Crayon Stains

Q: A customer brought in jeans with crayon all over them. The jeans had been dried while the crayon was still in the pocket. Can these stains be removed?

A: According to DLI experts, crayon stains are similar to candle wax stains and appear as built-up, shiny, and stiff stains.

Normally, drying, not washing, will cause these type of stains. The heat from drying melts the crayon material, resulting in stains on the garment.

These stains can usually be completely removed by running the garment through the drycleaning machine. If any of the stains remain after cleaning, they can generally be removed by traditional spotting procedures. First, begin with dryside agents in this order: volatile dry solvent, oily type paint remover, volatile dry solvent. If dryside agents are unable to remove the stain, move to wetside agents: steam or water, neutral synthetic detergent, and ammonia or protein formula.

Remember to test the nature of the fabric you are handling for colorfastness and/or damage to the fibers before using any stain removal technique.