how to get ink out of clothes after drying

A few years dorsum, I received quite a few emails from different readers asking how to solve one particularly vexing laundry issue—the dreaded ink stain. While I have personally witnessed many ink stains over the years (thanks to a married man who often forgets to bank check his pockets for pens before putting things in the wash), I hadn't thought to actually attempt removing them!

Just subsequently receiving several of those reader emails request how to become ink out of clothes, I was determined to figure it out. Fifty-fifty if I had to sacrifice a few towels in the process! ;-)

What I discovered was that non only is information technology possible to remove ink stains, merely information technology's not nearly equally difficult equally I thought it would be! (But don't get around telling people that, alright? It's more fun to allow your family believe that y'all truly are some sort of laundry magician.)

The Ink Stain Removal Trials

During my start round of ink stain removal trials, I compared ii different products that I had read promising things about online: hairspray and paw sanitizer.

Both worked quite well at removing pen ink from fabric, which I chalked up to the fact that both products contain a powerful solvent in the class of ethanol. I figured if ethanol was the key, then why shouldn't rubbing alcohol would work as well or better than hairspray or hand sanitizer?

So I decided to practise a second circular of ink removal trials, this fourth dimension comparing four potential solvents: hairspray, hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, and nail polish remover. And to my genuine surprise, hand sanitizer emerged as the articulate winner!

I notwithstanding can't explain exactly what gives hand sanitizer the edge that the other iii candidates clearly lack, but I suppose the results speak for themselves! If I encounter an ink stain in the hereafter (which I undoubtedly volition), I'll exist reaching for hand sanitizer from at present.

Here's how you tin can use hand sanitizer to remove ink stains of your own!

How To Remove Ink Stains From Apparel

Yous'll demand:

Hand sanitizer
An old toothbrush

Directions:

To remove an ink stain, employ hand sanitizer liberally to the stain. Then grab an quondam toothbrush and scrub the stain for a minute or 2 to aid work the solvent into the fibers of the fabric.

Later on scrubbing, toss the detail in your washing machine and launder equally usual. If the stain isn't entirely gone, repeat the process and wash again (and don't dry out the item until you're satisfied that the ink stain is completely gone!)

You can employ this method to remove ink stains from cotton clothing, carpet, denim jeans, and more. (Continue in listen that small stains are likely to be easier to remove than big ones, and be sure to exam your material for colorfastness if you're concerned about fading.)

I never would accept guessed that removing ink stains would cease up being so simple! And if you have a question or quandary of your ain, my inbox is ever open! :-)

What'southward the toughest laundry stain you've e'er tackled?