Have you ever pulled a load of laundry out of the dryer and realized it is covered in ink marks? Not only do you have to get the ink out of your clothes, you also have to get pen marks out of the dryer.
This weekend someone washed and dried a pen with our clothes! Thankfully, the ink only got on a few pieces of clothing, but it was all over the dryer! No before or after shots on this one… I was panicking and didn’t think to take any photos.
I googled “how to get pen out of the dryer” and read numerous suggestions. A few seemed dangerous, a few seemed silly, but I read on several sites that you could get the pen off the inside of the dryer with nail polish remover.
There is no shortage of nail polish remover in a house full of girls.
Here’s how you can use nail polish remover to get ink out of the dryer.
Take a rag and soak part of it in nail polish remover. Then rub the pen marks with the damp rag. The marks should come right off.
You can also use a spray bottle to spray the marks, then rub with a dry rag.
A word of caution if you are sticking your head in the dryer. The nail polish remover has a strong smell. Take breaks and don’t breathe in too much of the odor while you are working. Do not attempt to use nail polish remover to remove the ink if you are pregnant.
After you remove all the ink marks, I recommend running a load of damp rags through the dryer to absorb any nail polish remover residue.
Do you have any other tricks that actually work?
You might also need:
jeannie says
I had a pen in the dryer episode not long ago. I used liquid hand sanitizer on a rag and it wiped right off. Too bad I could not get it out of the clothes though.
Belinda says
I’ve been trying liquid hand sanitizer for awhile this morning and it has worked on the really light smudges, but it is hardly doing anything to remove the big, dark, concentrated spots (that are more likely to transfer to clothing), even after saturating the areas and letting the sanitizer soak in for a while before trying to scrub it off. I’m running a ‘cleansing’ towel through and then I’m going straight to the acetone…
Kathy Hintz says
This happened to me last week! I have learned my lesson before so I wash my husbands clothes by themselves because he is bad about leaving things in his pockets and I don’t want everyone elses clothes to get messed up. Even though he says he has emptied them out he must have missed something and ink went all over the dryer and on his ‘yard work’ clothes! I googled what to do also and saw the polish remover idea but I have been out. Glad to see it works!
Frances says
Great tip…hairspray will get ink out of clothing. I just spray it well and wash it again like I would normally…you might have to do it more than once and sometimes it only lightens it, though….NOW, how do you get gum out of the dryer?
Clare says
Try Goo- Gone- I have had great success with it gum- it even has worked on clothes.
Susie says
Yes! Hairspray has saved me many times!
Clare says
Rubbing alcohol will take pen marks off of almost any hard surface. It is cheap and a little less harsh than nail polish remover. It won’t remove the finish on wood or walls, either. It will also take it out of clothes- I have even used it to remove pen marks that are washed and dried. Just dump some directly on the stain and it should start to work within seconds. You can also scrub it in a little with a toothbrush. I usually let it sit a minute or two and then wash as normal. Works like a charm! We see so many pen marks around here I keep it in the laundry room!
June says
Tried both. The alcohol worked great. Thanks, Clare!
Jennifer says
For getting ink out of clothing, I recommend (from LOTS of personal experience…we have three avid artists!) Oxiclean..it works GREAT!
Eldeebee says
I’ve never thought to try that. I’ve tried alcohol and hairspray with no luck. I have phantom blue ink on an entire load of clothes, but cannot find the pen?? I guess the dryer ate it! 🙂
Christin @ Joyful Mothering says
Awesome! Thanks I need this. I still have pen stains in my dryer! I have a project for today {that is, on top of my other ones}. 😉
Megan says
Hairspray! I have used it many times. The cheaper the brand the better it works. Spray on and rub off.
Brian says
I tried the rubbing alcohol idea for an hour and it hardly worked. Then I found this article by searching th web and with the nail polish remover I was done in 10 minutes! I wish I had read this before I started!
Laura says
I tried the nail polish remover and it didn’t work…what on earth am I doing wrong???
Sally says
I was so happy to see the idea of using nail polish remover. I tried everything and nothing worked until I read about the remover. It worked great. To Laura: you need to use the polish remover with acetone in it otherwise it won’t work.
THANKS so much to the person who gave us this remedy!
Mike says
Thanks so much!! I had used my neighbor’s dryer… and boy was i glad to stumble upon this article.. thank goodness my friend left her nail polish remover when she stood over our house haha!! Now to try and get the stains off of the clothes later!! AHHHHH!
Judy says
Sounds like nail polish remover is the best option for removing pen from inside my dryer. But, should I be concerned, that nail polish is flamable? Can the heat of the dryer ignite it?
ASHLEY says
that’s the same question I am having right now, I already used the nail polish remover in the dryer now I am worried to turn It on~! what happened with yours?
Barbara says
Ladies, a quick wipe off with soap and water AFTER using the nail polish. ;-o 😉
Carrie says
Perfect! Came right off!
Mariel says
Just tried nail polish remover and it worked perfectly I suggest just to buy acetone from Sally’s beauty supply and that would work best.
Delores Zick says
the nail polish remover rally workd I spent over an hour trying to get it off. Tried everything until I read here about it thanks
Tami says
Nail polish remover worked like a charm!