Double-stain trouble...?

Question

My 11-year old daughter came home from school the other day with a quarter-size black permanent marker stain on her new white cotton school uniform polo shirt. To make matters worse, she tried to 'cover' the stain with White Out correction fluid! (so now there are 2 stains in 1). She only wore the shirt once, it cost me like $30 & NO way am I going to get rid of it. Any suggestions on how to get the stain out w/o ruining the shirt?

Answer 1

Though it depends somewhat on the chemical composition of the particular ink, either acetone (fingernail polish remover) or ethyl alcohol will usually quickly rinse out the marker. Methyl and isopropyl alcohol probably will not. Also, 70% ethyl alcohol, as used in rubbing achohol, will not move the ink effectively, as there is too much water in the product and the ink is not water soluble. It has to be 100% ethyl alcohol. If you know someone who works in a hospital lab, they can probably get some for you.

The whiteout can be difficult to remove. I do know a couple of solvents that will do it, but they are not readily available to the general public, and are somewhat hazardous. On the back of the whiteout bottle is a toll-free number for customer service, and they can tell you how to get whiteout out of various materials like clothing, carpets, dogs, etc.

Answer 2

My daughter did this last year - what are they thinking? I used a dye remover from RIT - you can find it by the other RIT dye products at a craft store or in the craft section of larger big-box stores. I did have to wash the shirt again after using the remover because it made my daughter itchy until the remover was removed:)

Answer 3

Rubbing alcohol will remove both of these stains. Remember to blot the stain not rub.:)

Answer 4

Hairspray is a good thing to use on ink.