Janice asked: I left some gel window clings on my wood china cabinet and they have left stains. How can I remove them? The china cabinet is a blond-colored wood.
Dyes can appear on wood from a variety of things. The most common seems to be dye that transfers from streamers, confetti, and hair dye. No matter what the cause of the dye, the removal process remains the same. Always use caution and observe the finish on your wood piece regularly to ensure it is not being scrubbed away along with the dye. Avoid any corrosive or abrasive cleaners as they can cause more damage while removing the stains. Follow these steps to lift the dye without damaging the wood or the finish.
You Will Need:
- A cleaning product: (one or more of these)
- White vinegar or lemon juice
- Baking soda
- Isopropyl alcohol
- Hand sanitizer
- Hair spray
- Olive oil
- Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
- Soft cloths or sponge
- Spray bottle (optional)
- Rubber gloves (optional)
Steps to Remove the Dye Stain:
- Begin by inspecting the stain to determine how deep it goes. If it is mostly just on the surface, it will be much easier to remove than a stain that has absorbed into the wood.
- If the stain has dried and is just on the surface, first try wiping it away with a soft cloth and a mix of 1 part white vinegar or lemon juice and 2 parts water. Be persistant; most dye stains on a wood surface are what’s known as ‘loose dye’ (things such as dye or ink transfer from a wet piece of paper, a Kool-Aid spill, etc.) and they will come out fairly easily with some elbow grease. Don’t scrub, just rub, or you might remove the finish.
- If that does not remove the stain, or if it goes beyond the surface, it will take a bit more time and elbow grease to get it out.
- Begin by mixing baking soda with white vinegar or lemon juice to make a paste. It should be at least as thick as toothpaste.
- Spread the paste over the stained area and gently rub it with a sponge or your fingers.
- Spray the area with plain water, or white vinegar for an added cleaning boost.
- Wipe the area clean with a soft cloth.
- This may take several applications to remove the stain completely.
- If that doesn’t work, you may need to use stronger methods. Gently wipe off the stain using either isopropyl alcohol, hand sanitizer, or hair spray. All of these products are alcohol-based and will work very well for removing a dye stain. However, there is a good chance they will also leave a white mark on the table that you will need to remove by rubbing some olive oil or cooking oil into the area.
- As a last resort, a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser can probably get the dye off, but it could remove the finish as well so test it in a small hidden area first.
- When the stain is completely gone, wipe over the area with a clean cloth moistened with plain water to rinse away any residue from the cleaning products used.
Additional Tips and Ideas
- Darker wood finishes will require more caution as they can become lighter in color only to make the stained area stand out more. Always test a small hidden area on all pieces before proceeding with the stained area.
- Some dye stains can be easily lifted with insect repellent or spray on sunscreen. Simply spray the product on the stain and wipe with a clean cloth.
- SOS pads (with lemon preferred) can also be used. These pads can be very abrasive so use caution to rub lightly so the finish on the wood does not become damaged.
- Another option for removing the dye stain is rubbing alcohol. Moisten a cotton ball or cotton swab and gently rub it over the area. This works best on light stains, although it can dramatically lessen heavier stains.
We stained our off white kitchen table with window clings – tried EVERYTHING (all the above listed fixes) and nothing worked (some removed a bit of the finish from the wood, so be careful). As a last option we tried hair spray (after trying just about anything liquid). It got lighter in color. We tried it again, let it set for a minute and it took the stain out!
I swore these things off years ago after I stained an end table with them. I made one exception for a birthday party and my 2 year old sneaked off with them and stained the coffee table. ARGHH!! BUT… The paste plus a good scrubbing with a dish sponge (scrubbing side) made the stain disappear without harming the wood!!! Thank you so much for the advice!!!
How did you figure out hairspray? My daughter put dye all over our entertainment unit for a party, and I’ve tried the vinegar and baking soda, and the Mr. Clean sponge, and nothing works. It’s darker wood and I’m scared the color of it will change? Help!
Good day. I made a new cabinet of rose wood, and my customer put oil on it, but at a certain stage he used something blue that left a blue mark on the wood. I sanded the wood again but the blue is still there. Can anyone help?
-Robert
THANK YOU! Just finished dying my hair, and accidentally stained my parents’ bathroom wood cabinets, and am totally panicking! But then I tried the vinegar and baking soda, and some elbow grease, and it did the job great! No evidence of my hair being dyed in their bathroom at all. Thank you!
I used a Mr. Clean Magic Sponge (not because of the recommendation), and it removed the stain… and the finish. The finish can be fixed, but I noticed on the Magic Eraser box that it says not to use it on shiny or finished wood. Just a heads up.
My table is dark cherry wood with a finish on it. A bottle of hairspray leaked on the table and it sat over night and turned the table white. What should I do?
