2006 I got bright red paint on my super duper blue jeans (super because they are just the right fit and duper because they are now the perfect color and broken-in-softness). I thought all was lost! I took your suggestions. Most important - start with the gentle swipe of the razor blade to remove excess, it is surprising how much comes off that way alone! Then, warm water and the Scotch Brite pad and most of it was gone just like that! I had to use some of the goo gone on the worst spot. But, alas, a happy ending. Thanks for saving my ol' blues!

on 4/16/2007 I had a really nice pair of dress slacks. We painted our entire house and I got beige paint on these dark pants. I thought I was going to have to throw them out. It had been about two or three years (I had been wearing them around the house to work in and that kind of thing). I decided after reading about using rubbing alcohol and a steel wool scratcher to try it. I did mine a little different though. First I scraped the areas with a razor blade, gently, and then I wet a Brillo pad and scrubbed the spots. It was like magic! It came off easily and they looked brand new! All I did was toss them in the washer and they look good as new!! I highly recommend using a wet Brillo pad. Do a test spot first to make sure it doesn't damage the fabric!