How to get marker and highlighter out of clothes

How to remove marker from clothes

1. 1

   Rinse from the back with cold water

   Turn the garment inside out and run cold water through the back of the mark. Keep going until the water runs clear and no more color is coming out. With washable kids' markers, this may remove most of the stain.

   Why: Water-based dye that hasn't bonded to the fibers flushes out, and rinsing from the back pushes it out the way it came in.

2. 2

   Lay the stain face down on paper towels

   Put a thick pad of paper towels on a flat surface and lay the stained area face down on it.

   Why: The towels catch the dissolved dye, so it moves out of the garment instead of spreading sideways.

3. 3

   Dab rubbing alcohol on the back

   Test on an inside seam first. Then saturate a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol and dab the back of the stain. Move the garment to a clean spot on the towels as the color transfers, and keep going until no more ink comes out.

   Why: Alcohol dissolves the ink that water left behind, and the towel underneath wicks it away.

4. 4

   Wash with detergent and oxygen bleach

   Rub a little liquid detergent into the spot, then wash in the hottest water the care label allows with detergent and an oxygen (color-safe) bleach. Rinse in warm water.

   Why: Detergent carries away the loosened ink and alcohol, and oxygen bleach oxidizes the last traces of dye.

5. 5

   Air-dry and check

   Hang the garment to dry and check the spot in daylight. If color is still there, repeat the alcohol step and the wash before using the dryer.

   Why: Dryer heat sets dye, and a faint trace that's still treatable when damp may become permanent.

What marker and highlighter ink is made of

A marker feeds dye through a porous felt tip. Washable children's markers use water-based dyes designed to rinse out. Other felt-tip markers and highlighters use dyes in water or alcohol, and highlighters use fluorescent dyes. All of them are dye stains: color molecules that sink into fibers rather than sitting on top.

Kentucky's extension guide treats washable felt-tip ink as an easy stain that a detergent wash removes, and permanent felt-tip ink as a dye stain that may not come out at all. For permanent ink, see the permanent marker guide. Dry-erase ink is different again and has its own guide.

Why rubbing alcohol works on marker

Many marker inks are made to dissolve in alcohol, so rubbing alcohol loosens dye that cold water can't. The towel underneath is just as important: dissolved dye has to go somewhere, and without an absorbent pad it spreads into a bigger, paler ring. That's also why you dab rather than rub.

By situation

Washable kids' marker

Washable markers are designed to come out. A cold rinse and a normal wash with liquid detergent usually do it, even if the mark has dried, as long as it hasn't been through the dryer.

Highlighter on clothes or fabric

Treat highlighter the same way: cold rinse, alcohol blot over paper towels, then a wash with oxygen bleach. Fluorescent dye can leave a faint glow, so check in daylight and repeat the alcohol step if needed.

Marker that's already been washed and dried

Heat may have set it. Repeat the alcohol blotting and an oxygen-bleach wash a few times. It may only lighten.

White clothes

After the alcohol step, oxygen bleach usually clears the last color. On white cotton or polyester whose label shows an empty triangle, chlorine bleach is an option for stubborn dye.

Colored clothes

Alcohol can fade some dyes, so test it on an inside seam first. Use oxygen bleach only.

Acetate, silk, wool and dry-clean-only

On acetate, dilute the alcohol with two parts water and test first. Take silk, wool and dry-clean-only pieces to a cleaner and tell them it's marker.

What not to do

• Don't rub the mark. Rubbing spreads the dye into a larger area and pushes it deeper.
• Don't dry or iron the garment until the mark is gone. Heat sets dye stains so they can't be removed later.
• Don't apply alcohol to the front with no pad underneath. The dissolved ink has nowhere to go but sideways, which makes a wider ring.

Other methods that work

Liquid detergent and a wash alone

For washable markers, rubbing liquid detergent into the mark and washing in the warmest safe water is often enough, because the ink is designed to rinse out.

Caution: Check before drying. If any color remains, go to the alcohol step.

Hairspray

A traditional trick that works, when it does, because of the alcohol in the spray. Weak evidence.

Caution: Hairspray also leaves a sticky resin on fabric. Plain rubbing alcohol does the same job without the residue.

Stain still there?

The stain spread into a pale ring

The ink moved sideways. Put fresh paper towels underneath and keep dabbing alcohol from the back, working from the outer edge toward the center.

Color keeps coming out onto the towels

That's progress. Keep moving to clean towel and dabbing until no more color transfers, then wash.

Safety

• Rubbing alcohol is flammable: work away from flames and with some ventilation.
• Let alcohol evaporate from the garment before washing.

Never mix cleaning products; see chemicals you must never combine.

Questions

Marker on other surfaces

• Marker stains: the complete guide
• Marker on carpet
• Marker on a couch

Other stains on clothes

• Stains on clothes: the complete guide
• Blood on clothes
• Cat urine on clothes
• Chocolate on clothes
• Coffee on clothes
• Crayon on clothes
• Dry erase marker on clothes
• Glue on clothes
• Grass on clothes
• Grease and oil on clothes
• Gum on clothes