Lesson Learned 3 Year Old and Sharpie

[Wilsoncb]

My granddaughter decided to create some artwork on her bedroom wall. I’m sure some of us have also had a Sharpie go wild somehow. So what do you do? Aerosol sunscreen. Yep, it actually works.

 

[LeftyTom]

A man well prepared.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Glad the Sharpie came off, and the pics of your granddaughter are priceless.

 

[Gboot]

Granddaughter pics are classic

 

[DSWalker]

My grandkids did that at their own house. They just left it for several years figuring why paint as the kids may do it again.

Wish I knew this trick back then to tell my daughter.

 

[ssmith]

Your pictures are priceless. She DOES have that guilty look though.

 

[LocoWoodWork]

Be thankful it wasn't crayons...

 

[Gotcha6]

Had a tenant whose kids went wild all over the house with sharpie, pen, Magic Marker, and crayon. Had to use two layers of stain blocker; one oil based and one water based to prevent bleed through. Hope to have grandkids one day, so I'll make a mental note on the spray suntan idea.

 

[pop-pop]

Craig, this was so counter-intuitive to me.

This article gave ingredients but I did not see a solvent type ingredient.

Spray Sunscreen Ingredients Explained: UV Filters, Solvents & More 2026

Spray sunscreens rely on a mix of UV filters, solvents, and texture agents to provide lightweight sun protection. This article explains how each ingredient category works and what role it plays in spray sunscreen formulas.

www.zicail.com

Any idea why that worked? Curious minds….

 

[mattfrit]

Denatured alcohol is a pretty good solvent. I expect there are also some surfactants in there that help solubilize or stabilize the emulsion of everything else in the formulation.

 

[iclark]

Which aerosol sunscreen did you use that worked?

FWIW, if it is a hard surface and not a crazy amount of scribbling, then the trick that we learned was to use a yellow sharpie and mark over the scribble. Then, while the yellow is still wet, use a paper towel to wipe it off. It might take a couple of times to get it all.
Sadly, that trick could not be used on a projection screen when a speaker marked on the screen instead of on the vu-graph slide. The projection screen had too much texture that could not be rubbed.