How To Get Permanent Marker Off Clothes

10 Clever Hacks to Remove Permanent Marker from Any Surface

Using permanent marker can be risky—one small slip up and something gets ruined. Wrong! Here, you'll find 10 effective ways to remove permanent marker when it ends up on unintended surfaces in your home.

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shirt Maridav/Shutterstock

Clothing

Before tossing your permanent marker-stained clothes into the trash, try dabbing the spot with hairspray that contains alcohol. It will help to break down the stain more aggressively than your normal laundry detergent. Let the hairspray sit on the stain for several minutes before washing in the washing machine.

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girl KayaMe/Shutterstock

Walls

Lemon is a well-known natural cleaner for your home, and lemon essential oil is great for removing permanent marker on painted walls. The acidic lemon and oil work together to gently coax the stain off of the surface without removing the paint. Plus it smells great!

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dry erase board permanent marker handy hints Family Handyman

Whiteboard

Accidentally using a permanent marker on a whiteboard is a common mistake, and it's actually easy to fix. To remove the stain, color over the permanent marker stain with a whiteboard marker, and it should easily wipe away with a whiteboard eraser. Click here to see how it works. Bonus tip: This trick also works to remove permanent marker from stainless steel appliances!

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Skin

Ever have a Sharpie leak on your hands while writing? It's frustrating, for sure, but it's also easy to erase with makeup remover wipes. Simply rub the wipes in a circular motion over the stain to lift the stain off of the skin. Another option is standard rubbing alcohol, but that may irritate sensitive skin.

Photo: Courtesy of Amazon

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spray Syda Productions/Shutterstock

Carpet

Removing permanent marker from carpet is simple with a little nail polish remover. Be sure to dab (not smear) it over the stained area, and swap out for a clean cloth as you go so you don't put marker back into the carpet you have just cleaned. Find out how to get other stains out of your carpet here.

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Kitchen Cabinets

Save your kitchen cabinets from permanent marker doodles with vegetable oil. Use a cotton ball to apply it to the stain and scrub it off with circular motions. Repeat as needed until the marker is gone; then wipe off the excess oil with a damp cloth.

Check out these 10 simple kitchen cabinet repairs you can do.

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food absolutimages/Shutterstock

Plastic

Go ahead and label your plastic containers with a permanent marker. When you want to remove it, just reach for some hand sanitizer. A small squirt of hand sanitizer rubbed over the stain with a paper towel should take it right off.

Originally Published: February 10, 2021

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