How to Remove Melted Crayon from Clothes & Clothes Dryers

This is not my typical post. I like to keep what I post here relevant to health and beauty, and not talk about personal things like my children too much. But this is an exception I had to make. Only because this was such a life saver.

I only do four loads of laundry a week; whites, brights, darks, and towels/sheets. So when I do laundry, I have very full loads. I had pulled a load of darks from the drier and began to fold. I noticed immediately that my sons shorts were covered in blue goop. I was a little disappointed, thinking his brand new shorts got ruined the first time he wore them to school. So I folded them and grabbed another handful of clothes to fold and noticed bright blue marks on my scrubs, followed by my husbands tee shirts. Things were not looking good. As I started to frantically look through the pile of freshly cleaned clothes, I began to realize that almost every single article of clothing in this large size load were covered in blue. I walked over to the dryer, and sure enough the inside was, you guessed it, completely BLUE! Ugh!

My husband was about to toss the entire load of clothes in the trash, chalking this up as yet another right of passage into parenthood. I couldn't stand the idea of not even trying to fix the laundry, after all, these are things we need and use every week. So, just like that, Google came to the rescue. Seriously, what did people do before the internet?!? Anyway, I got some great info from the site Thrifty Fun and came up with my own plan of attack. Great news is, 90% of the clothes have been saved, and the clothes dryer is now functioning normally!

My husband and I are in complete disbelief that we got out of this whole situation without needing to repurchase another dark-clothes wardrobe. It could have ended A LOT worse.

My first piece of advice after this experience:  if you don't already, start checking your kids clothing pockets before you put them in the wash.  The easiest way to deal with a mess like this is to avoid it all together.  But, if you happen find yourself in this undesirable position, don't worry - just follow these simple (yet somewhat labor intensive) steps and be on your way to stain-free clothes.

Good Luck! I sincerely hope this protocol works as well for you as it did for me! Please comment below if you have other tips on removing melted crayons from clothing.

And don't forget, check those pockets before washing!!!


Supplies Used to Clean the Clothes:

• Pre-Treat stained areas with Krud Kutter
• 1 full cup of your regular laundry detergent
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1/2 cup dish washing soap
• 3 pots of boiling water

Supplies Used to Clean the Clothes Dryer:

• Krud Kutter
• Soft Scrub
• Sponges with abrasive side
• Cleaning towels or old rags
• Gloves

Instructions:

• First step is to turn the water heater in your house up as high as it will go.
• Then unplug your washing machine.
• Pre-treat all of the crayon spots on clothing with Krud Kutter.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
• Add 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup dish soap, and a full cup of your regular laundry detergent to the clothes washer. 
• When the water begins to boil, add it to the washer machine. Repeat this two times.
• Add clothes to the wash, plug the washer back in, and wash on the hottest possible setting.

This alone removed 80-90% of the melted crayon on the clothes!

We ran a second load, just like this one, for the clothes with stubborn crayon stains.

Half of those came out clean after the second washing.

The clothes leftover, well, we chalked them up to a loss. 

You could also get some parchment paper and iron the crayon stains.

Make sure not to use the steam function for this, as it will set the crayon even further.

• While the clothes are washing, get started cleaning the clothes drier if necessary (which it definitely was for us!).
• First get out your cleaning gloves, you will need them!
• Run your drier (empty) for about 10-15 minutes to get it nice and warm on the inside, loosening up any leftover crayons bits to make removing it a little easier.
• Dampen the abrasive side of your sponge with water. 
• Generously apply Soft Scrub to the inside of the drier and scrub with wet sponge. You are going to want to to make sure you get into all of the cracks, especially near the paddles.
• Apply soft scrub to the vented area in the back of the drier. You can use a sponge for this, but an old toothbrush works great too.
• Wipe away excess Soft Scrub with damp rag, repeat, repeat, repeat.

I'm not going to lie, this is tedious!

• Get Krud Kutter, spray inside of the drier, and go over with a sponge.
• Spray Krud Kutter into the cracks of the drier in the back. Get a rag and run it around in circles around the perimeter, making sure to remove any excess crayons. For this I also used an old toothbrush, because my drier had a ton of crayon lodged into this part.
• After cleaning, run a load of rags in the drier.  If they come out clean, then you are good to go. If not, you may have to repeat the whole process over again. Sigh.

