Removing whiteboard marker stains using mineral turpentine

Clean Cloth Nappies admin, and citizen scientist Eloise experiments with a new method to remove whiteboard marker stains from clothes.

Many members post to our Facebook group looking for ways to remove whiteboard marker or dry-erase marker stains from clothing. These are stubborn stains, and during the early school years, many school clothes are dotted with them.

Non-biological and inorganic stains like this need a specific solvent. Members tell us they have not had success using methylated spirits or other alcohol-based solvents.

Whiteboard markers need a slightly different approach and solvent, as they are typically made of ethers and an oil (resin or silicone).

My hypothesis: mineral turpentine will remove whiteboard marker stains

Mineral turpentine (turps) is used to remove silicone and resin in different applications. Since whiteboard markers often contain silicone or resin, turps should remove whiteboard markers on textiles.

White spirit (AU, UK and Ireland) or mineral spirits (US, Canada), also known as mineral turpentine (AU/NZ/ZA), turpentine substitute, and petroleum spirits, is a petroleum-derived clear liquid used as a common organic solvent in painting.

The word “mineral” in “mineral spirits” or “mineral turpentine” is meant to distinguish it from distilled spirits (alcoholic beverages distilled from fermented biological material) or from true turpentine (distilled tree resin).

~ Wikipedia

My secondary hypothesis is that this method would be smelly, and a little time-consuming. I wanted to test it out myself before suggesting it to our Clean Cloth Nappies community.

Stain removal method

Mineral turpentine may fade natural fibre garments that have been coloured or dyed. Spot test any natural fibre garments in an inconspicuous area first.

Equipment

1. Mineral turpentine
2. Old toothbrush
3. A small white rag
4. Gloves
5. A hard, durable surface
6. Well-ventilated area (I highly recommend outside)
7. A white cloth you don’t care about

I took the items outside and put on my gloves.

I folded the white cloth into a square pad and inserted it into the shirt, under the stains. This was to ensure the marker didn’t transfer to the back of the shirt.

I carefully poured a small amount of turps onto the stain.

Spot treat only, try not to saturate the entire garment.

I dipped the toothbrush in the turps and gently brushed at the stain.

I then took the white cloth, dipped it into the turps and gently blotted at the stain. This was to mop up any loosened dye from the marker stain.

I repeated the toothbrush application and rag application until the stain was removed.

Removing the mineral turpentine residue

I hand-washed the garment, cloth and rag in a bucket of hot water and dishwashing liquid. Turps is quite oily, so you may need to repeat the hand wash, using fresh water each time.

After hand-washing I then rinsed and squeezed everything out.

I hung everything outside on the washing line to dissipate the smell.

Rinsing and airing out is important, do not add these items directly into your washing machine.

The length of time for the smell to dissipate will vary depending on how much turps was used and how well the items are hand washed.

When the shirt no longer smelled, I put it through a long, 60°C wash with adequate detergent and laundry booster, by itself.

Check suds during the wash cycle and add more detergent if needed. Don’t be too concerned by excess suds, as long as they aren’t escaping the machine, it’s ok.

I hung the shirt inside on the clothes airer to dry.

The results

By morning it was stain and smell-free!

Final thoughts

My expectations going into this experiment were high. I did many years of extracurricular art lessons as a child, and we used turps for cleaning brushes, pallets and spot-cleaning splatters on our clothing. I also knew most whiteboard markers contain ethanol and resin and that turps would dissolve the resin component.

This method was highly successful and I am happy with the results. I recommend turps for removing whiteboard marker stains from clothing, it is effective even if a little time-consuming and smelly.

If you follow this method, please do it outside, wear protective equipment, and only use as much as needed to spot-treat stains. Turps is very oily, which makes handwashing very time-consuming.