Talk:Sharpie (marker)

"national controversy"
Why is signing a ball a "national controversy"? Can you elaborate on that? Andris 23:45, May 9, 2004 (UTC)

I added a more detailed description of the event that should explain why it was a "national controversy" Bungopolis 03:09, 10 May 2004 (UTC)

I do not see how signing a ball in a huge sports arena could possibly be controversial.... Is it because sportsmen are not suppose to endorse brandname or is it because they are not suppose to pass the ball around? It's still not clear at al. --Menchi 09:25, 10 May 2004 (UTC)


 * I don't follow sports but I vaguely remember hearing something or other about this, so I think that although it verges on trivia it does fall under the category of Sharpies! In! the News!, and they probably aren't in the news very often, so I understand why it's included. But I agree that the present description still isn't clear. I think it wasn't a scandal about Sharpies as such. I assume that it had something to do with the ongoing controversy about the role of sports autographs. Was the scandal that the athlete was prepared to autograph the ball, or something? Dpbsmith 10:38, 10 May 2004 (UTC)


 * Ok, so it has to do with ssports autographs. I did no idea that could possibly be controversial either. (I assume pacificism too much!) Maybe somebody could explain it at its own and say "(see also sports autograph)" since it seems to be such a ...controversery. --Menchi 15:50, 10 May 2004 (UTC)


 * Good re-write Dpbsmith. The Sharpie endorsement part makes it a bit more relevent to the Sharpie page. Bungopolis 19:08, 10 May 2004 (UTC)

health risks
I think someone should put on about the health effects from Sharpies if left unopened.--Weatherman1126 01:50, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
 * To which effects are you referring? Sharpies are non-toxic. -- SmokeDetector47( TALK ) 06:44, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
 * I've got three Sharpie Industrial pens that explicitly lack AP seals. --CCFreak2K 22:12, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

i always use sharpie for everything and i learned a lot first--its very true that you will get the effect of headaches and the being high feeling and second of all don't shake them like the label says the tip come loose and ink sprays everywhere.
 * But don't people get headaches/other problems from being exposed to Sharpies for a long period of time? --Weatherman1126 16:21, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm pretty sure that is an urban legend. I couldn't find any information on the web backing it up, either. -- Chriskelvie 02:36, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

I get headaches when using Sharpies for a while. I have a whole 8pack right with me guess what they all have AP seals so do like all the sharpies I have. Dappled Sage 23:30, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

It is true that the sharpie is non-toxic for everyday uses, but people who sniff sharpies can be subject to health risks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Linkinparkrocks11 (talk • contribs) 03:33, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

THE CAUSE OF HEALTH ISSUES IS NOT FROM SHARPIES BUT IS ACTUALLY FROM THE LACK OF OXYGEN TO THE BRAIN, WHEN YOU ARE BREATHING THE FUMES FROM THE SHARPIE YOU REPLACE THOSE GASSES WITH OXYGEN, THIS IS THEN THE CAUSE OF HEADACHES. OTHER HEALTH ISSUES ARE CAUSE FROM BRAIN CELLS THAT ARE LOST DUE TO THE LACK OF OXYGEN TO THE BRAIN. "Thomas James McClanahan" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.183.184.120 (talk) 12:04, 18 December 2014 (UTC)

discontinued?
Gold sharpies are NOT discontinued they even have them for sale on the Sanford/Sharpie website.

Gold, Copper and silver are infect discontinued as of this year.

HELLO — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.194.51.24 (talk) 23:34, 18 September 2019 (UTC)

Gold, Silver, and Bronze are available as of this date. I believe Copper may have been re-named Bronze. Tdfugere (talk) 07:18, 12 August 2014 (UTC)

autography
I was surprised that the article didn't mention "autographs" as a major use under Uses. Everyone who stands in line waiting for a glossy photo, T-shirt, CD, ball, etc seems to be carrying (or looking to borrow) a sharpie... --Rehcsif 19:55, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Ingredients and toxicology
MSDS- Material Safety Data Sheet: http://www1.mscdirect.com/MSDS/MSDS00018/73261240-20150117.PDF

