Doing laundry can be tedious at times, especially if you have to clean clothes with ink stains. It takes some patience and some practical ways to deal with this kind of problem.

So, how to get ink out of clothes?

If you notice that the ink stains have not fully set in on the fabric, immediately rub some rubbing alcohol on the stained area to neutralize the stains until they disappear. The rubbing of alcohol may be repeated several times until the stains are cleared out. You can also make use of some hair spray and rub it in the stained spot. Then, wash in cold water with some laundry detergent; make sure to check the clothes before final washing because if the stains are not gone, you may have to repeat the same process. After making sure that the stains are gone, do the final wash and clean then dry completely out in the sun.

To get rid of ballpoint pen ink stains, try rubbing the stained spot with a wet sponge until the stains are blotted out, after which you can air-dry the clothing. Place one towel paper over the stained spot and a second paper towel under the clothing of the stained spot. Then, spray some hair spray and let the ink be absorbed by the second paper towel under the stained spot. Put some stain remover on the stained spot to fully blot out the stain. Use warm water when washing the clothing.

For ink stains made by felt tip pens, use a paper towel to remove most of the ink. Get some cotton swabs dipped in some denatured alcohol which you can get from a hardware store to remove the stain. Then wash and dry completely.

Stains from markers may removed by using paper towels similar to the procedure to remove felt tip pens stains, but this time using acetone on the stains. Use the paper towel placed at the back of the stained spot to remove most of the stain. If not completely taken out, apply some mixture of water and baking soda to blot out the stains. You may have to do some repetitions of this procedure with the baking soda if the stains are not completely removed. If the stains are successfully removed, then wash and dry completely.

There is an effective way to remove persisting ink stains by placing the garment into a bowl filled with whole-fat milk and leave it to soak overnight. After stains are removed just completely wash and dry out. For smaller stains, just rinse the spot with some milk and the stains would be blotted out; you may still do some repetitions of this process until the stains are completely removed.

Some homemakers recommend certain products which they have tried and tested for this kind of problem. They recommend the use of the products such as Dry-Erase whiteboard cleaner; ‘Goof Off’ and Oxy-Clean which effectively loosen the ink stains.

Jason Ladock

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