# Any tips on getting permanent marker out?



## Liz Wolf-Spada (Aug 8, 2008)

I obviously got distracted today and touched my new shirt with a blue Sharpie. I've tried alcohol and am no trying liquid detergent with powdered all fabric bleach. Any other ideas? My dry cleaner said they couldn't get it out.
Thanks,
Liz


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## Chrisky (Aug 8, 2008)

My only sugestion would be alcohol. Place blouse in paper towels, wet stain with alcohol, blot dry with paper towels. Keep doing this until hopefully stain goes away.


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## Passepartout (Aug 8, 2008)

Could be there's a reason they call it 'permanent'. Unlike a hair permanent, which isn't.

You might try 'Goof-Off' or some such solvent based spot remover. Or possibly nail polish remover. You might just have a new gardening or painting shirt.  Seems that's how I get lots of my work clothes.

Jim Ricks


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## falmouth3 (Aug 8, 2008)

Do you have spray hairspray, not pump?  That used to take pen ink out of cloth.  Or try Lysol on a cotton ball - dab it on.  Good luck.


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## AwayWeGo (Aug 8, 2008)

*Try Solvents First Where They Won't Show.*

That way, in case the solvents cause more damage to the fabric, the test spot will be out of sight. 

If nothing you've tried so far has helped, maybe try some other solvents -- e.g., lighter fluid (naphtha), nail polish remover (acetone), other kinds of alcohol (ethanol, methanol, propanol, isopropanol, etc.), lacquer thinner, & mixtures of those with laundry products, liquid detergents, etc. 

Once the garment is ruined, you're not risking much by trying extreme measures. 

For safety, go outdoors when you try all those heavy-duty solvents. 

Good luck. 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## MULTIZ321 (Aug 8, 2008)

Removing Permanent marker stains on clothing

How do you remove permanent marker from a shirt?

Will permanent marker come out of clothing?


Richard


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Aug 9, 2008)

Thanks, the first link doesn't seem to work, but I got some more ideas from the other. I love the shirt, Fresh Produce, from Macy's in Hawaii and I just bought it this June. I'll try these things and I might just be uncouth and wear it if I can't get the spot completely off.
Liz


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## AwayWeGo (Aug 9, 2008)

*Uncouth, Shmunncooth.*




Liz Wolf-Spada said:


> I might just be uncouth and wear it if I can't get the spot completely off.


If traces of the stain remain no matter what, you could sew on a little machine-embroidered decorative applique from a crafts store or fabric shop that will cover over the smudge. 

That might work, depending on what part of the garment it's on.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Aug 9, 2008)

Alan, I thought of that and may go look for one the next time I am near a store like that. At least it would look intentional.
Liz


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## JoeWilly (Aug 9, 2008)

Try Fels-Naptha Bar Soap.  The bar states it's a heavy duty lanudry soap.  It is wonderful!!!  I like it better than shout, spary in wash, etc.--there's no comparison.  I have never had luck with hairspray removing ink, but have had great luck with this soap. It removes everything.  The soap has been around forever.  Our grandmothers probably did their lanudry with it.  I got my in the grocery store for about $1.88 bar in the cleaning supply section or with Rit dye.  It was on the bottom of the shelf cause the expensive stuff is usually located higher.  You probably know this, but the key is whatever products you try, don't put the shirt in the dryer until you know the spot is gone or you most likely won't get it out.


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## parkersport (Aug 9, 2008)

*Sharpie Out*

White Shirt?  Bleach.  Otherwise, an old product called Thoro works pretty well.


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## MULTIZ321 (Aug 9, 2008)

Liz,

All 3 links worked for me. I'm using the Firefox Browser.  Try again with a different browser and see if that works.


Richard


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Aug 9, 2008)

Fels Naphta, interesting. I know it's a remedy for poison oak and poison ivy. I'll get some and try it.
Thanks,
Liz


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## Rose Pink (Aug 9, 2008)

Fels Naptha is a must have in my laundry room.  Thoro is drycleaning fluid and hair spray is alcohol.


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## nicklinneh (Aug 10, 2008)

if there's carbon-black in the ink i think you can forget it, but maybe some of the brighter colors can be removed. crayola used to maintain a hotline for removal, mainly to get crayon off walls but they make markers too; i'd try them. -ken


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## Talent312 (Aug 10, 2008)

Liz Wolf-Spada said:


> I obviously got distracted today and touched my new shirt with a blue Sharpie. I've tried alcohol and am no trying liquid detergent with powdered all fabric bleach. Any other ideas? My dry cleaner said they couldn't get it out.



Try carpet cleaner, full-strength.  If its safe enuff for carpet+couches...
Alternatively: I used a pressure-washer to get paint off the brick walls at my house.
It did a good job, too.  Hang your shirt on an outside wall see what happens.


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## Jaybee (Aug 11, 2008)

How about lemon juice and sunshine?  Good luck, Liz...


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## sstamm (Aug 11, 2008)

Jaybee said:


> How about lemon juice and sunshine?  Good luck, Liz...



Lemon juice and sunshine works well for rust stains on clothing.  Once, long before I knew better and when I could still wear a bikini, I hung a yellow bikini on a wire hanger to dry.  Of course, it got rust stains on it.  I used the lemon juice/sunshine method and it took all the stains out.

