How do I remove crayon from clothing?
Mary Jo
Thank you for the advice! The tide/oxyclean solution really truly works! I had crayon marks on jeans, a terry cloth robe and cords. All I did was wash them in tide and oxyclean on the hot cycle once. It all came out! (09/16/2007)
By Shelly
My husband called me today because the clothes had turned red from a red crayon that was in the laundry. I checked this site and took the advice of using 1 1/2 cups of Cold Water Tide, 4 scoops of Oxyclean and 1 cup of Spray and Wash, and washed it in hot with a cool rinse. To our amazement - it all came out! I also cleaned the dryer with Soft Scrub. Thanks for the helpful information! (09/21/2007)
By Maurine
YAY! I opened the dryer to find red crayon on my colored clothes! I was frustrated but I sprayed Shout and Resolve High Traffic Foam on the spots then threw them in the washer with Tide HE and presoaked them and washed them on a stain cycle and EVERY bit of it came out! I was so thrilled! (10/07/2007)
By Melodie
My 8 year old left a orange crayon in his pocket that ended up soiling a whole load of clothes. I tried the first thing I reached for in the cabinet--greased lightning--and it worked! (10/08/2007)
By Abbie B
So I was working as a server, and a kid left 2 crayons on the floor. I pick them up and stuck them in my apron/frock (or whatever manly word you want to call it). Needless to say, that apron made it into the wash with the crayons tucked in the side of the pocket (a blind hand reaching in to check to see if a pocket is empty only checks the center of the pocket). Every garment I own aside from the clothes I am wearing today... destroyed. Why don't kids start using something other than crayons- "ANYTHING" other than crayons. What's worse, is the company I work for supplied them. I'm very grateful for all these 'posts' because I hadn't a clue what to do until now. (11/07/2007)
By Nerd5
Thank you for all of your suggestions. I have a 9 year old, 7 year old, and 3 year old and have just experienced my first crayon in the laundry. Needless to say, it's a red crayon. I will try your ideas and pray for success. (11/14/2007)
By Belinda
I am so excited! Thanks to this web site, my jeans are saved. This morning I emptied my dryer to discover RED crayon on every single pair of jeans. Ten pairs, most brand new. I was sooooo upset. I found this site and came up with the following based on several of the entries. I can't believe it worked. This is what I did. Use 1 1/2 cups of Wisk Multi-Action (I used 3x concentrated for High Efficiency) 1 1/2 cups of Oxy Clean Stain Fighter (liquid) and 1 cup of Zout. There is no need to pre-treat.
I just let the jeans soak in washer for 45 min. in HOT water regular cycle and they all came out perfect. Thank you to all that wrote in. My dryer was a mess too. I used Soft Scrub. That worked really well. Don't ya just love those crayons! Good luck to all. (12/11/2007)
By Melissa in Texas
OMG! I work at a factory and I write on boxes with commercial strength BLACK crayon. I forgot to take one out of my back pocket before I threw it in the wash with my family's "colors" wash. After the dry cycle, it was evenly smeared all over the dryer and ALL OVER my families good clothes (even a pair of my husbands good slacks!)
Luckily, I found this website and was able to run to CVS pharmacy and get OxyClean, Wisk, and Zote (I couldn't find any Zout, but this old Mexican lady told me to cut up a block of Zote and soak in HOT water for an hour). I also got Soft Scrub which is OK, but I ended up busting out Comet which worked very well on the Dryer!
Anyhoo, what a morning! I got it all taken care of before my husband woke up and I didn't even mention what happened to his slacks because there's no more crayon! (01/12/2008)
By Demonica
I am so thrilled! I tried using the ironing method to NO avail. Then I tried the WD-40 method. No such luck there besides some really stinky clothes. THEN, I finally tried using the 1 1/2 cups Wisk (3x concentrated), 1 1/2 cups OxyClean (liquid form), and the 1 cup Zout, and the crayon came out! It was blue crayon. All over everything that my lovely 2 1/2 year old left in the pocket of her pants. Imagine mommy's surprise when I woke up Monday morning to find blue blotches of melted crayon all over her and some of my clothes!! I am so thankful I found this website! Thank you so much for your tips! It really worked! (01/29/2008)
By Laura
So I get up this AM and go to the dryer to get my husband's work cloths out of the dryer, and to my horror all his good work shirts where covered with this blue ink like substance. We both thought that he left a pen in his clothing. I reach in the dryer and I find what is left of a blue crayon. He was so upset, and I was just devastated. But I googled the problem and ran across this page!! I have to say thank you! You just saved me a few hundred dollars, and I had everything at hand to remove all the crayon!
