Important tip: acne medication removes pen marks from dolls

Jim says:

I thought this was a great tip for all the craphounds out there. If you found a great doll (or perhaps plastic toy) that has gone a few rounds with a kid and a pen, this tip to use acne cream and sun to remove the ink is a godsend. It would be great if anyone knew the chemistry behind why this actually works. The before and after pictures of the subject/victim are unbelievable.

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Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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KKnox

The UV will cause the benzoyl peroxide to dissociate into benzoyl free radicals which then must interact with the ink in some fashion. I am familiar with benzoyl peroxide as a free radical initiator for polymerizing vinyl polymers (e.g., polystyrene, poly(methyl methacrylate), etc.)
mellowknees

I believe that the main reason it works (sunlight + acne medication) is the same reason that Oxy 10 will bleach your towels…it’s the bleaching capability of the peroxide.

Same idea behind “Sun-In” hair-lightening spray!
grey not grey

benzoyl peroxide is reactive under uv.

That’s why acne cream warns you away from exposure to sunlight or black light.
JimXugle

Rubbing Alcohol will usually take ink off of things. Even “black” sharpie comes off.
SpigotHead

Benzoyl peroxide is an oxidizing bleach, which works by breaking the chemical bonds in the chromophores in a dye or pigment. Breaking these chemical bonds either change the molecules into a substance that doesn’t contain a chromophore, or one in which the chromophore doesn’t absorb visible light. Sunlight will also disrupt these chemical bonds. The combination of the two speeds the reaction.

I would be careful using this technique with rubber. If I remember correctly, benzoyl peroxide will react with it, although it may only be a problem at higher concentrations than in common acne creams.
JamesMason

Yes, it really works. And it doesn’t stain the doll. My (then) 2 year old attacked my daughter’s pricey “American Girl” doll. After a web search I came across this remedy, and figured it couldn’t hurt. It worked like a charm!

I wonder who thought it up in the first place?
SpigotHead

Just a small follow up to my post above. As kknox mentioned, the sunlight will cause the benzoyl peroxide to break down into free radicals, which are even better oxidizing agents.
HOTDAMN

Creepy picture…
n

If only my mom had known that! Once I yelled at her because she was brushing my hair while I was drawing a Wonder Woman-style outfit on my Barbie doll with magic marker, and it messed me up.
unfocused

Clear alcohol based hand sanitizer gels are best for removing inks from almost anything. Gels stay in place far better than liquid rubbing alcohol. Use the peroxides (including benzoyl peroxide) for final touch-up after a couple rounds with the alcohol gel.

Clear alcohol gels are especially useful for fabrics. I’ve taken ink from a burst ball point pen completely out of dress shirts and sweaters with them.
CJ

The scary thing is that my contact lens solution works wonders for removing pen marks from skin – I’d guess it would work on dolls too. Makes me wonder what I’m putting in my eyes, though.
Moon

The problem may be that it takes some of the color off the doll, as well.

It sure discolored clothing when I accidentally got some on it.
webted

Oxalic acid would have accomplished the same goal, and it’s a milder oxidizing agent to boot. Wood finishers discovered this a long time ago – a conc. oxalic acid solution will oxidize the blue/black iron stains from wood (the stains themselves are coordination complexes of tannic acid and iron) without discoloring (“bleaching”) the wood substrate. If you go to a real hardware store, you can usually find solid oxalic acid – the big box stores just sell the ca. 10% aqueous solution as “deck cleaner.” A slurry is easier to handle, so you can either mix the solid in with a minimum of water, or let the liquid solution sit out until most of the water has evaporated.

In either case, you’re not actually removing the coloring agent (ink, or iron complex), you’re just changing the oxidation state of the metal to one which is colorless.

I can almost guarantee that the plastic doll is much more brittle now – free radical oxidations are extremely aggressive.

-t
captnkurt

Due to my dyslexia, I now have pen marks all over the blemishes on my face.

Thanks for nothing, Boing Boing!
zuzu

Isn’t acne cream just diluted benzoyl peroxide? Perhaps the sunlight acts as a catalyst for the chemical reaction with the ink.
microcars

now if only my adult acne was actually drawn with a pen….*sigh*
DMStone

Hairspray will remove most pen and marker from most surfaces. Lighter Fluid is amazing at taking the sticker tack off of anything including paper.