8 ways to remove permanent marker stains (WFMW)
Lil’ Duck and his friends have found the Sharpie permanent markers on occasion and boy can those make a mess! Thankfully, it can be removed, although I still need to work on the carpet. With this list, be careful as to the surface, as some of these things will ruin certain surfaces. I’d suggest spot-testing and using common sense (i.e. not putting bleach on carpet, not using chemicals on skin, etc. 
). Now if only I could get red koolaid out of carpet…
- Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
(also works for crayons, but don’t use it on skin, of course)
- WD-40
- Anti-bacterial hand gel
- Hairspray
- Cooking spray
- Nail polish remover
- Bleach (depending on the surface)
- Goof Off
*Updated to add other suggestions….
Eagles Wings suggested acetone for taking sharpies right off of plastic or hard surfaces (keep away from children, of course).
Renee said that rubbing alcohol will also remove permanent markers from smooth surfaces.
Mz Jay had an incident where:
My daughter got her hands on a thick black permanent marker(sharpie) she drew on paper but quite alot of it got on the kitchen table that has a wood finish on top. I used toothpaste and a toothbrush and it removed all the marker on the table! I let the toothpaste sit on all the marks for about 5 minutes and got an old toothbrush and scrubbed away! My table does not have any marker left on it, and the best part is that the toothpaste did not ruin my wood table or the finish thats on it. I would suggest using the white toothpaste rather than the gel types that are on the market.
Hard Surfaces – Dry Erase Marker and wipe off with a towel. If it’s stained paint, or if a shadow remains, try oxy clean in a bucket with water and a rag. WD-40 works, but if you’re using it on a surface that’s covering say MDF or chip board, be careful not to get ANY into the cracks as it will cause the wood to expand and make your tiny crack into a giant bubble.
Soft Surfaces – Xylene will work for carpet, but either dilute it or use sparingly. Oxy works as well. Rubbing Alcohol will work for most cloth stains.
Your Kid – A bath and a little humiliation for a while! That’ll teach him/her to get mucked up before having to go to school the next day!
Outdoor Saddle Soap works good on leathers.Just apply and rub off, may need to do this a couple of times but i found it works good.
thanks for your tips – here is one to help you and your red kool aid stains – trust me it works… take 50/50 sol. of water and amonia… pour on stain and let sit a few min. then take dry white towel… place on top of soaked stain, then place an warm iron on top and steam it out… ****stay with the iron and monitor it – lets not have any fires here…**** the way it works the steam and chemicals draw stain up on to the clean towel… it works – follow it up with a good carpet cleaning…
This maybe a ‘duh’, but I got some black permanent Sharpie marks on my eyeglasses, and rubbing alcohol dealt with them, no problem.
My 3 yr. old drew on our new washer and dryer with a red perm. marker…it’s a front loader and has glass/plastic kinda in the front I can’t find anything to remove it! Any suggestions?
*AP*
used Oreilly brake parts cleaner non-chlorinated
contains
Methanol 67-56-1,Ttolune 108-83-3
to erase permanet marker letters, on plastic cooler top, only
Worked great………….