My daughter drew on one of our walls with Sharpie.  After many tries and many products, it is still there, although lighter than it was originally.  That was over 10 years ago,

I say, if you like the shirt, wear it anyway.

Good luck!!


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## Beaglemom3 (Aug 12, 2008)

I frequently fall asleep with my yellow highligther uncapped and awaken to a 
fluourescent yellow patch on my sheets. 

I remove the sheet asap, spray it with hairspray and let it sit. Then, I spray it with whatever laundry pre-spotter I have. Then I wash it separately about twice in warm water (with a cap of OxyClean.
So far, so good.


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## falmouth3 (Aug 12, 2008)

Beaglemom3 said:


> I frequently fall asleep with my yellow highligther uncapped and awaken to a
> fluourescent yellow patch on my sheets.



Are you falling asleep with your pulse-pumping law books?  :ignore: 



Sharpie does fade in the sun so that might actually be a good solution for you.


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## Beaglemom3 (Aug 12, 2008)

falmouth3 said:


> Beaglemom3 said:
> 
> 
> > I frequently fall asleep with my yellow highligther uncapped and awaken to a
> ...



Yes, _Contractual Law_ is better than Lunesta/Ambien (pick one).
I use the "Hi-Liter" by Avery Dennison - guaranteed to stay set until you go in with "heavy artillerary".
I kick myself each and every time (and it is very often) that I do this.
If I could study at a desk like normal people, I wouldn't have this problem.


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## EJC (Aug 12, 2008)

Somewhere along the line I heard that fingernail polish remover takes out permanent marker.


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## normab (Aug 12, 2008)

Unfortunately, I don't have much advice-just insight to the whole process. My experience has been that permanent marker is permanent on fabrics once it is absorbed into the fabric (which is immediate)--even when using bleach to remvoe it.  

I am guessing the reason is because whatever the marker pigment is made of, it does not chemically react with bleach, which would remove it (the removal of certain stains is the result of a chemical reaction with the oxygen or chlorine bleach).

However, when we accidentally wrote on a non-absorbent surface, whiteboard,with permanent marker, we were able to use acetone (ingredient in nail polish remover) to clean up the whiteboard.  Here it may be that the particles of the dried marker are washed off/removed onto the cloth, not reacted with.   So this might work on other non-absorptive surfaces, just be careful that there is no paint under the marker because that might be removed too!!!

Norma


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## summervaca (Aug 12, 2008)

I have used fingernail polish to get many stains out of lots of things.  It works "alot" of the time.  Not always, but often.

About a year ago I fell asleep with a purple sharpie in bed.  My husband came up later and turned the lights off.  In the morning he woke up and went into the bathroom.  He thought he had some dreadful rash or disease.  He was covered in purple, blotchy marker all over his torso:hysterical:   I thought he was going to have a stroke!  I laughed my head off and he did not know whether to laugh or be mad.  Of course, the sheets were completely ruined and the mattress was _soaked _.  He actually went and got the spot bot and ran it on the mattress about 3 times and it just continued to pull purple water.  We're talking, the entire marker leaked out.  Ahhh...the memory


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Aug 12, 2008)

Well, I got the Fels Naptha, so I am going to try that. On white board, alcohol will also take off permanent marker.
Liz


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## Htoo0 (Aug 13, 2008)

Please let us know the results- we're waiting on pens and sharpies!


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## MelBay (Aug 13, 2008)

Hey, try this!  Today I got a manicure.    Tonight I made hard boiled eggs and I always put an X on them so everyone know those are the cooked ones.  Well, I accidentally marked on my pretty new thumb nail with the darned Sharpie.  I grabbed a Magic Eraser Sponge (lots of different brands, I just buy the cheap generic ones at my grocery store) which I use to clean my white counter tops.  It took the Sharpie mark off nail polish, and the manicure looks good as new.

So, that's just a thought. Let us know!


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Aug 14, 2008)

I'll try the Fels Naptha this weekend and let you know. I'm back to work, kids start tomorrow and I'm pretty vegged out by the time I get home.
Liz


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## pjrose (Aug 19, 2008)

*Removing permanent marker from vinyl wallpaper*

Last week I just glanced at these posts, but now, alas, we need to get black permanent marker from wallpaper.  There's a lot of it to remove, and the wallpaper is a neutral beige.  

It is a pretty heavy wallpaper, vinyl I think, and seems scrubbable.  So far we have sprayed with various household cleaners, and scrubbed with a Comet clone and a Soft-Scrub clone.  Both the marker and beige wallpaper are getting lighter, so it looks like we're just taking a layer off the wallpaper.  That'd be ok.  

Other ideas?  we're thinking alcohol, goo-gone, brillo......


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## AwayWeGo (Aug 19, 2008)

*Mr. Clean Magic Dirt Eraser ?*




pjrose said:


> Other ideas?


Mr. Clean magic dirt eraser ? 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Aug 19, 2008)

I second the Mr. Clean eraser. For me, I had used alcohol first, then soaked my stained shirt with liquid laundry soap and all fabric bleach. That got most of it out.  I later tried the Fels Naptha, but at that point it didn't seem to make much difference. It is now a very small and lightish blue stain, so I'm still wearing the shirt.
Liz


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