Remove Ink Stains With Hand Sanitizer

We've all been there, you get pen ink on an otherwise clean shirt. So how do you get it out, especially if you're not at home? The easy solution is hand sanitizer and it does an amazing job at taking the stain out in just a few minutes. Once out, the area dries incredibly fast thanks to all of the alcohol in the hand sanitizer.

The process is very simple but I'll walk you through each step I took to successfully get ball point pen ink out of my brand new, white t-shirt.

Step 1: Treat The Stain

Apply a blob of hand sanitizer to the stained area as shown above. Now let it sit for a few minutes, ideally 10 minutes or so to let the hand sanitizer do its magic.

Step 2: In A Pinch? Optional Step

If you don't have access to a washing machine you can try to remove the stain by rubbing it out. I was actually able to run almost all of the pen stain away using a white paper towel. I pressed on the area gently and pulled the rub down and away from the shirt. Each time I used a new piece of paper towel.

This worked very well as you can see in the above photo. Although there is a tiny amount of stain left, the bulk of it was actually gone. If I was on my way to a meeting or otherwise didn't have access to a washing machine this would have been just fine as it was hardly noticeable.

Step 3: Wash Clothing

Assuming you're not in an emergency situation, you'll be better off skipping Step 2 and simply tossing the hand-sani-covered shirt into your washer (after it has sat for 10 minutes) and washing on the hottest water setting suggested for that item.

I've actually done this twice now, both with very white shirts. On one I just did Step 1 and 3 and the other I did all 3 steps above. The end result (after final washing) was the same both times so this does seem to work, at least for some pen stains.