If you’re a parent, you’re surely more than used to your little ones making messes anywhere they can in your home. But cleaning up crayon stains on your walls is a different beast entirely — and we don’t blame you for wondering how the heck to safely remove your mini Picasso’s brand new work of art. One Oregon mom did a bit of Googling and found the answer right in her refrigerator.
Yep, it’s one of those cleaning hacks that have existed as long as the internet has, so Jessica Hard recently put it to the test, showing that she was able to safely remove some serious blue crayon stains from her white walls with a bit of mayonnaise, leaving behind no traces of her kid’s artistic masterpiece. As her Facebook video racked up more than 4 million views, 113,000 shares, and 24,000 comments, she revealed that she found the tip in a search, joking, “I didn’t just grab a random condiment and try it.”
Thinking that this must be too good to be true, we reached out to a few cleaning experts, who gave us the scoop on this, erm, tasty technique. Turns out, it really does work — with a few important caveats.
First, how exactly does mayo work to remove vibrant crayon stains from walls? “Mayonnaise consists of oils that help break down the wax in crayons,” explained Leanne Stapf, chief operating officer at The Cleaning Authority. “By applying to the crayon stained walls, it helps remove the mayo without pulling the paint off.”