No matter how you try to keep your home in spic and span condition, accidents sometimes happen and can ruin the order of things. Your carpet will not be spared from these accidents. You vacuum your carpet regularly to take away dust and mites and make it eternally tidy.
But you can drop your lipstick without a thought, leaving an ugly mark on your carpet. Or it could be that your toddler discovers your lipstick and decides to create a figure with your rug. What a headache. But messy as it may seem, lipstick stains on your carpet can be removed. Here are some tips on how to get lipstick out of carpets.
Lipstick contains oil and emollients to adhere to your lips and remain soft. Those same ingredients cause lipstick to stick to the fibers of your carpet, resulting in a lipstick stain. When removing lipstick stains from your carpet, you must work to remove the oils and pigments. The key to successfully removing a lipstick stain is to draw the stain up and out, not spread it around with rubbing and scrubbing.
How to Get Lipstick Out of Carpet with Home Remedies
- If the lipstick broke into pieces when it fell on the carpet, pick up its pieces from the carpet immediately. Also, clean the stain all at once so that the mark doesn’t stick or adhere further to the surface of the carpet.
- Avoid dampening the stain with water, as it will only spread the lipstick on the carpet. Lipstick basically has oil for the component and oil and water don’t mix. So once you pour water on the lipstick stain, chances are the lipstick can get spread around.
- Scrape the lipstick particles from the carpet with tissue paper. Dab the damaged area with a certain amount of pure liquid detergent, without water. Leave it on for a while and then rub it with a piece of rough cloth.
- Press a paper towel to erase the mark on the carpet. Remove the paper towel and do the method again with a clean one. Repeat until the color of the lipstick has faded heavily.
- Apply oil-based products on the lipstick stain. You may use vegetable oil, petroleum jelly, or hairspray. Since lipstick is also oil-based, it will likely combine with other petroleum products. After a few minutes, press a paper or cloth towel on the stain. You will notice that much of the stain will be absorbed by the towel. Do this technique a few more times to completely remove the stain.
- Put some amount of baby powder on the lipstick-colored part. With a paper towel, scrape off the powder. Much of the color of the lipstick will go off with the powder. Since the baby powder is usually white, brush the remaining powder out with a paintbrush or vacuum it to bring back the color of the carpet.
- Mix half a cup of baking soda with a small amount of vinegar. The amount of the vinegar should be just enough to wet the baking soda powder. Put some amount of the baking soda mixture on the stain. Then scoop it out with a paper towel or cloth. Scrape the remaining stuff with an old toothbrush. Vacuum the carpet.
- Soak the lipstick stain with rubbing alcohol. Then apply soap onto the stain. Leave on for about twenty minutes. Then rinse with water and dry with paper towels or a clean cloth.
How to Get Lipstick Out of Carpet with Carpet Cleaner Spray
- Use an old cloth that is no longer used for you.
- Spray on a small amount of carpet cleaner foam.
- Let the foam settle for a while then rub the stain with the old cloth.
- When rubbing, be sure not to spread the lipstick to surrounding areas.
- When the old cloth is already soiled with the lipstick stains, turn over and use the unstained side.
- Do this repeatedly until the lipstick mark is no longer visible.
If you don’t have a carpet cleaner spray, you can use WD40 or some other solvent that removes grease, but it’s important to test to make sure it doesn’t discolor the carpet!
Of course, you cannot risk further damage to your carpet especially if it is an expensive kind. So if your concern is that you might still damage your carpet in your attempt at cleaning the lipstick stain, it is better to call a carpet care expert to do the job for you.
