It’s your best day ever, your friends and co-workers light up whenever come near, and everyone’s smiling ear to ear. You always knew you were brilliant, it’s about time somebody finally saw it. So you just pop into the men’s room to run a comb through your hair and you suddenly understand just why you’re so damn magnetic today.. You’ve been walking around all day with a coffee cup-sized blotch of ink seeping from the pen in your breast pocket. Brilliant.

Ink Stain Removal from Clothing and Carpets

When removing ink stains from your clothes, read all of the labels first to make sure they’re washable, otherwise bring them to the dry cleaners.

1. Saturate the stain with an alcohol-based hair spray
2. Place some paper towels underneath the garment and dab (don’t rub) it dry with paper towels. The ink should start wicking into the towels.
3. Repeat the last two steps until the stain is gone, or it is no longer fading.
4. If the ink stain persists, repeat steps 1 and 2 using an alcohol-based nail polish remover in place of the hairspray.
5. If the ink stain still persists, soak the garment overnight in whole-fat milk, then launder normally. Don’t put it in the dryer until the stain is gone, or you’ll make it harder to remove.

If after completing the above steps you still have ugly ink stains, bring the garment to your local dry cleaners.

Ink Stain Removal from Surfaces

If you’ve gotten ink on a hard surface and your usual degreasers and kitchen cleaners can’t make a dent, pick up a commercial ink remover from your local hardware store. If you can’t find one, soak the area in soapy water with a few drops of ammonia, scrub (if the surface can take it), rinse, and dry.

If that doesn’t work you can try using paint thinner or denatured alcohol – these can damage some surfaces, including wood floors and painted walls so be careful. Always try this first in an area that is not visible to make sure it won’t hurt the surface! For additional information on ink stain removal, read how to get ink out of clothes.

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