Don't forget to turn your water heater back down to your normal setting!

What did not work:

• Magic Eraser
• Clorox Wipes

Homemade Dish Soap

I like homemade meals better than eating out most of the time, which means I probably do more dishes than I want to admit, sigh. I hate to be negative, but I really dislike washing dishes. It makes my hands super dry and my nails brittle. Not to mention, commercial dish soap are full of so many chemicals! Not only do the chemicals damage your own health, but they hurt the environment around you where the water ends up. I wanted to find a natural dish soap recipe that actually got the job done, because, lets's face it - clean dishes are a must. I went to the store and looked at the that the "natural" soaps contained a ton of chemicals as well!

Here are some yucky soap ingredients to try and avoid, and why:

• Surfactants -  Sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) is a common foaming agent derived from cococut. So, although it is "natural", it contains 1,4-dioxane: an established carcinogen. 1,4-dioxane is also an environmental pollutant and is suspected of being harmful to our kidneys, liver, and central nervous system.
• Dyes - Food coloring is one of my biggest pet peeves, mainly because my son is severely allergic to red food dye. If he consumes enough of it he vomits profusely to the point of bile and near unconsciousness.  He also breaks out in hives if his skin is exposed to it. Food dyes are also known to cause behavioral issues (like ADD and ADHD) in children, and are suspected to cause cancer. They are banned in many developed countries around the world, including in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. For some reason in the United States they are still used. Ugh, I digress, I could (should will) write a completely new post on this. All and all, I'm more than happy to have the products I use be colorless. 
• Fragrance - Anything scented probably contains phthalates, which disrupts hormones. Even phthalate-free synthetic fragrances are usually petroleum-derived. 
• Antibacterial Ingredients - Totally toxic if you see "antibacterial agent" or "triclosan" listed on the ingredients label. Known to be carcinogenic and hormone disrupting. 

To avoid all of the items above, I began researching DIY dish soap recipes.  I learned that vinegar helps to cut down on spotting, and washing soda really helps loosen food stuck to plates. I put together the concoction below.  Let me know how it works for you, or if you have a recipe you swear by. I'd love to give it a try.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup warm water (distilled, filtered, or boiled water only to prevent bacteria growth)
• 2/3 cup Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap
• 1 tablespoon aloe vera gel
• 1 1/2 teaspoons washing soda (different than baking soda)
• 1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin

Essential Oils:

• 20 drops essential oil of your choice (I used Orange)

...I enjoy using citrus oils for cleaning... 

(I only use therapeutic grade essential oils that are safe for consumption.

For more information on how to purchase these oils, please feel free to contact me.)

Instructions:

This is super simple, and I used the soap dispensing container under my kitchen sink so that I could use the solution with ease.

First, I mixed the warm water and the washing soda together, making sure that the powder was dissolved.

Then add the Castile Soap, Aloe Vera, vinegar, and vegetable glycerin. Mix until combined.

Once well combined, add twenty drops of the essential oil of your choice to the dish soap, and stir.

And that's it. Easy-Peasy! Homemade dish soap in minutes. So much less painful that it sounds.

Nerdy Extras:

I like to use citrus essential oils when cleaning, orange in particular.

Orange essential oil has a natural fresh, sweet, citrus smell. The scent alone reminds you of something freshly cleaned. The most prominent chemical constituent in orange essential oil is limonene, which makes up about 85-95% of the extract. Limonene is considered to be a powerful antioxidant and also kills bacterial. When diluted, it is a great way to clean countertops, cutting boards, or appliances without needing to use bleach or the harsh cleaning chemicals found in many products. It is also an excellent degreaser. As an added bonus, orange essential oil is excellent for supporting healthy circulation and maintaining bone and joint health, while promoting a more positive mood. So not only does it do a great job cleaning, but it has therapeutic value as well. That's a WIN-WIN in my book.

FDA Disclaimer: "These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease."