How to get ink out of clothes that have been through the dryer?

Katie Marie
by Katie Marie
My son washed and dried a load of his clothes and then realized that he left a pen in his pocketicon . There are little black spots on most of his clothes. What can we do?icon
  7 answers
  • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on Apr 05, 2017

    Try a dab of rubbing alcohol,or hair spray,leave on for a few minutes then re-wash them.

  • William William on Apr 05, 2017

    So here’s the big secret to removing ink stains from your clothing – it’s alcohol. Non-aerosol hairspray, and good old hand sanitizer. Both products contain alcohol, ethanol if you want to be specific, which acts as a powerful solvent.


    Spray the hairspray liberally on the stains until they are totally saturated, or massage the hand sanitizer


    Let the products soak into the stains for about 10 minutes or so, then tossed them into the wash on a regular wash cycle. No muss, no fuss..

  • Kim Kim on Apr 06, 2017

    I have always sprayed the spots w hairspray then turned them face down and rubbed them from the back onto a towel or something that doesnt matter that way you dont ruin the fabric on the frnt of your clothing

  • Jackie Jackie on Apr 22, 2017

    I did that too! Out of the dryer, I thought there's no way, but I remembered a friend told me Lestoil will take out just about anything. So I dabbed lestoil on all the ink spots, re washed it and not a spot left! It is a cleaning agent from way back, should be easy to find. Google it if you can't. Good luck!!

  • Roanne Roanne on Apr 26, 2017

    You can buy ball point ink remover in the laundry section of the supermarket or similar stores. Be careful where you use it, as it may eat through some surfaces.

  • Roanne Roanne on Apr 26, 2017

    I do not know if it works on gel ink. I imagine that if it does, it will say so on the label. It does do a good job on ball point pen ink, however.

  • Mindy Mindy on Apr 26, 2017

    Hair spray or hydrogen peroxide might work

    • Katie Marie Katie Marie on Apr 27, 2017

      Thanks. Tried that but it did not work. I think the problem is that it was a gel pen.