How to Get Melted Crayon Out of Clothes

How to Get Crayon Out of Clothes

In all my years of parenting (closing in on seven, which I realize still leaves me at Amateur Level), I have only had one “crayon in the dryer” episode. It happened last weekend, and it was ugly.

Oh course, I had no idea there was a bright red crayon in the dryer with my white laundry. So when I opened the dryer and started pulling out one red-splattered towel after another, the first emotion I felt was SHOCK. What had climbed into my dryer, died a painful death, and spread its remains all over my clothing?! 

Because honestly, it looked like a crime scene. So, the second emotion I felt was RELIEF, because I quickly realized nothing had died. In fact, for a brief moment, I though Claire had snuck a tube of red lipstick in with the laundry(why do I even have red lipstick?! Don’t I know I will never, ever wear it?!). 

It didn’t take long to find the empty red crayon wrapper though. At that point, I figured all was pretty much lost and I could kiss my pretty white towels goodbye.

BUT ALL IS NOT LOST!

How to Get Crayon Out of Clothes

Because The Internet, you guys.

Here’s the thing, though. The internet is full of suggestions for everything. And most of the methods I found for getting melted crayons out of clothing involved Borax or Other Things I Don’t Own.

Also? I was pretty confident this wasn’t going to work anyway, so…it didn’t really matter what method I went with, I’d still be turning these towels and socks and t-shirts into rags. So with that positive outlook, I chose the easiest method I could find, substituted the ingredients I didn’t have for things I did have, and gave it a go. 

You guys. IT WORKED.

Most of the crayon was out after the first wash. The pictures you see are after three washes, which is what it took to get almost everything clean. Only a couple of items ended up being relegated to play clothes because for whatever reason, the crayon just wouldn’t come off.

But most of the load? Good as new. And I am talking white laundry and red crayons, y’all.

Here’s what I did:

Soak everything in hot water for 15 minutes.

Add detergent, several tablespoons of Blue Dawn, and about half a cup of vinegar. I don’t think it matters what kind of vinegar, but I just used the cheap one I had under the kitchen sink.

Make sure all of the laundry is submerged (I used a wooden spoon to push it all down and make sure it ALL got wet).

Let the load finish.

And if necessary…rinse, repeat.

A note about using Blue Dawn in your washing machine: this stuff is *super* concentrated, and if you have soft water, it will turn into a gazillion suds. So go easy on this if you’re not sure how your washing machine is going to treat it.

And one more note…I have a regular washing machine (not a low-water, energy efficient machine). I’m not sure if that matters or not, but you’ll definitely want to make sure there’s enough water to cover all of the laundry while it’s soaking.

Wash again (and again) if necessary, but I think you’ll find that most of your laundry is back to (mostly) normal.

And if the crayon doesn’t come out? Well. At least you’ll remember to check for crayons next time you throw a load in the dryer. 😉

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