Sharpie/Chemical Reaction https://tflstar89.wordpress.com/tag/sharpie/

I would like to preface this by saying that I am neither a chemist nor a toxicologist. It would be nice if someone who knew what they were talking about could organize this into some kind of coherence. According to this file (Duke University PDF, or Google's HTML cache ) the ingredients of Sharpie markers are as follows: Simply by PPM, the alcohols correspond to a maximum of 400 PPM or 400/1000000 = .04% of the total volume of chemicals in a Sharpie. "dyes" have "NOT APPLICABLE" instead of the PPM measurements specified for the alcohols, so I am assuming that the dyes constitute the rest of the contents of each marker - which would mean that each marker is 99.96% dye.
 * Dyes
 * Propyl alcohol (N-Propanol), 200-250 PPM
 * Propyl alcohol was "evaluated for acceptable daily intake for man" (also, under "Observations in Man": "One fatal case of poisoning by ingestion of 400 to 500 ml of n-propyl alcohol has been reported". 400mL is 0.4 cubic decimeters)
 * Butyl alcohol (N-Butanol), 50-100 PPM
 * Butanol seems to be the most toxic of the three alcohols, being used as a solvent, often in paint thinner. However, it is also used as the base of some perfumes. (info from the Butanol article)
 * Diacetone alcohol (4-Hydroxy-4-Methyl-2-Pentanone), 50 PPM
 * There is this page . Also, [2-Pentanone] is "sometimes used as a flavoring food additive".

The first document I gave (from Duke University) lists Sharpies as being hazardous when inhaled, but not when ingested or absorbed through skin.

Ben-Arba 10:56, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

I've removed the reference to xylene for the second time. Sharpies do NOT contain xylene. The previous reference linked to a page about the health effects of xylene without offering any evidence to support the allegation that Sharpies contain xylene.Frzl (talk) 10:27, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I have added Magnum Sharpie, King Size Sharpie, and Touch-up Sharpie as the only products in the Sharpie line to contain xylene. Frzl (talk) 03:00, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

What is this nonsense in the article about an "allergy" to alcohol? Alcohol molecules are too small to cause an allergic reaction. 66.32.184.13 (talk) 00:51, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

removal and uses
I beg to differ about the removal of sharpies after a long time. I work in the Entertainment industry and we use sharpies to mark up flightcases for hires. These can be out for many days, and we have a cleaning fluid that removes the ink very easily. Unfortunately i can't give the name as i've not dealt with the hire side of things for a while! Also, why is Marking sound and Lighting desks not a valid use, It is the most commonly used marker pen in the industry! Tastyniall 17:45, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
 * It's far too narrow a use to warrant listing. Using a marker to mark things is the default and most basic of its uses.  We don't need a laundry list of every industry that uses markers. James A. Stewart 20:27, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

if you dont know just dont type anything please and thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:243:CA80:143A:31BB:4AC6:14E3:FBEE (talk) 05:50, 11 April 2019 (UTC)

Hengbao
Chinese company Hengbao sells knock-off Sharpies, with the identical logo, but with the word Hengbao where the word Sanford used to be. They are sold in the US in dollar stores. They also make some with their own brand name, and still others with the name "Sharkie." I would presume that this is trademark infringement, but the Hengbao Sharpies are widely available in the US. They are of inferior quality, though. You could also use rubbing alcohol.

is there a laudry cleaning type product that will remove magic marker out of clothes if not someone invent an acetone based cleaning product preferably an acetone laundry detergent —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.45.218.93 (talk) 19:15, 17 April 2010 (UTC)
 * There are many other copycat "Sharpie" markers out there. An image of a genuine Sharpie next to several fakes would be useful for a 'spotter's guide'. Bizzybody (talk) 09:51, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

The New colours
A search on Yahoo and Google had no sources for anywhere to buy them online at -- are these in stores, or should they be refered to as to be introduced instead of Introduced? 4.154.5.101 05:24, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I could not find any refrence to the Cafe Series the net either, even sharpie.com lists 39 colors. I have removed the Cafe Series section, if anyone finds a refrence to this, feel free to revert it back.Soopto (talk) 01:28, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

Recreational drug use
Here are some sites that validate a Sharpie marker is used as an inhalant drug. http://www.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_get_high_of_a_sharpie?#slide=1

http://www.teenhealthfx.com/answers/alcohol-smoking-drugs/inhalants.detail.html/45680.html

https://teens.drugabuse.gov/national-drug-alcohol-facts-week/drug-facts-chat-day-inhalants

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061107172618AAuIeog

http://messageboard.inhalant.org/post/its-so-hard-to-stop-but-i-am-trying-so-hard-2231218

https://blogs4brownback.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/the-sharpie-a-dangerous-gateway-drug/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.125.96.146 (talk) 04:32, 9 September 2016 (UTC)