Thank you so much for all your posts! This was the one that I used:
By Yvonne
Well I work as a busser at a restaurant. So at the end of the night, when I have to close. I have to clean the floors. I pick up any fries, forks, or CRAYONS on the floor, and stick them in my apron. When I got home I THOUGHT I had emptied out everything out of my apron. When I washed my uniform, I realized I didn't have a crayon, but crayons in my apron. Now my WHITE work uniform is COVERED in red, blue, and green crayon stains. (03/23/2008)
By Justine
Thank you so much. I had several items that were very expensive. I used the oxyclean, wisk, and zout method and most of all the crayon stains came out. I am so thankful. I want everyone to know that I actually used an off brand oxyclean called oxygen, a Winn Dixie brand. So, try it; it works! (03/29/2008)
By Tracy
I know how you feel! There was a crayon in a load with most of my clothes and my parents are trying to get it out with a mix of different stain remover things.. :-/ (04/09/2008)
By Carol
Some W-D 40 should do the trick. If you don't have any, then try 3 in 1 oil. It will need to be followed by color safe bleach, dishwashing detergent and regular laundry soap. Put the clothing on papertowels while being treated so you don't end up with a bigger mess than you started with. Let each treatment set for a few minutes before applying the next. Treat on both sides of stain. Wash and if still not clean, repeat the method. After a couple of washes the stains should be gone. (04/24/2008)
By Jessica
I always wash new clothes before wearing them. So I have no idea how a brown crayon got into my daughters new clothing; by accident maybe. So anyway, I have the most horrible experience of my life. I am about to cry. Thanks a lot for all your advices, I will try everything. (06/13/2008)
By ANGELICA
Well, my son had a birthday party just before we left for the Dominican, so he decided to bring most of his new clothes with us on our trip. When we got home I just wanted to throw everything in the wash, not realizing he had left a box of 4 crayons in his pocket! EVERYTHING, including his new clothes, his towels, my bathing suits, etc., had green, blue, yellow and red stains on them! And they had already been baked in by the dryer. I was so upset! After doing some online research and thinking about it for a week, I decided to try some of the ideas out. I pre-treated the stains with Spray and Wash for about 10-15 mins, then put 4 little cups of OxyClean in with the wash, along with about 2 cups of detergent (the cup size of the lid).
After only one wash, all the stains were gone! It really does work! The only ones that didn't completely come out were the ones that were not pre-treated (because I didn't see them) so I just pretreated them and ran them through the wash again. Another HAPPY MOM :)! Don't worry, the stains actually do come out, and the clothes are as good as new. Good luck everyone! (07/20/2008)
By Minda
I tried every suggestion on this page and I have to say that for those of us who are dealing with extreme crayon (more than 1 on white clothes) that has been completely set by the drier, nothing worked completely. WD40 did nothing. What worked the best was the Goo Gone and Oxyclean combination recipe above. Softscrub took care of the drier. I am still dealing with much lighter crayon on some white shirts but I apply GooGone before every wash and I line dry to prevent further problems all clothes that still have the stains. The stains get lighter after every wash but they are still visible. (07/28/2008)
By bethany
I just soaked the crayon stained clothes in a bucket of hot water, a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a half cup of Oxyclean for about an hour and then washed the load of laundry again, seems to have done the trick! (08/17/2008)
By Natalie
Thank you so much Minda! I tried the spray and wash and oxy clean and detergent thing. It worked great! My daughter had a neon green, a neon pink and a brown crayon in her pockets. I washed them then found the crayons. I then dried the clothes. bad mistake. I did exactly what you suggested and her white shirt that had all the colors on it can completely clean! Thank you so much! (10/01/2008)
By Serena
So our 3 year old and his broken red crayon met our dryer today along with a load of mixed dark clothing! It was everywhere! First, I used gain and 2 cups of vinegar(that's all I had handy). A lot of the tint came out, but I then tried the wonderful "this is the one" recipe. I saved just about everything. My reciepe varied slightly, Gain detergent (2nd line), 2 cups vinegar, 1 cup shout, and oxyclean liquid (full cup).
