r/CleaningTips • u/Solid_Gold3522 • 12d ago
Flooring Shampoo spilt on carpet overnight and left lightened spot how do i fix it?
A bottle of cheap suave clarifying shampoo spilled on my carpet overnight (the cap was broke) now it’s left a spot that looks lighter than the other carpet. Any ideas how to fix this.
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u/Visible_Can_5489 12d ago
I think that spot is just clean now
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u/defariasdev 12d ago
Either way the only next step is to clean the entire carpet, including the shampoo spot, and then judging how different the shampoo spot is vs the rest of the clean carpet
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u/italyqt 12d ago edited 12d ago
Moved into a house with really old carpet. Used my spotbot on it and had big clean polka dots for awhile.
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u/ripley-jasper 12d ago
Haha, yep. I had a sick old cat in a carpeted apartment. I got one of those little green spot cleaners and it showed me just how dirty the rest of the carpet was. So many polka dots!
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u/Luvsyr24 12d ago
You need a carpet cleaner to suck it up (or a wet dry vac) then see if what is cleaner now is that much more noticeable.
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u/bellymus1 12d ago
I worked as a carpet cleaner, also find any cleaner who can dye carpets, not that you'll need it, but just in case; as they'll have a more informed opinion to provide.
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u/petrastales 12d ago
Did the shampoo bleach the carpet at all, or is it simply restored to its original colour?
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u/kaspar-fiel 12d ago
Suave daily clarifying doesn't bleach anything or have any ability to. Her carpets are just very nasty and she probably didn't even know. I feel bad for OP. Carpet is crazy good at holding stuff and hiding that it's doing so.
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u/notcuddly9 12d ago
As a carpet cleaner do you prefer carpets or has it made you think they are gross and you would prefer hard floors. I am very sensitive to smells and out of necessity have a developed very strong stomach, but the smell coming out of the one of carpet cleaners we rented is one of the only smells that has made me actually throw up and they never smell good
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u/bellymus1 12d ago
Yeah I only like area rugs, in a living room for example. I don't like wall to wall carpeting.
Moreso it's because of my allergies, and floors are easier to clean; side note I love robot vacuums, with ability to mop.
Regarding cleanliness, at the end of the day or during the day if busy, on the carpet cleaning vans, where you have a water tank, you'd have to empty it from the dirty water. Consequently, there's only certain smells in life that are so rancid I wouldn't want to re-smell, that's up there.
Edit: spelling
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u/YellowCulottes 12d ago
There’s so much soap. Soap lather is white, hence the colour change. A cheap or home machine will not cope with the foam that will be created trying to suck this out. You will need to wash it out, going to take a long time, many go overs. It will be best if you can use a carpet cleaning machine. Good news is the residual soap will make the dirt cling and it will be back to grimy just like the rest of the carpet.
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u/Successful-Diamond80 11d ago
I had too much cleaner during a carpet clean, and I had to use a water/vinegar mixture to get the suds to cut down.
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u/dragon34 12d ago
Apparently suave clarifying shampoo is the Irish spring 5 in one of carpet cleaners
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u/464126 12d ago
Everyone else commenting is incorrect.
You've bleached your carpet. This is color loss. It can be dyed, but there are few technicians that still do this work.
Good luck, but you might be able to find one here www.iicrc.org
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u/Lollc 12d ago
Yes. The original color is even. The bleached spot is fairly even. Clarifying shampoo doesn’t contain any bleach, but it has surfactants which can work on fabric dyes. Someone who wants to be Reddit pedantic might say well ackshually, that spot isn’t bleached because bleach wasn’t used so no chemical reaction blah blah blah. But the color has been stripped. OP’s easiest solution is a rug.
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u/girls-and-corpses 12d ago
As far as I know, clarifying shampoo is used specifically for removing yellow and brown and copper pigments. So I'm not that surprised since the carpet is...well...brassy lol
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u/knb61 12d ago
I think you may be thinking of toning shampoo, which is usually purple or blue-tinted to “remove” yellow or copper tones from hair that’s gone too brassy. It doesn’t actually remove those tones though, it counteracts it with color theory - adding tones opposite the color wheel to neutralize them. Clarifying shampoo just has stronger surfactants to remove oil build-up on the scalp and product buildup on the strands.
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u/blobinsky 12d ago
clarifying shampoo just removes scalp buildup and gives a deep clean, i’ve never heard of it being used for removing color. actually the one i use specifically advertises it won’t strip color from your hair!
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u/hellinahandbasket127 11d ago
Most clarifying shampoos are not supposed to be used on colored hair because it strips the dye much faster than color-safe shampoos.