I've removed the claim of "Recreational drug use" from the list of "Uses". I'm not disputing that this is possible, but 1) there was no citation or supporting evidence and 2) it's not exactly a "use" in the sense of the other legitimate uses. One could make a case that there's a potential for abuse here, but I don't think Sharpies are any more likely to be abused as inhalants than any other permanent marker and it probably does not warrant a mention here. If you can find something to cite that specifically says Sharpie markers are abused as inhalants, and it's prevalent, go ahead and put the comment back. I still don't think it belongs in a list of "uses", though. James A. Stewart 20:24, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Purple. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.185.138.111 (talk) 19:03, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Does this help? The National Institute on Drug Abuse considers sharpie a potential drug of abuse. http://teens.drugabuse.gov/blog/real-teens-ask-can-inhaling-sharpie-markers-make-you-high/

Anecdotally I know people who use it that way. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cyclopiano (talk • contribs) 03:44, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

Cyclopiano (talk) 03:44, 21 October 2011 (UTC)


 * Sharpie Markers were FORMERLY made with Xylenes as the solvent, and you could indeed get high from them. Sadly, that is no longer the case. Gasoline is still the old standby. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.215.115.31 (talk) 16:19, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Robert H. Sharpie
Any possibility of a source on this one? A quick Googling reveals naught but references to this article and it seems a little odd. 69.157.120.221 (talk) 20:34, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Magnum
These were not originally sold under the sharpie brand. I bought a couple around 2000 that just said Sanford Magnum without the sharpie brand. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.243.156.212 (talk) 11:31, 12 March 2009 (UTC) i have some from 1969 and they say sharpie Pokemonblackds (talk) 14:24, 4 September 2011 (UTC)

Sharpie Pens?
Just a note, in case anyone's interested in adding it to the article, Sharpie actually makes pens now: (They even have more colours than listed on the website; the package beside me also has orange and purple) Anyways, only reason I happened to be reading the Sharpie article was because I was curious what it might say about the pens, so I thought I'd bring'em up here. 139.57.100.104 (talk) 21:54, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

Bias..
Is it just me, or does this wiki page read like a big advertisement for Sharpie? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.100.197.200 (talk) 02:07, 8 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, I'm not really sure what you'd expect for an article about a product that doesn't really have any claim to fame other than being ubiquitous. If, however, there's anything you think should be added to the article, to make it sound less "advertisement-y", then I'm all ears. :) 139.57.100.104 (talk) 21:39, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I think adding something about the health risks and drug euphoria one gets when huffing these markers would help. Plus, it's an integral part of it in popular culture! I sniffed them as a teen, so I should know. 1MM0R7AL5 (talk) 12:51, 10 May 2023 (UTC)

Color Listing?
Is it really necessary to list every single color sharpie markers have ever come in? It seems like that whole section would be better summarized by saying something like: "Sharpie markers are available in a wide variety of colors, with different colors regularly introduced." It just seems ridiculous to list every color when one could just search a retailer like Wal-mart for the specific colors.SmartestChild (talk) 22:27, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

I have not been able to find a complete list of colors ... even on sharpie.com The list here was the most complete. It needs to be put back on Bushop (talk) 01:17, 14 January 2010 (UTC)
 * The list was completely unsourced, and there's no way to verify it. The "reference" (allexperts.com) was simply a copy of the Wikpedia article. Better to add back what you can find references for. Hullaballoo Wolfowitz (talk) 01:40, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

The Fine Point Sharpie has been produced in at least 64 colors, 63 of which I have identified (and a mystery blue color I haven't yet identified): Standard colors: Aqua, Berry, Black, Blue, Brown, Green, Lime, Magenta, Orange, Pink Ribbon, Purple, Red, Tangerine, Turquoise, Yellow. Limited Edition Earth Tones: Burgundy, Marigold, Navy, Olive, Plum. Limited Edition Pastels: Lilac, Mint, Peach, Pink, Sky Blue. Limited Edition Nature Tones: Brick Red, Dandelion, Ocean Blue, Slate Grey, Spruce Green. Limited Edition Summer Splash: Almond, Blue Ice, Boysenberry, Kiwi, Pink Lemonade. Limited Edition Wild Flowers: Clover, Pumpkin, Rain Shower, Rose, Violet. Limited Edition Couleurs Café: Blueberry, Earl Grey, Hibiscus Tea, Mocha, Pomegranate. Limited Edition Caribbean Colors: Coconut, Flamingo, Lime Daiquiri, Stingray, Surf. Limited Edition 80's Glam: Argyle Green, Banana Clip Yellow, Jellie Pink, Leg Warmer Orange, Valley Girl Violet. Neons: Neon Blue, Neon Green, Neon Orange, Neon Pink, Neon Yellow. Metallics: Bronze, Gold, Silver. Limited Edition Electro Pop: Optic Orange, Techno Blue, Nano Blue, Electric Pink, Ultra Violet. Limited Edition Color Burst: Racey Red, Jadeset Jade, Power Pink, Brilliant Blue, Supersonic Yellow. Limited Edition Cosmic Colors: Dark Matter Gray, Celestial Gray, Intergalactic Indigo, Galaxy Green, Martian Green, Venus Green, Orion Orange, Solar Flare Red, Jupiter Red, Rocket Fuel Red. I own all 64, straight from the package, and have spent hours scouring the web to find the names of all the colors in each set, using Sharpie.com, photos of old packaging, listings of old packages, etc. Sharpie started producing the Limited Edition color sets in 2003 (from their Facebook page) and are in chronological order through the last set released, 80's Glam, in 2012. Tdfugere (talk) 06:57, 12 August 2014 (UTC)