I only used the oxyclean liquid because my husband bought the wrong thing(that's what I get for sending him to the store), but it still worked surprisingly well. I soaked the clothes in WARM water for about an hour the 1st time, everything minus my favorite jeans,a sweater and a polo shirt were back to normal. Hooray! I spot treated what was left with peroxide,shout,oxyclean and a toothbrush. It's improved, not completely gone, but wearable :)
As for our dryer,I used soft scrub and elbow grease. I wasn't too thrilled at the idea of using WD-40. The smell and the flammable part was a big turn off. After I scrubbed I threw in a load of towels to get the cleaner off,saving the time of trying to wipe it all off,then just re-washed the towels. I wouldn't wish this experience on my worst enemy,but if your reading this,it's probably already happen to you. Hope this helps! Kaci in FL~11/10/08 (11/09/2008)
By Kaci
For small stains, I sprayed on Goo Gone, rubbed it through and then I put on some Palmolive antibacterial. Lathered up in the sink of hot water and it came right out!
(11/10/2008)
By laura in GA
I came here looking for help, and I found it. My son, the consummate artist, left a lovely purple crayon in the laundry basket, and I have a habit of dumping basket loads into the washer. Needless to say, the crayon went into the dryer as well, and wouldn't you know it? It was a load of whites :o(
Like a few of you, I grabbed for what I had, which was Orange Powered Greased Lightning and Shout. I sprayed on the Greased Lightning and let it sit a minute, then sprayed on the Shout, then scrubbed it a little with a toothbrush and VOILA! Purple crayon came out of my white t-shirt. I haven't worked through the rest of the load, but thought I'd share the success I had :o) (11/18/2008)
By my4kids
Thank You for this site. It has been a blessing in disguise. I woke up to a black and white surprise. I had a load of white with my son's school uniform shirts along with other white clothes and to my horror, every one of them looked like a dalmatian. I stared at it for a while and this was my first search site.
Am going to walmart to get the zout and other stain busters and should luckily get them out. Feel relieved that I am not the only one who has done this thought! It is funny if you think back since every one of us must have thought we were the only ones! LOL (11/20/2008)
By deepika
A "magic eraser" works great to get the crayon out of the dryer. No cleaners necessary and not much elbow grease either. (11/25/2008)
By Melissa in KY
Thanks for all your wonderful formulas to remove crayon. An orange crayon escaped my attention and lodged itself in my dryer after getting on the entire load, not missing one item. Soft scrub and a toothbrush worked well to remove the crayon stuck to the dryer. I used GOO GONE, lots of it, to dab a lot of the crayon off each stain on the clothes. Then I soaked the stains in OXY CLEAN for an hour. Only two of the items needed more treatments. Thank you so much for your ideas! (12/07/2008)
By Judy
Ah, emergency. Game tomorrow for high school senior son and a white set of home jerseys to be worn. Enter dark purple and dark blue crayons from eight year old younger brother's jeans and coat pockets, the kind broken in half without the wrappers, discovered after home jerseys removed from hot dryer.
Review mottled, flecked, dotted jerseys.
Send older son to bed with promise I will do whatever it takes to make suit whole and white again. Enter this website. Without, what would I have done? Softened the crayon to pale blobs across suit? Armed with ZOUT (promises to get stains out: promising!) and OxyClean (so many recommendations, had to get) and bleach pen (for chasing shadows of blue and purple, after other cleaners) and Borax and hair spray....and two washings in very hot water, they are now rinsing.
Dawn is soon, and tall sleepy son will not know how raw my hands feel and how sleepless I am and how I drove through the dark emptiness of town to buy these ingredients recommended by all of you, or perhaps I will tell him, over and over...but his suit will shine. And the game will include him. Thank you all. (12/19/2008)
By rhine
Thanks for posting your experiences, ladies! I just washed and dried a red crayon in my daughter's clothing. Everything has red stains on them! I was so upset! I'll try the Spray N Wash, but I don't have Oxy Clean. I'll give it a shot anyway. Thanks! Sarah (12/24/2008)
By Sarah
I want to thank each and everyone who posted on here. My daughter had a blue Crayon in her pocket, and oh my goodness it was a mess. It caused a lot of problems. I dryed the clothes, and the dryer was a mess. I used softscrub and it came clean, and I stayed up half the night getting the stains out of the clothes. I will next time check the clothes first. (02/12/2009)
By Kathleen
First and foremost, I'm so happy to see that I am not the only one who this has happened to! I am a preschool teacher with a class of 2 year olds. The teachers wear a uniform consisting of khaki pants. I threw in a load that had a week's worth of khakis and work shirts and found that every single item was covered in blue crayon. ugh! I come home from work covered in paint, but i cannot show up at the start of every day looking filthy!
First I scrubbed the dryer using SoftScrub then threw a load of rags and old towels through the wash to clean out the dryer and make sure no new blue marks appeared... sure enough that worked!
As for the clothes, I mixed together the following on the hot water cycle:
By Tina
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