I have a laundry stain removal question (please see details inside).

If there is any chance it is ball point pen ink hair spray will take it out. When the pants are dry spray hair spray let sit for 30 seconds, and then rinse.

It doesn’t work on other types of ink or marker.

Peroxide will leave a bleach stain. Unless the garment is white I wouldn’t use it.

Years ago I had a brand new tee shirt that had ball point pen on it. I took it to the dry cleaner (because I really liked the shirt and wanted it to stay looking new) and the lady at the dry cleaner told me to save my money and treat it myself with this floor cleaner – I have to google it because right now I can’t remember what it was. I posted it on here once before, too, if you search. Anyway, it had a strong smell (pine smell) like floor cleaners often do. It worked like a miracle.

A friend told me about Oxi-Clean powder. You take some and mix it with a little bit of water to make a paste. Put it on the stain and let it dry. Then wash the item. This is good for stborn stains but it will sometimes lighten the fabric.

Give me a few hours – I’m going to google it from work.

@jca Your other replies mentions Lestoil, but I think it pales in comparison to what I usually use. Simple Green (which has a distinctive faux-pine odor) is good at removing certain types of stains without accidentally bleaching the fabric. We used that stuff for almost everything in the Navy, and it’s pretty common in garages and machine shops as well.

I’ve had awesome results using Grandma’s Secret Stain Remover. Around here it’s sold in Hobby Lobby stores, and you can also purchase it online. It’s a very tiny bottle, but the idea is that you use just the tiniest bit on your stain. A single bottle lasts a long time for us. It will even completely remove dried blood out of cotton fabric. Here’s a link. http://www.grandmassecretproducts.com/

Here’s something else to ponder. Every time you use an unknown product on a stain (and especially if you don’t know the source of the stain), the product has a chance of SETTING the stain so subsequent cleaning chemicals won’t remove it (such as using bleach on an iron stain), or altering the color of the fabric so that the garment isn’t usable anyway.

Yes, @jerv Lestoil! Thank you! It worked for me. It does have a strong smell, like floor cleaner (pine?) but it works, so that’s what my goal was.

@jerv +1 on the simple green! Even gets diesel grease more often than not!

@jerv and @majorrich The only Simple Green product that I’m familiar with is an “All Purpose Cleaner”. Do you spray this directly on the stain, or is there a different product?

Does anyone have any experience with one of the products I mentioned in my OP?

Personally, I would buy another pair of pants. :)
Get your money back on the products you bought & tell the store they didn’t work. Most stores you don’t need a receipt to return them, especially when they don’t work.
I heard hair spray works as one person commented, IF it’s ink.
I would maybe just dye the pants a different-darker color to salvage them.
You can buy pants at a thrift store cheap. :)
Are they denim? Polyester? What material?

Well, Simple Green does have regular laundry soap, but that’s for regular laundry, not stain removal.

Without actually seeing the stain, I’m not entirely sure whether you’d need to spray it as a pretreatment or whether you just need to use something stronger than regular detergent, but for a stain, I would stick with what I know works; the All Purpose stuff.

I fine the Oxy cleaners to not do that well against the sort of stains I tend to get on my clothes while Goo Gone is a bit harsh and has a higher risk of doing unkind things to fabric.

Dude.
They are pants.

Shop a new pair?

@jerv Good to know that the All Purpose stuff is what you use. Didn’t know it could be used for stain removal from clothes. I’ve always thought to use it on kitchen & bathroom counters.

@ibstubro @Jewel10 The products I’ve used so far are all stuff I’ve had hanging around the house for years. So, it’s not like I’m going out spending lots of money on cleaners and stain removers. And though I talked primarily of this one pair of pants in my post, I also have other articles of clothing that have stains (Sriracha sauce, mustard, motor oil, etc.) that I’d like removed.

Try the Lestoil.

I’ve tried “Zout” and a new product called “Persil” and both did very well in getting stains out without discoloring the fabric. I’ve been meaning to try some homemade laundry detergent and stain removers that I’ve seen on youtube. You could type in stain removers on youtube and see what comes up.

Awesome replies, jellies! Thank you.

@jca @jerv @snowberry @reelife11 Thanks for the Lestoil, Simple Green, Zout, Persil and Grandma’s suggestions. They’re products I hadn’t heard of, I’ll try them as the appropriate occasion arises.

And @reelife11, welcome to Fluther!

As with any “new to you” solution, you might want to try hitting a little spot on the hem first, just to check that it won’t accidentally bleach the fabric. A small light spot where your pants hit your shoe is a livably minor consequence in case we’re wrong.

When you put on the stain removal product, let it sit on the fabric for about 24 hours before laundering, too.

@jca Thanks for the reminder. I tend to forget to do that.