Whether it is an overflowing pen in your pocket or accidentally sitting on spilled ink, you will have to contend with the ink stains on your cloth. But while you can expect that it is not easy dealing with ink stains on clothes, there are simple tricks you can try to help you get them out.
One thing is certain when trying to remove ink stains from clothes, and that is you will need to make sure that you are quick with the cleaning. Wasting a lot of time can only mean that you will have to do a lot when you want to do the washing. The simple laundry tricks below can help wipe ink stains from clothes.
Know the Type of Ink Stain
One of the safest ways to do the laundry is to be sure about the type of stains you are dealing with. First off, it is common law that you will have to sort your clothes accordingly when doing the laundry. This means that you want to separate the whites from the colored and also ensure that you don’t mix the heavily stained with the not too soiled ones.
So for starters, knowing how to differentiate water-based ink stains from permanent marker stains will surely help you out. Water-based ink stain is similar to the ones you get from water markers and poster colors and are not difficult to get out. On the other hand, permanent stains from permanent markers are more difficult to get out. But this does not mean that there is nothing you can do if faced with permanent ink marker stains.
Which Methods to Use
As expected, there are different approaches to getting out ink stains from clothes, and you will need to find one that appeals to you. It will also help if you consider one that will be ideal for the type of ink stain you are battling with.
Best for Water-based Ink Stains
Water-based ink stains are the ones you get from water markers and light pens and are easy to get out when doing the laundry. The best part is that you don’t need to worry about doing the laundry quickly to get rid of the stain. Even though they are quick drying, they are easy to get out. For water-based ink stains, you can try any of the methods below.
Use Laundry Detergent
You could easily remove water marker stains when you do the laundry. Since they don’t leave a sticky mess behind, you can toss your clothes stained by water markers into the washing machine with other dirty clothes when you do the laundry. Use a fabric-friendly detergent that can help with eliminating tough stains. This can help save you the time and stress involved in blotting out ink stains from clothes manually.
Use Rubbing Alcohol
Another verified solution for ink stains in clothes is the use of rubbing alcohol which can help you get out stains from water-markers and also with permanent ink stains if you act quickly. You want to make sure that the alcohol is free from added colors that can add stains to your clothes.
With rubbing alcohol, you will have to make sure that you get enough of the liquid on the stain and allow it to soak for a while. This makes it possible for the alcohol to soak into the stain making it easy to do the laundry. When the alcohol has soaked into the fabric, you can use a paper towel to blot out the stain or wash it with detergent.
Try Lemon juice
If you enjoy the feel of zesty lemon for your dishwashers and surface cleaning, you will be glad to know that you can also trust lemon when it comes to doing the laundry. The juice extract has a strong concentration that can attack tough stains. And if you happen to be looking to remove ink stains from your clothes, you will find it can be very helpful.
To use lemon juice, laundry experts at mygermfreehome advise that you choose fresh lemon juice extract and allow it to soak into the stain for 30 minutes before blotting out with a paper towel or washing with laundry detergent. Use a cold wash setting when washing out ink stains as the heat can alter the color combination of the cloth.
Best for Permanent Ink Stains
The worse kind of ink stains are the ones you get from permanent markers and they can be a handful to get out. The best thing is to make sure that you are quick to sort out the issue. You can try the methods below to remove permanent ink stains on your clothes.
Use Bleach for White Clothes
If you are dealing with tough stains on white clothing, you may not need to do much if you have trusted laundry bleach. And there are many out there for you to choose from. With ink stains, you can either choose to wash the cloth with laundry detergent and bleach or choose to soak the white in bleach first before doing the laundry. The best method to choose will depend on the extent of the ink stain.
For permanent marker stains, you will have to allow the cloth to soak in bleach for a while so as can attack the stain before washing it with detergent. Remember that you want to only use bleach on white clothes and be careful how much you use in your laundry.
Use Baking Soda and White Vinegar
Another useful home remedy for battling stains and doing the cleaning is baking soda. And you can equally trust white vinegar to be a suitable companion for surface cleaning. You can also use a baking soda and white vinegar treatment to get out ink stains from your clothes. This works best for permanent marker stains.
You want to start with a few drops of white vinegar on the ink stain and allow it to soak for a few minutes. After using the baking soda by mixing it with water to form a paste and rubbing it on the stain. The vinegar and baking soda should sit for another 5 minutes before using paper towels to blot out the stain. Once satisfied with the level of cleaning, you can now wash with laundry detergent.
Use Special Ink Stain Remover
While I’m not trying to make any suggestions here, a quick online search for ink stain remover should turn up a few product suggestions. And you want to make sure that you check out all the details about the product before purchasing. Use reviews to find out first-hand what others think about the product.
You can find those that are specially for baby clothes and can also be used for cleaning carpet stains and furniture ink remover. While they may help with cleaning your surfaces and laundry, you should be careful not to spend more than you should on any special laundry product.
Conclusion
Ink stains are common with everyone who makes use of a pen. And the good part is that they can be easily removed with the right laundry method. You can try any of the suggestions above to help eliminate ink stains from water-based and permanent markers.
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