how does aeresol hairspray take cheap inkpen ink out of cotton?
Hairspray contains alcohol. Alcohol removes some inks.
Download and keep this Cornell stain removal guide pdf handy.
A friend of mine recently used hairspray to take ballpoint pen ink stains off of a white leather couch. She said it was the acetone in the hairspray that made it work. I know my grandmother used to use nail polish remover for ink stains but stopped now that there is no acetone in it anymore. I’ve never tried it but I saw the couch before and after and it worked amazingly well.
so_da_ne:
Fact 1: There is no acetone in hairspray.
Fact 2: Nail polish remover still contains acetone, water and small amounts of lemon scent and such.
Acetone is a very strong solvent. (Hint: it’s strong enough to remove dried nail polish.) You should be extremely careful about using it as it could easily do more harm than good. It dissolves many types of plastics, esp. many synthetics used in clothing, carpeting and upholstery. (Hence the old “fix a nylon snag with nail polish remover” trick. It dissolves the nylon a bit which then resolidifies as it dries.) I keep a wide array of solvents near my workbench. I use it least of all.
I hope you will remember this in the future and, even better, correct your friend.
Hairspray gives ink a double-whammy. The alcohol disolves the ink while the bonding agents adhere to the fabric and bind the pigment, so the ink can’t reabsorb.
ftg: I didn’t claim to be an expert, and I could do without a lecture thanks. Most nail polish remover here doesn’t have acetone in it anymore- it’s difficult to find any that does. I’m aware that it is a strong chemical, but it didn’t ruin my friend’s leather couch. I also know she tested it first on the back, as common sense would dictate. She also tried this after calling her couch manufacturer and an independent leather cleaning company for advice (they both told her to try it carefully).
It’s not at all tough to find nail polish remover that does contain acetone, but most kinds contain different solvents nowadays. I usually buy acetone-free, having read that it’s easier on the nails, but of course anything else that dissolves nail polish is probably also bad for your nails . . .
Anyway, if you look, a lot of brands are available in acetone and acetone-free formulas. Check your drugstore. (Acetone free varieties seem to use ethyl acetate as the solvent. Anyone know anything about it?)
I dunno about removing stains from fabric BUT hairspray sprayed onto cotton wool and rubbed into the hairline after colouring your hair can remove stubborn stains from your skin so it must have something in it. I agree that it’s probably the alcohol coz eau de cologne does the same thing. So does cold cigarette ash apparently (never tried it though & I’m getting way off the track).
Check the labelling on the hairspray. The propellent should be some sort of hydrocarbon. Hydrocarbons make a nice solvent to dissolve non-polar substances (in this case, ink) into.
It’s not the aerosol, as pump type hairsprays do it too.
Making lye from the cigarette ash, I’d imagine. That should do it, all right.
Back in the dark ages before grocery scanners, I worked at a 7-11. In those days prices were marked on canned goods with a purple ink stamper. I remember when we got a batch of price changes we would have to go around to the shelves and remove the old prices with hair spray and then stamp the new prices. The hairspray did a great job of removing the ink.
How interesting! I wasn’t sure what you meant so I looked up “lye” in the dictionary - “alkaline solution of wood ashes and water; used in soap making” hence the cleansing action I would imagine!. What a smart cookie you are and I have learnt my “you learn something everyday” thing thanx to you! God I love this site!! 
Cigarette ash is quite abrasive, too. Almost every household used to have plenty of cigarette ash, so people used it for all sorts of things.
Is it possible that the lye in the cigarette ash combines with natural skin and hair oils to actually make a kind of soap?