Hairspray breaks down easily and can be removed from wood without damaging the finish by using rubbing alcohol. Moisten a sponge or rag with rubbing alcohol, apply the alcohol to the stain and allow the alcohol to soak into the stain. Rub the stain gently with the sponge, clean the area with soap and water and then dry the area thoroughly.
Source: How to Clean Hairspray from a Varnished Wood Door
Source: How to Clean Nail Polish from Dark Cherry Wood
Thanks for the hairspray tip!
Just tried it on my dining room table and it worked a treat with no damage to the wood surface.
HELP.
We had a party and one of the kids put the red sticky blood stickers on my wood hutch and stained it red. It is dark with a clear coat; what can I do?
Julia! The same thing happened to me this past Halloween. Do you have any suggestions?
My daughter scribbled pen all over my wooden island in the kitchen. I believe it was some type of gel pen. I have tried all of the above. I don’t want to turn to finger nail polish remover or sanding the surface because obviously it will damage the finish on the wood. Please help
Staci,
This article might help: How to Remove Ink Stains from Wood. If not, perhaps this article can help: How to Remove Gel Ink from Upholstery. Since your ink is on wood, be sure to test any cleaning solution on a hidden area first to check for any adverse effects.
If nothing is working, here is another idea (I don’t know if this would work – just an idea): it sometimes can be helpful if you ‘freshen’ the stain; for example, to remove hair dye from skin, it can help to apply fresh dye onto the older stain, etc. In this case, you could try to apply a wood stain dye over the gel ink with a thin paintbrush or perhaps an empty pen, let it sit a few minutes, then work on removing both the gel ink (hopefully ‘freshened’ by the dye) and the dye at once. If you can’t remove one or the other, perhaps the wood stain dye would at least hide the gel pen marks.
I killed a wood lice with Deathlac and a white area appeared! Tried washing with wood cleaner; no luck! Tried lightly rubbing and rubbing a bit harder on my wooden floor, but now white patches have appeared all over my floor!! Help please; thanks.
My daughter spilt her dark eyelash dye on my beech furniture. I have tried the Magic Eraser and the lemon/oil/baking powder; nothing works. I hope someone has a magic cure to help me, otherwise the furniture is ruined.
Help, please; thank you.
Irene
Irene,
Use baking soda, not baking powder. (Baking soda is much stronger.) Also, you don’t need to use any oil. If that method still doesn’t work, try some of the suggestions in the Additional Tips section (rubbing alcohol, SOS pads, etc.). You could also try using makeup remover or cigarette ash, as described in the guide How to Remove Hair Dye from Skin. Keep in mind though that you should always test a cleaning solution on a hidden area of an item first to look for any adverse reaction.
Source: Simply Recepies – The Difference Between Baking Soda and Baking Powder
Dyed my hair red and it stained some white finished wood and the bathtub; I need help ASAP!
Janea,
This article can help with cleaning your bathtub: How to Remove Red Hair Dye From Bathroom Sink.
I had purple tissue paper on top of the wood and it stained through. So I started freaking out and took nail polish remover to take it off, not knowing what it would do to the wood. The finish is now messed up; what do I do!?
Lily flower pollen has left stains on my light wood dining table. Please help, I’m so upset. Thanks.
Check it out! We’ve answered your question! Yay!
After I successfully dyed my hair, I was left with dye stains on my hardwood floor. I did the vinegar/baking soda paste mix and it worked! Keep in mind you do need some real elbow grease though and circular scrubbing worked best. Stains are out and I just put some laminate on it. Voila!!! Thanks for the helpful tip!
SOS pad worked amazingly to remove red hair dye and brown hair dye from my sister getting creative! So glad I found this site!
My daughter has all white furniture in her bedroom. A piece of scrapbook paper with a glass of ice water on top of it transferred pink color to a very large spot on her night stand. It was a horrible stain! I used a cotton ball with some rubbing alcohol and it removed the stain like magic! It did, however, dull the finish ever so slightly. I rubbed a light coat of orange oil over the dull area. It looks great! What a life saver!!!!
Thanks so much. Magic eraser removed red dye from my oak table. The dye was from fresh red flowers. The vase was knocked over by my cat. What a mess… Happy now!!
My kids had a piece of pink colored paper and spilled a drink on it so it dyed my hard wood floors pink. I didn’t notice it happened for a couple hours. I just got them refinished 2 months ago. What can I use without messing up the refinish?
Amanda,
The baking soda paste is the least likely to damage your floors because it is mild and pH neutral. Using vinegar is also fairly safe since it can be used to clean wood floors, but it’s a good idea to dilute it in water (one part vinegar to two parts water) for extra safety. For any of the other options (Magic Eraser, alcohol, bug spray), you can try them in a small hidden area first to see if they are safe for your specific finish – every floor is different. You can also try just washing off the dye with a little soap and water. If the dye is still loose, just washing it can remove it.
