How To Remove Ink Stains From Clothes

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Inside: Removing ink stains is easy with this simple tip. See how to remove ink stains from clothes to save those stained shirts and pants.

Growing up it seemed like my mom could remove just about any stain from clothes. Dirt, grease, you name it she got it out.

If my mom couldn’t get it out then my grandma usually could. She somehow got out a ton of bubblegum from an outfit.

I usually could care less about how the stains were removed from my clothes. Except for when it came to removing ink stains. Removing ink stains from clothes always fascinated me.

I would grab a big old bottle of Rave and happily remove ink stains. Somehow it is so much fun watching the stain start to smear and then completely disappear when washed.

I just assumed that everyone knew the hairspray on a stain trick until my husband came home with an ink stain a couple of weeks ago.

He started to put some stain stick on it until I stopped him. He had no clue how to remove ink stains from clothes.

Since this stain was front and center on a white shirt I figured it would be an easy one to see the before and afters of.

How To Remove Ink Stains From Clothes

If you haven’t seen this cool trick for how to remove ink stains from clothes it’s pretty neat and super easy to do!

You can either read or watch the new video below!

Don’t throw out your ink-stained clothes, grab a bottle of hairspray and get the stain out.

You can see below the ink stain on my husband’s shirt.

There are a few different kinds of ink stains but I will start with the easiest to remove. Ballpoint pen ink stains are very easy to remove with some hairspray.

Materials You Will Need

To remove ink from clothes you need is a bottle of hairspray and of course, the clothes that have the ink stain.

Why hairspray? Hairsprays contain alcohol that will remove most ballpoint pen ink stain.

The alcohol in the hairspray is what takes the stain out, so make sure you are using a hairspray with alcohol. Check the ingredients on the hairspray to be sure. With the hairspray bottle, you can easily spray the stain out.

If you are buying hairspray just to remove the stain you can buy a cheap brand of hairspray. Usually, the cheaper the hairspray is the more alcohol it contains.

Removing The Ink With Hairspray

Start by putting a paper towel behind the ink stain on the clothes. This will keep the ink stain from soaking through to the other side when you spray it.

Then, start spraying a generous amount of hairspray on the stain. You may see the ink start to bleed and spread, that’s ok, it just means it is working.

Once you have saturated the stain with the hairspray just let it sit for about a minute. This will let the alcohol in the hairspray really soak into the stain.

Once it has set for a minute then spray the ink stain again with a little bit of hairspray.

Use a paper towel to gently blot at the stain to try to remove some of the ink making sure you don’t let the stain go through to the other side of the clothes.

Or if you have a soft toothbrush or laundry brush you can scrub it with that.

I love this laundry brush from The Laundress.

Rinse And Wash

After you have blotted and scrubbed the material around the ink stain then rinse the area where the stain was.

After that, you can run the clothes through the wash like you normally would on a regular wash cycle. Since hot water will help to remove the stain I recommend using the hottest water you can for the clothes. Look at the tags and use the hottest water it recommends.

When you remove the clothes from the washing machine, the ink stain should be gone. If it isn’t you may need to let the clothes air dry and then repeat all of the above steps to get all of the ink stains out of the garment.

It is really just that easy. I have usually had everything come out the first time though.

Removing ink stains from clothes with hairspray is not only easy, but it is also pretty cheap to do too. Just a few pennies in hairspray to save your clothes and say goodbye to those nasty ink stains.

Dealing With Permanent Ink

If you are dealing with permanent ink it may be a little more difficult to remove the stains. The whole permanent thing really makes it difficult to remove. I recommend starting out with the hairspray method above.

If that doesn’t help to budge the permanent marker stain then you will want to try straight rubbing alcohol on the stain. Rubbing alcohol can fade colors so take a drop or two and test it in an area of the clothes that you won’t see.

I recommend using an inside seam to test it. Let the rubbing alcohol sit for about 2-3 minutes and then rinse the rubbing alcohol out. If it doesn’t fade then you can try it on the stain.

Use a paper towel to apply a little bit of rubbing alcohol to the stain. Again, like with the ballpoint pen stain, it may spread so have another paper towel behind the stain to absorb the ink.

Dab at the stain with the paper towel and rubbing alcohol. You may need to change the paper towels a few times to keep the ink from really spreading. When you have cleaned off most of the ink wash the clothing in the washing machine on the hottest water possible for the garment.

Once the machine is done running then remove the clothes and allow them to air dry. If the stain is still there you can repeat the steps above again to try to remove the rest of the stains.

As a last resort if you are desperate to remove either ballpoint pen stains or permanent ink stains from your clothes or home you can try this product on amazon. I personally haven’t tried it so I recommend it only as a last-ditch effort to save your things from ink stains. Multiple people have recommended it to me if you can’t use the above tips.

Don’t let ink stains ruin your favorite clothes. With these easy tips on how to remove ink stains from clothes, you can save your favorite clothes from the rag bin and wear them once again. You won’t believe how easy (and kind of fun too!) it is.

Have more stains on your clothes that you can’t get out? See how to get just about any stain out of clothes here. What stain tips or tricks do you use?

P.S. For more cleaning tricks and frugal tips delivered to your inbox subscribe here!

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