I Tried My Sister’s Strange Sunscreen Cleaning Hack, and I’m Shocked That It Actually Worked

Between us, my sister and I currently have five young children who are in their prolific art stage. I know from having three kids who are sadly out of this stage how fleeting it is. Those piles of drawings of rainbows, dinosaurs, robots, and airplanes and the illustrated love notes will get smaller — and one day they’ll stop. So I’m not bothered in the least by the surfeit of kid art; I treasure it. 

I long ago resigned myself to the messy desks and marked-up desktops that the art stage entails. But apparently, those marked-up desks don’t have to stay that way. My sister offhandedly remarked one day during a phone call that she cleans her kids’ desks with sunscreen spray, and I didn’t think I heard her correctly. 

“What? You mean hairspray?” I asked. “No, sunscreen!” she repeated. “It gets off crayon and even Sharpie. It’s magic.” I couldn’t believe I’d never heard of this, but apparently it’s a thing. Spray sunscreen is a known hack for getting rid of permanent markers, according to this Reddit thread.

I couldn’t wait to try it on my own kids’ desks. This is the time of year when I start thinking about going through last year’s stash of sunscreen anyway. Every year I find cans that are expired, and while I hate to toss them I definitely don’t want to use sunscreen that might not work. This cleaning hack is the perfect way to upcycle it. 

I grabbed a can of Banana Boat Sport Ultra sunscreen spray and a microfiber rag. I cleared off my daughter’s desk and sprayed it with the sunscreen and began to wipe the marks with the rag. I was shocked. The crayon melted away and other marks faded. 

I sprayed the sunscreen again, more liberally, and let it sit for a while to soak into the stains before making a second run with the rag. Even more marks came off. Dwell time of the sunscreen on the marks increased the effectiveness for sure. Additionally, repeating the process multiple times yielded improved results with each round. 

After tackling the surface of the desk, I turned to a Sharpie mark that was on my daughter’s chair. I sprayed it with the sunscreen and it came off with just one round of wiping with the rag. Amazing! While not all the paint marks came off and the sunscreen did nothing to help soften the stickers that were on the desk (I took a plastic razor blade to those instead), the sunscreen made a remarkable difference in the appearance of the desk’s surface with very little effort or mess. And knowing that permanent marker doesn’t have to leave permanent stains gives me a lot of peace of mind! Just like kids play more in a cleaned-up room, I’m sure my kids will enjoy their newly refreshed desks and create even more art. Hooray!