 * The sharpie website doesn't list all the colours they have. For anyone looking for colour sets tracking down the limited edition colours is very difficult as the markers themselves are not labelled and the website doesn't have a good listing of what colours are available. There really is no direct listing other than the packages themselves so you can't really put a reference for it other than perhaps linking to the photos of the packaging. But this is a very complete list for the fine point markers so I don't see why it can't be put back on. Lots of people would like to have a complete reference for the list of colours. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.10.139.128 (talk) 16:48, 3 March 2015 (UTC)
 * At one point, their hex colors, if you use inspect element, for the first 39 colors were archived, and only viewable through this one. 67.5.34.69 (talk) 21:42, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

[[

File:/Volumes/Dropbox/Dropbox/File Mar 18, 5 01 56 PM.jpeg|thumbnail|Reverse of Package Sharpie Electro Pop Markers]]

71.188.124.139 (talk) 21:06, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

For those looking for a more detailed list...
The most useful (but apparently unencyclopedic) part has been removed, but for those looking for a good overview/listing of the colors, see this. Color info is important when talking Sharpies, IMHO. This info isn't easily found elsewhere on the internet so I think that makes it even more important but whatever... 2601:243:C203:2220:5D2B:8F38:35BE:1D9 (talk) 23:49, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

"Drmies," read the above, where they say that there is not a good listing on sharpie.com, it needs to be here.ChessEvan4 (talk) 03:44, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Sharpie as a Brand
I think it's important at this point to make it clear that all "Sharpies" aren't necessarily Sharpies anymore. To illustrate my point:

I work at an office supply and have recently heard of some interesting snags when customers purchased "Sharpies". One customer bought several packages of "Sharpie Major Accent" highlighters. The customer ended up with several packages of "Sharpies" that would not write on plastic. Had to explain these are just water-based highlighter pens, they are not actually "Sharpies". These pens are the former Papermate "Highlighters by Accent" line, which we would not have recommended for permanent marker use. This was not taken well.

Another customer wanted to know why the Sharpie KING marker stank so horrendously bad PEOPLE HAD TO LEAVE THE ROOM after they wrote with it. They couldn't use it in their office and needed to return all of them. The general consensus was that Sharpies don't smell horrible, so this came as a definite surprise. Once again, the "Sharpie King" pen is not a Sharpie, it is actually the notorious (often returned) black-striped-silver-barreled SOLVENT-based former "Sanford DELUXE Permanent Marker". The DELUXE marker also dissolves CD/DVD plastic btw--which is another very non-Sharpie-like feature.

There is also a wax china marker, and a series of poster-paint pens. These are not what I would think of as "Sharpies". It seems Newell-Rubbermaid has sold out the Sharpie name to re-brand a whole series of unrelated Sanford/Papermate products, and I feel people should be aware that these are NOT the familiar permanent markers Wikipedia currently describes here as "What a Sharpie is". Armandoban (talk) 16:49, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

How it looks on paper
A sample of the kind of marks it leaves on paper would be welcome and informative.--81.174.46.100 (talk) 01:30, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Genericized trademark
I think it's worth noting that the word "Sharpie" is often used as a substitute for similar products made by other companies and for permanent markers in general. I'd like to add this to the article unless someone objects. Tad Lincoln (talk) 22:31, 6 May 2011 (UTC)
 * True, it would be worth adding. I think it only is genericized in USA tho. I never seen or used a Sharpie marker in Europe, where there are other brands, and everybody just call them "marker". 81.6.34.172 (talk) 11:10, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

"Colorful Sharpies" illustration
Is there some reason the picture above this caption shows only a black Sharpie? There is already a photo of several black markers earlier, a photo showing many (ideally all) of the other available colors would be informative. --Khajidha (talk) 15:11, 27 August 2011 (UTC)

Cleanup?
The popular culture section feels a tad cluttered with irrelevant information. In particular, there seems to a lot lacking in citations or poor citations such as two consecutive Youtube videos. On top of all that, unfortunately, certain portions feel like fluff.

