Laundry Tips for Ink Removal

Discovering an ink stain on clothing can be quite distressing. In most cases, however, you can remove the ink stain yourself. If the item is labeled "dry clean only," you will want to consult your dry cleaner; otherwise you should be able to remove the stain yourself with a few simple steps.

Take Immediate Action

The sooner you treat your stain, the more likely it is to come out, so don't just pretreat an ink stain and throw it in the laundry hamper. If it comes in contact with anything damp, it can actually cause the ink stain to spread to other items.

Treat with Alcohol

Lay the item flat. If it is a clothing item that has a front and back, place a piece of cardboard in between to prevent spread of the ink. Then soak the stain with denatured alcohol and blot it with cotton or paper towels to pull the ink from the clothing. Keep using fresh cotton or paper towels so you don't spread the stain.

Soak in Milk

When no more ink will come out, rub salt on the remaining stain and soak the stain in milk overnight. Rinse the milk out in the morning.

Launder as Usual

Use a pretreatment product on the stain and then launder it as usual. This should remove the remainder of the stain. Check the stain before drying it. If the stain remains, work on it with denatured alcohol again and rewash. It may take a couple of wash cycles to remove the remainder of the stain.

References

• Removing ink stains

Resources

• Dollar stretcher removing ink