Crayons in the Laundry

Updated on December 05, 2008
L.B. asks from Audubon, NJ
9 answers

Well moms, I am sure you have all been in my situation. My 2 year old son must have stuck a yellow crayon in his pocket. Because I did not know that he even knew what a pocket was, did not check his pockets. Now all of his clothing has yellow markings all over them. Does anyone know how to get this out? All his clothing have been put through the dryer already. Please help me.

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S.S.

answers from Philadelphia on

I have had this happen to me several times and shout gel always does the trick. Just rub it in really well and then wash the clothes again. good luck!

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T.H.

answers from Philadelphia on

The clothes can definitely be saved! I had red crayon all over our medium clothes and dryer. I was actually doing a lot of wash because we were about to leave on a trip. Thank God, I had enough underwear and clothes to pack from the previous loads of wash I did because I didn't have time to get all the crayon clothes clean before we had to leave to catch our plane. I called my mom in tears while staring at clothes I had planned on bringing on our trip that were now covered in RED crayon. Definitely google it and read different people's advice because there's different things you can use that work. I wish I had googled it before I wasted over an hour scrubbing the dryer with a magic eraser. I normally swear by the magic eraser, but it's not effective in this situation. It took forever! They had good, easy suggestions for that when I looked it up to get my clothes clean. I washed them a few times in hot water to make sure they were all clean. I didn't have Borax and some other stuff some had suggested. I ended up spraying my normal enzymatic stain stuff on each crayon area and putting baking powder, regular detergent, and my detergent booster (color-safe bleach or something like that) into the wash. Who has the time to iron each crayon spot? Even though I'm sure that works, I would have gone crazy doing it because the crayon was everywhere! (And I hate to iron!) Just make sure you use hot water so all the crayon softens up and washes away. I'm just so happy to still have all my clothes when I thought I was going to have to throw them away. There is hope! Thank God for the internet.

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D.B.

answers from Williamsport on

L.,
Wow, glad it was yellow and not blue or red :) I have had this happen with green and yellow. I used Goo Gone and a scrub brush. It took multiple applications and washings - about 10 I think but I wanted to salvage the jackets. They were Lands End rain coats.
Hope his helps.

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S.T.

answers from Allentown on

I have been able to get crayon out of my 2 yr olds clothing by using a paper bag over it and ironing over it. The wax stuck right to the paper and pulled easily off. Wishing you luck!

S. in Allentown

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S.O.

answers from Harrisburg on

I have had similar problems. I am now shopping from a wellness store online and they have a pretreating stain remover that works even after things have went through the dryer. Check out my websit for more information. www.livetotalwellness.com/StacyO

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K.K.

answers from Erie on

geez that stinks, I think i used tooth paste to get crayon off my dryer, not sure about the clothes. You have my sympathy, that is one of the worst things to discover when you open the dryer.

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H.F.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Check the crayola website (www.crayola.com). Under the parents section, they have a page about stain removal that tells you how to get their products out of just about everything. It was really helpful for me a few years ago. I've copied what it says about taking regular crayons out of fabrics below. Best of luck.
******************************************************

How to remove Crayons (Regular) from fabrics-fresh stains/heat-set stains(melted):

Cleaning Materials
Laundry detergent
Liquid dishwashing detergent
Bleach for colored clothing (Clorox 2® or Biz®)
Paper towels
Amodex® ink & stain remover (optional)
WD-40® (car part lubricant)

Stain Removal Tips
Procedure using WD40:

Place the stained surface down on pad of paper towels, spray with WD-40, let stand a few minutes, turn fabric over and spray the other side. Apply liquid dishwashing detergent and work into the stained area, replacing towelling as it absorbs the stain. Wash in hot water with laundry detergent and bleach for about 12 minutes (use heavy soiled setting if there is no minute timer on your machine) and rinse in warm water.

Special Note:Heat-Set Stains-Clean the drum of your dryer to remove any remaining wax residue. Spray a soft cloth with WD-40, and wipe the drum. Clean the WD-40 residue from the drum by washing with liquid dish soap and water. Run a load of dry rags through a drying cycle to ensure that your drum is clean.

(Optional)-Amodex® ink & stain remover

PROCEDURE: Use on fabric according to directions on container.

Purchase Amodex by calling 800-624-7367 or visit www.fahrneyspens.com.

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C.J.

answers from Harrisburg on

Take each piece of clothing and where the crayon is.....place a sheet of rice paper over it and run an iron over it....it will pick off the crayon onto paper....
Got these from google....Hope they work...

OK everyone. Looks like we found the the magic formula: 1 cup Tide cold water detergent, 1 cup Oxy Clean, 1 cup Spray-n-Wash liquid, 1 cup Borax. Do the whole load in hot water and rinse cold. After the 1st pass, I'd say 90% of the crayon was gone. We ran the laundry a 2nd time before bed, so I expect the entire load to be saved from the great big laundry basket up in the sky.

This works with candle wax, so maybe it will work with crayons. Take a piece of white cloth and place it over the waxy mark. Heat an iron to med high heat. Place a piece of brown paper bag over cloth and iron the spot until wax melts into cloth and bag. Repeat with clean areas of cloth and bag, until wax is gone. Hope that helps!

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H.B.

answers from Philadelphia on

google crayons in dryer. This happened to me a few months ago and I thought a whole load of clothes were ruined, but the suggestions worked perfectly. I can't remember exactly what I did, but it worked.

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