I'm quite new, so I wanted to see if it was alright before going ahead and removing content. Sspungy (talk) 08:28, 14 June 2014 (UTC)

Decaying over time?
I'm a sewer, and I've been looking for good markers to use for transferring patterns onto cloth. Many review sites I've been looking at state to never use sharpies or any of the "disappearing ink" markers because the chemicals in the markers will slowly decay the fabric over time. For sharpies, it doesn't just do this for cloth, anything written on with sharpie will slowly decay overtime, I've got a baseball with many signatures that have faded away because of the chemical in the sharpie used to write them. Others online are reporting the same thing. Shouldn't someone take a closer look at this?--173.29.4.175 (talk) 00:02, 18 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Look at the difference between pigment inks and dye inks. Although dyes vary in their light fastness, and not every pigment is stable, in general you're best collecting archival material like this with a pen that uses a black carbon pigment, not a dye (many of the Japanese pen makers offer them and they're pretty cheap). Andy Dingley (talk) 00:27, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

Removal of list of colours
as per my summary, I removed the entire section of colours. This information was excessive and unencyclopaedic. It's unreferenced and not suitable for here. Please share opinions here before reverting if you disagree. Rayman60 (talk) 22:53, 14 December 2015 (UTC)
 * I was looking all over the net for the info you removed. Luckily, I read this talk page and found it in the diff. I'm not going to argue if it's encyclopedic or not, as that's a subjective and evolving adjective nowadays. If there was a published book called "The History of Sharpie" or "The Marker Encyclopedia" and gave an overview of the colors, when they were released, if discontinued, etc., would that make it encyclopedic? I think the only problem was a lack of sources (photos of packaging should count, imo). I would work on finding them but not if it would still be removed for being "excessive and unencyclopaedic".
 * On a unrelated note, one problem with the article is that it occasionally (like in the first sentence) makes it seem like the article is about a manufacturer, i.e. Sanford L.P., instead of the markers themselves (brand). 2601:243:C203:2220:5D2B:8F38:35BE:1D9 (talk) 00:06, 12 January 2016 (UTC)
 * There were a number of issues. It was written like a 14 year old's fansite (although it can be reworded), it was presented poorly, it had no references and IMO was overly excessive. Inclusion in an exceptionally niche book doesn't necessarily make it encyclopaedic. I can understand when there is a collectors' frenzy or huge cultural following such as beanie babies or pokemon, but there doesn't seem to be the same revere amongst (m)any with these pens. Whilst wiki is a source of information, it is not a repository for all known info in the universe and to me listing discontinued pen colours is beyond the scope of this project. Whilst that is my interpretation of the loose policies, it is by no means a final judgement so this discussion is open, and if a consensus on the issue can be reached, we can move forward with the prevailing view. If you can find some editors with experience and expertise in these matters, refer them to this discussion and ask them to make a comment.Rayman60 (talk) 11:01, 12 January 2016 (UTC)

Optical mark recognition
Sharpies first came to my attention because they were claimed to be the only marker that worked well on Optical mark recognition cards. We used the cards as a replacement for punchcards programming computers. Feldercarb (talk) 17:02, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

A table of colors
Would a table of colors like the one for crayola crayons:
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Crayola_crayon_colors#Standard_colors

be appropriate for Sharpie markers? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 100.6.122.175 (talk) 14:48, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

General
There can be many additions to this article observing the influence of the Sharpie brand. Some facts definitely need citation, and those with citations included come from sources that may/may not be credible. One can add more pictures to show the vast collections of sharpie markers developed;these images would add to the article. The information provided about the contesting permanence of the marker cannot be trusted, and there is some out of date information especially Sharpie's influence on pop culture. Ingredients should also be included, and the changes to formula and design. One other addition that I would suggest is an analysis of why the Sharpie brand became, and has remained the preferred marker from its inception. What makes the Sharpie marker the leader of this industry? Sj.will (talk) 23:31, 28 January 2017 (UTC)
 * It is popular in USA, but I don't think they are actually a "market leader". They (Newell Brands) are pretty big, but they deal with so many other office related tools and materials, that is is really hard to compare with others (Staedtler, Pilot, Edding, Caran d'Ache, Rotring, etc, etc). I would expect BIC to be actually the leader in terms of number of sold markers worldwide, but I might be wrong. 81.6.34.172 (talk) 11:15, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

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Laundry Marker
The term ought to be mentioned somewhere on this page. Drsruli (talk) 00:51, 24 November 2021 (UTC)