How To Get Sharpie Out of Jeans

We've all been there. One minute you're innocently writing something in permanent marker and the next you're in an all out Sharpie fight with the person next to you: streaking ink across their arms and hands and, invariably, their clothes.

Okay, maybe it doesn't always happen quite like that, in my case it didn't. Nevertheless, at some point you've probably had, or are going to get, permanent marker on your clothes. In my case, it was at work. Although I did receive a streak of black Sharpie on my arm from a co-worker, the stain was my own doing.

You see, we have these meal cards that each customer gets and on which we write the number of guests in a party. We each carry a clickable Sharpie, which makes life much easier than a capped Sharpie, until it goes into your pocket with the marker clicked out :/

Then you end up with a very unattractive, very obvious black splotch. Like this one:

Not good. Especially when I only have 4 pairs of jeans! So, like any 21st century gal, I turned to the internet, searching for a way to remove Sharpie from jeans. And what did I find? Not a lot, honestly. Most said that permanent markers are exactly that and 'good luck' basically. I did find some who suggested rubbing alcohol and nail polish remover and, since I had these supplies on hand, I decided to give it a try. 

I should add that I noticed the stain the next morning and immediately doused it with Shout, which I think was a big helper in the stain removal. I would suggest using Shout first, along with the following steps. 

I gathered my supplies:

And went to dabbing, in hopes of restoring my jeans to at least wearable condition. I used paper towels, rubbing alcohol, and 100% pure acetone nail polish remover. I think that any nail polish remover would work, I was actually a little worried that this stuff would almost bleach the denim because it's so strong, but it worked just fine and no harm was done. 

I used the alcohol first, putting some on a paper towel and dabbing at the stained fabric. The rubbing alcohol then soaks up and removes the black marker from the fabric! I also held another paper towel on the reverse side of the fabric which should definitely be done as it also absorbs a lot of the marker. 

The rubbing alcohol had lightened the stain to a purplish color but it was still very noticable. Then I brought in the nail polish remover. Using the same method of dabbing, pressing and slightly rubbing the stain out with a dampened paper towel, I applied the acetone.

After the stain had faded to a light purple (and I was starting to feel a little funny from the fumes :P) I decided it was looking good enough. I then doused both stains with more Shout and threw my jeans in the washer. 

If you notice in the beginning picture, there were 2 stains: one at the bottom of my pocket and one on the inside and top of the pocket. As a sort of experiment, I didn't do anything to the top stain. I hadn't put the original Shout on it (because I didn't notice it until I was doing this process) and I barely dabbed at it with the rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover. I did put Shout on it right before it went into the washer, just to see what Shout alone would do. That stain is still there in full force, which is fine because it's inside my pocket and not noticeable.

As for the main stain, it looks much better now! Barely noticeable!

 It took some elbow grease and patience but if you get a Sharpie stain on your clothes, I would definitely endorse this method of stain removal.