How to Get Crayon Out of Clothes

Updated on March 03, 2010
J.R. asks from Bagwell, TX
12 answers

Does anyone know an effective way to get crayons out of clothing? My daughter had 3 crayons in her pocket, and I washed and dried a load of clothes with the crayons. All the clothes are covered in red, purple, and blue spots now! And my dryer is purple!
Thanks for any advice!

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M.A.

answers from Birmingham on

That happened to me once. Go to the crayola website and they have a link to how to get crayons, etc. out of clothes. I followed their directions and got it out of all the clothes. Even the ones I thought I would have to throw away. Good luck.

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J.M.

answers from Fayetteville on

I have been though this three times,,, the best way I have found is to wash them in as HOT of water as your machine will use. I have a sanitize setting that is Hotter than the Hot water setting. Use Borax and oxiclean. You may have to do this three times without drying between washing cycles.
I have been able to save almost 95% of the clothing that was in the original load. As for the dryer, get it hot and wipe it clean with a rag you can throw away.
Most crayons these days are "washable" which means with really hot water they melt and the dye desolves.
Good Luck, it is a lot of work but can be done.

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P.M.

answers from Birmingham on

I just had this happen with a bright pink crayon. Now, Crayola's website will tell you to use WD-40...well, that is flammable, so it makes me real nervous.

For the clothing, I used my normal detergent, one cup of vinegar, OxyClean (following the directions) and Borax (again, following directions). I also used water as hot as I was able to with the clothing affected. Put all the detergents and vinegar into the washer and start it. After it mixes up for about a minute, add the clothes, after about a minute, stop the washer and let everything soak for as long as you are able to do so. I had to 'wash' the clothes like this twice.

For the dryer, I had to make a paste of Comet and water, smear it on the spots, and then scrub it away. I wiped the Comet off several times and then ran the dryer with a towel in it to pick up any stray pieces of crayon.

Good luck! It is a pain in the neck, but now I check every pocket before I do laundry!

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C.N.

answers from Baton Rouge on

For clothing, try an iron set on low heat, and a paper bag over the crayon spots. If there's any crayon wax left in the clothes, that will take it out.

For the dryer, put an old rag in it - do not wet the rag, and run the dryer on high. The wax should melat and the rag will pick it up as it tumbles.

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H.M.

answers from Dallas on

I use tea tree oil based products from Melaleuca that gets out everything. They have several products that do what is says it does but they also do other interesting things. I got out dark purple nail polish out of my carpet w/o a lot of work. The products are natural and safe and isn't full of dangerous chemicals. They have over 350 products for the home and personal use and let you try them out for 90 days. You can return an empty bottle if not happy and get a full refund:))

H. Meece
www.WorkAtHomeUnited.com/H.
###-###-####

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N.M.

answers from Sacramento on

This product is AMAZING: Nature Bright by Shaklee! It REALLY works well and like all their environmentally friendly products, they are non toxic and use biodegradable surfactants too. You use such a tiny amount that it makes you feel awesome! My friend Missy sells this and she has a discount for MamaPedia Users. She is a SAHM of 4 and her business is Creating Healthy Families, LLC (feels great to help out another SAHM earn a living and get awesome products for it):

http://missybaxter.myshaklee.com/us/en/products.php?sku=0...

I have gotten out blood, wine, crayon, acid reflux spit-up and yellow baby poop by soaking the items in the Nature Bright over night with a little agitation now and again. Some things have had stains for years and had been laundered over and over again - then when I met Missy and heard about this product I said "Let me try it, if it works I'll buy it" - and I got stains out from years ago!! Try it out - they guarantee everything 100%!

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P.S.

answers from Macon on

I use a product that can remove ink & marker, crayon, pet messes, nail polish, tar, grease, paint, mold, glues & residues, gum, tree sap, candle wax, etc.
P. S

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J.D.

answers from Philadelphia on

I'm not sure if they were washable or not, but i did the same thing before, and I soaked the clothes in hot water and oxyclean overnight, and i agitated it a few times while they soaked. All the crayon came out!!! Not sure what to tell you about the dryer though.

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S.G.

answers from Albuquerque on

Oh my! I don't know that anything will take the crayon out since it has been dried. As far as the dryer use a magic eraser. Good luck!

W.Q.

answers from Tulsa on

Hi J.,

I just read somewhere that you can use lemon juice to remove the stain. I haven't tried it, so I don't know if it actually works.

Here's a couple sites with useful suggestions:
http://familycrafts.about.com/od/craftingtips/qt/crayonst...
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-to-get-crayon-out-of-c...
http://www.crayola.com/canwehelp/staintips/index.cfm (I think this would be the best one to check first...who would know better than Crayola?)

Good luck,
W.

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K.S.

answers from Minneapolis on

Try SOL-U-MEL. It’s a natural product that gets EVERYTHING out. It even took out permanent marker from our couch upholstery

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D.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

J.,
What timing! My son came home from school last week and I guess had a huge,red, wrapperless crayon in his pocket the whole day. The whole inside of the pocket and around the outside of the pocket was red. (The pants were gray.) I just washed them normally with a similarly colored lad (jeans, navy stuff) and everything came out completely with just my usual Tide with Bleach Alternative detergent. So I would re-wash the clothes and definitely try a Magic Eraser on the dryer. :-(

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