I Don't Like Crayons in The Laundry

In the past, I have washed several crayons, but there was no damage due to cold water and the great discovery of them before the dryer. Well, my luck ran out. Somewhere in the massive load of fairly new children's clothing and a pinch of daddy's work clothes, there were two crayons hidden within a pocket enclosed with velcro. I opened the dryer door and just about fainted.

CRAYON!! EVERYWHERE!!

BLUE AND MAGENTA!

The entire dryer drum was covered with melted crayon.

Smeared all over the doors.

Sucked into the vent holes and plastered all over the fuzzy drum lining.

Not pretty. I rummaged through the magenta stained clothing in total disbelief and searched for the crayons. All the clothes were ruined! Not only did they turn pink, but they had huge melted crayon streaks everywhere.

The culprits.

We had to find a way to clean our dryer. The first idea that was presented by the internet was WD-40. Spray it on a rag and rub away, then wash down the dryer when done. But that's flammable and I was hesitant to wipe it all over the DRYER. My dad said it would be ok because the dryer is ventilated and I would wash it down. So, I did it. I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. But after 15 minutes of hard elbow grease, I realized not much crayon was coming off.
Time to wash down the drum. I used dish soap and scrubbed away. I was surprised to see my rag appear pink with each scrub down. Hours were passing and I was exhausted. It's extremely awkward and difficult to wash inside a dryer.
The next idea was toothpaste. Yes, toothpaste. Heat the dryer for 5-10 minutes. Slather the crayon spots, or in my case, the entire drum with toothpaste. Run the dryer again for about 10 minutes to allow the toothpaste to dry. Then scrape it off with a flat tool. I used a plastic putty knife, or was it a paint scraper? I don't know. It was hot and still awkward and difficult to scrape off the toothpaste, but the crayon was actually coming off! Hooray!

A white door!

Look how clean that is!!

There is just a tiny hint of pink now....great improvement.

The blue didn't quite come off as well as the magenta, but wow, what a difference.

It took a VERY long time to get it looking like this. We're very pleased.

As far as the clothes, I tried washing them again, but there was no change. So I bought a bleach for colors and that did the trick...for the most part. Some clothes still have pink stains and crayon streaks, but they're salvageable. Phew!
Laundry is hard work. This one load took me almost a week to finish!!