Exhausted new moms use them to mark their twins. Doodlers on hyper-drive buy them to trick out their cars. Conan O'Brien morphed into one on Twitter, and Taylor Swift used one as eyeliner in a pinch.

The first step is to determine what type of marker was used. Permanent markers can be either oil-based or water-based, and you’ll need to know which you’re dealing with when you attempt to remove the ...