Lots of things are suggested for removing permanent marker or Sharpie from various surfaces, but which ones work? The Pinterest Busters that live with me decided to find out.

How to Remove Sharpie from All the Things

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There’s a little something floating around Pinterest that tells you all the magical ways to remove permanent (Sharpie) marker from different surfaces. It looked like just the thing for the Pinterest Busters to test.

Removing Sharpie from clothing using hand sanitizer?

One of our Pinterest Busters drew a llama on a shirt and attempted to kill it with hand sanitizer.
Removing sharpie by using hand sanitizer - does it work?Even after rubbing AND rinsing in water, all it did was blur the edges of Ms. Llama. We all agreed that although this was quite artistic, it did not look good for the hand-sanitizer-attacks-sharpie theory.
Removing sharpie with hand sanitizer...does it work?

Removing Sharpie from walls with toothpaste or hairspray?

Kids get so excited when you say “Hey, grab that Sharpie and draw on the wall, okay?”

Removing sharpie with hairspray and toothpaste, does it work? Then you say “spray some hairspray on it” and the ink runs down the wall.

Removing sharpie with hairspray and toothpaste, does it work?Then you tell them to smear toothpaste all over the other drawing…and they get all giggly.

Removing sharpie with hairspray and toothpaste, does it work?Then you use some elbow grease with more toothpaste and more hairspray…

Removing sharpie with hairspray and toothpaste, does it work?Eventually you use enough elbow grease that you get the images to fade pretty darn good.

Removing sharpie with hairspray and toothpaste, does it work?However…you also realize you’ve taken off paint at the same time.  So, I mean, take that for what it’s worth.

Removing sharpie with hairspray and toothpaste, does it work?

Removing sharpie from furniture with rubbing alcohol or milk?

 

As you can see in the Pinterest image at the beginning of this post, wood is notated differently than furniture. All our Pinterest Busters wondered what exactly “furniture” meant. Was it wood furniture? Leather furniture? Upholstered furniture? Plastic furniture? We opted to test both rubbing alcohol and milk on the table top…because (at first) Sharpie ended up there without us planning to put it there.

The sharpie bled through from the llama on the t-shirt…

Removing sharpie with milk and rubbing alcohol, does it work?

And the rubbing alcohol took it right off!

Removing sharpie with milk and rubbing alcohol, does it work?
Then a certain Pinterest Buster got silly, and drew a smiley on the table…

Removing sharpie with milk and rubbing alcohol, does it work?
…poured milk over it…
Removing sharpie with milk and rubbing alcohol, does it work? …and scrubbed it out!

Removing sharpie with milk and rubbing alcohol, does it work?

Removing Sharpie from carpet with white vinegar?

 

A Buster went to work drawing a lovely good guy bad guy scene on a little rug…

Removing sharpie with white vinegar, does it work? …and the white vinegar did nothing but smear stuff that scene around, no matter how hard we tried.

Removing sharpie with white vinegar, does it work?

Removing Sharpie from a dry erase board with dry erase markers?

 

First, use Sharpies to put some random artwork on the dry erase board.

Removing sharpie with dry erase markers, does it work? Second, cover the artwork with dry erase marker scribbles.

Removing sharpie with dry erase markers, does it work? Thirdly, erase everything. It really comes right off. For reals!

Removing sharpie with dry erase markers, does it work?End result? The Pinterest Busters found that most claims for the hard surfaces turned out to be true, while the things that supposedly worked on fabric items did not work.

The Pinterest Busters also found that it is a lot of fun when someone hands you a Sharpie marker and basically says, “Wreck this, we’re going to try and fix it. And it’s okay if we can’t.”

Lots of things are suggested for removing permanent marker or Sharpie from various surfaces, but which ones work? The Pinterest Busters that live with me decided to find out.

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6 thoughts on “How to Remove Sharpie from All the Things”

  1. The hand sanitizer one is actually a common one I see done to make "fireworks" shirts with sharpies, so I wasn't surprised that didn't work.

  2. Ticia – so funny you mention that, because as the ink was spreading across the t-shirt, we were discussing all the really cool designs we could make with it! 🙂

  3. Hand sanitiser one works on things like plastic. But it has to be hand sanitiser with an alcohol based active ingrediant. I do it often at work to remove writing off the plastic paper sheafs!

  4. To get it off of a shirt just use rubbing alcohol, it's a helluva lot cheaper. Put a white towel (have several if the spot is big) between the front and back layers of the shirt. Blot the top of the stain with a little rubbing alcohol on a paper towel. Blot until the ink starts to transfer to the paper towel and the towel underneath. Switch out both towels when you get ink transfer, otherwise if just bleeds right back into the shirt. Keep dabbing until the spot comes out. While I doubt major amounts of Sharpie like your lovely llama will come out weel, this works great on smaller spots or markings.

  5. I got a sharpie mark off a cheerleading uniform this way. Put a quarter sized blob of santizer on the fabric. Let sit. Scrub with Tide to Go pen. Keep a thick old towel underneath the shirt to soak up dampness and the stain. Flip shirt over. Work on the back side the same way. Repeat . You will begin to see the stain vanish slowly. It takes several efforts. Maybe 5-7 minutes. When you see the stain blurring, it just means it's working.

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