Ink stains can easily mess up your clothes. Apart from its annoying appearance, this type of stain is very difficult to eliminate by using ordinary soaps. The primary thing to know about ink stains is that they fall under different categories. These categories include: water based ink stains, permanent ink stains and ballpoint ink stains. Each category has a different ink stain removal method. Follow the procedures below and you should be able to do it without buying any expensive stain remover! Learning how to get ink out of clothes will save you money!
Required items (depends on the ink stain category)
• Denatured or isopropyl alcohol
• Nail polish remover (like Acetone)
• Cotton swabs
• Paper towels
• Hairspray
• Laundry detergent
• Stain remover (for ball point ink stain)
Instructions on how to remove ink stains:
Water based ink stains
Water based ink stains are the easiest to handle. Place your stained clothing on top of a clean dry towel that you don’t mind being stained. Apply water to the stained part of your cloth and blot it with a cotton swab or paper towel. While blotting the ink will be transferred onto the cotton swab/paper towel. Apply a small amount of heavy duty laundry detergent onto the ink stain and allow the garment to rest for 4-6 minutes. Now wash normally by using the hottest water recommended for the garment (don’t forget to read the care label!). Before drying, make sure that the stain is completely removed. If you spot any traces of ink on the stained part it’s better to go over the above procedures again. Remember that drying your garment before all the ink is completely removed will make nearly impossible to recover it. So be careful!
Permanent ink stains
Permanent ink stains really live up to its name. They are very tricky to remove. So how to remove ink when dealing with permanent ink? If the fabric can be bleached it will be a little bit easier to remove them. Apart from that, the following instructions may help you fade the stain away. The first option is to use rubbing alcohol. Place your stained clothing on top of a clean dry towel. First, test the solution on a hidden part of the garment to see whether it can damage the fabric. After testing it, blot the stained part with paper towel dipped into rubbing alcohol. The cloth beneath may begin to wet and discolor from the ink leaking out. It is advisable to move the garment you are working on to a clean section to avoid re-staining. Continue to blot until no more ink can be removed. Rinse the fabric thoroughly then air-dry it.
How to get ink out of clothes when the rubbing alcohol does not work? Don’t worry, we have another little trick. Let’s try to apply a nail polish remover (Acetone). It can work, but be warned that this is a heavy duty product and there is always a chance to damage your garment. So do it only when you run out of options! Once again, you can first try it on a hidden part of the fabric. If there is no damage, lay your stained clothing on top of a clean dry towel. Apply nail polisher to the stained part and blot with paper towel. In the process of blotting, the ink will be transferred onto the paper towel. It is advisable to move the garment you are working on to a clean section to avoid re-staining by the leaching ink stain. Continue to blot until no more ink can be removed. Rinse the fabric thoroughly then air-dry it. That’s the secret to master how to get ink out of clothes.
Ball point ink stains
Let’s see how to remove ink from clothes when the stain was caused by ball point pen: wet the paper towel with rubbing alcohol and blot the stain until there is no more ink coming out. Then air-dry the stain and later on spray the ink stain with hair spray. After spraying, use the paper towels to “sandwich” the stained area. Press the stained section with both hands so that the ink can be transferred onto the paper towels. Perform this how to get ink out of clothes procedure until all the ink has been removed. Then apply a pre-treatment stain remover on the affected part of the garment. Lastly, rinse the cloth with lukewarm water (moderately warm) and then air-dry it.
There you have it! Now you know how to get ink out of fabric. We’ve covered the main ink stain types so you should be able to do it if you follow our procedures. Good Luck!