My daughter placed a hot paper plate on my cherry wood coffee table and now it has a white stain. I tried rubbing alcohol, but it didn’t work. How do I remove this stain?
Zina,
That is a heat stain. This is the guide that you need: How to Remove White Rings from Wooden Furniture. If you still have spots that remain after using one of those methods, try rubbing the area with some olive oil. Since there wasn’t any dye for the rubbing alcohol to remove, it’s possible that you also now have white/hazy stains from the alcohol as well. Good luck!
I have a light-colored varnished bamboo desktop, and the synthetic fabric dark grey wrist rest that I was using left a dark stain on the wood after a couple of months of use. I’ve tried rubbing alcohol, toothpaste, vinegar+baking soda — nothing lifted even a little bit of the stain. (I haven’t scrubbed too hard for fear of damaging the wood. I assumed that a little bit of wiping would at least have SOME effect if the method was going to work at all.) Ack! Any suggestions? Thank you!
Mari,
Unfortunately, with a problem like this it can be a trial and error process to find just the right solution for your specific material and specific dye. In other words, the best you can do is to just keep trying things until you find one that works, possibly even trying the same method several times since you mentioned that you were very gentle with the removal. If you damage the area by trying to remove the dye, you can always have the desktop refinished, which is the final remedy if you can’t remove the dye as well. But for now here are some other things you can try: hairspray, Off bug spray, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, or as a very last resort non-acetone nail polish remover. You could also try mineral spirits. Keep in mind that any of these can and should be tried on a small hidden area first to look for any adverse reaction. If you absolutely can’t remove the stain and you don’t want to refinish the desktop, you could try staining it a dark color instead to cover the stain. Good luck!
Some oxy laundry stain remover just leaked onto our wooden chest- it is finished in a grey finish look….the oxy has left two large spots that are lighter- yellowish in color. What do I do?
Evin,
I haven’t been able to find a full list of the ingredients for OxyClean Stain Remover online, so I’m not sure if it contains any dye. You may want to look at the color of your liquid or read your bottle label to see if there is any yellow dye in it that could be causing the stain, in which case you can try the methods here.
If it isn’t that, it could possibly be a liquid stain if it had a few minutes to soak. To remove that, you can try the methods in the guide How to Remove White Rings from Wooden Furniture.
In particular, rubbing the area with a little oil (olive oil, mayo will work, etc.) may remove the stain. White haze that appreas from some cleaners like alcohol can be removed with a good oil polishing, so that may work in this case as well.
If that also doesn’t seem to help or be a possibility, you can try rubbing the area with a cloth that has a little mineral spirits on it. Yellowing can be a sign of oxidation, it’s an oxygen cleaner that spilled, it seems a little far-fetched, but it’s possible that the oxy cleaner caused oxidation of the wax finish on the chest (if there is one), so the mineral spirits can be used to remove the wax. In general, the mineral spirits can remove a variety of other stains too, so that may just work in general. It shouldn’t remove the polyurethane finish underneath the wax finish, but you can test it on a small hidden area first to be sure (every item is different).
If none of the above work, you may need to get the chest refinished. Oxygen cleaners can have a bleaching effect and that may be what has happened here.
Good luck!
Source: SF Gate – How to Fix Yellowing on a Furniture Finish
Soure: The New York Times – How to Refinish Woodwork, Safely
My daughter got blue food coloring on her light honey colored pine furniture and the spray on sunscreen recommended here got it off! It didn’t impact the finish at all. I am very happy…and very thankful for the recommendation.
I have a 110 year old house with the original grained paneling on the walls in the dining room. Some yahoo tried to improve them by applying a wood stain over the top. Now we have dark red blotches over the medium oak (painted) panels. I’m afraid the baking soda/vinegar combo or Mister Clean Magic Eraser will be too harsh and damage the finish. Any ideas on what to try first?
Patrick,
It is always best to try a cleaner on a small hidden area first to look for any adverse reaction before starting on the main area. This article is intended for removing small areas of dye stains that have transferred onto the wood from other areas, so in your case (large areas removing a product intended for wood), it would be best to use a commercial product like Klean Strip to strip off wood stain, then reapply the finish if needed. They have these products at most major hardware stores. If you would like to try the methods in this article, again, just test them on a small hidden area first. Good luck!
Source: Klean Strip – Going Au Naturale
Help, my husband put a hot pink Post-it on my brand new white kitchen cabinet door and it has left a pink stain. Any suggestions on what would remove this?
Jen,
White vinegar usually works on removing Post-it dye for me fairly easily, though alcohol-based products are usually the best go-to for dye stains. If your cabinets are painted, it would be best to try any product on a small hidden area first to be sure it’s safe. Oxy-Clean powder mixed with a little water could also work. Good luck!