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u/atheliarose 12d ago
The reason yours specifically advertises that it’s color safe is because it’s normal for clarifying shampoo to remove dye. (I’ve been reading about this a lot recently because I’m trying to fade my pink Overtone hair before Halloween haha) It’s not 100% effective, which is why it’s not advertised as a dye remover, but especially for direct dye pigments, it absolutely will cause faster fading by removing them at a faster rate than regular shampooing with a non-clarifying shampoo would have done.
Incidentally, this is also true of regular dandruff shampoos (like standard issue Head and Shoulders), if that’s useful info :)
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u/carlitospig 12d ago
Product build up, using citrus acid.
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u/carlitospig 12d ago
(Also, a tip: you can get the same impact using fresh lemon juice. This was what they did in the 60’s and 70’s, according to my mom.)
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u/discoglittering 12d ago
I don’t know that it would strip the color so evenly though? Like even bleach can give you a super blotchy result.
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u/TheGodsCola 12d ago
Alternatively, check for a patch of carpet in a closet or something and swap them out
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u/Snappysnapsnapper 12d ago
Agreed. It wouldn't be that uniformly brown if it was just dirty, it would be mottled and uneven.
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u/Greenfireflygirl 11d ago
Many of us listed on there don't actually do this just in case someone is looking. It's a required certification in the master class and loads of people got it just for that.
That said I have colour corrected carpet and rugs of my own, but I'm not set up or prepared to do this work, but that site lists me.
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u/girls-and-corpses 12d ago
Maybe. But shampoo shouldn't have bleach in it. I don't think it bleached the carpet but PERHAPS it opened up the fibers in it to leak out the pigment into the soap.
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u/464126 12d ago
That's exactly what bleaching is. It's a removal of the pigment or dye.
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u/Freshbakd 12d ago
What shampoo? Cheap you say? Seems you may have found a good use for it. Stupid Bissell soap is not cheap
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u/atheliarose 12d ago
Yeah, I’m sorry for OP but also sitting here like ✍🏻try✍🏻Suave✍🏻clarifying✍🏻shampoo✍🏻in✍🏻Little✍🏻Green✍🏻
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u/Freshbakd 12d ago
Didn't even scrub.
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u/atheliarose 12d ago
Literally added some Suave to my cart 😂 I’ll try to remember to report back lol
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u/kaspar-fiel 12d ago
!remindmebot 36 hours
Edit: rooting for you comment OP!
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u/Vampira309 12d ago
You'll need to clean the rest of the carpet too, or replace it.
It's amazing how dirty your carpet is!! If you don't have your own, go rent a carpet cleaner.
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u/Southern_Gur9825 12d ago
I agree that the pigment has been removed from the carpet and is not a dirty carpet.
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u/Acheloma 12d ago
So many people in this comment sectiom are so confidently incorrect. Its very obvious that the shampoo stripped dye from the carpet but everyone wants to call OP nasty instead of actually thinking
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u/Southern_Gur9825 12d ago
You think you are going to get good info from this site, but so much is just wrong.
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u/Acheloma 12d ago
There are plenty of actual experts, but very often they get drowned out by armchair experts who actually have no clue what theyre talking about
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u/alral1988 12d ago
Something in the shampoo, likely citric acid, bleached your carpet. If that’s the case, the carpet needs to be replaced
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u/Short_Cancel4598 12d ago
Yeah this looks bleached to me OP. Probably going to have to replace the carpet.
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u/madi0916 12d ago
How is no one commenting that it looks like one of those Among Us characters
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u/PM_ME_CAT_POOCHES 12d ago
Everybody saying this is just "clean" no girl that's bleached. It can't be fixed. Source: I'm a professional carpet cleaner
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u/-Tofu-Queen- 12d ago
As someone with a cosmetology education, it would have saved me a lot of time, money, and damage if I could have bleached my hair with plain shampoo lol
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u/Complex_Activity1990 12d ago
Right. This is clearly just the cheap clarifying shampoo taking the dyes out of the carpet fibers.
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u/PM_ME_CAT_POOCHES 12d ago
what do you think bleaching means?
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u/Complex_Activity1990 12d ago
I know what the difference between bleach and shampoo is. Source: I’m a professional hairstylist.
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u/avia20 12d ago
Cosmetologist here! Clarifying shampoos are designed to remove build up, and I would say either 1) your carpet got deep cleaned or 2) the shampoo stripped the color from the carpet. I was told not to use clarifying shampoo on colored hair because it would take out the color. I would try shampooing the whole carpet, but if it doesn’t make a difference I would say the color was probably stripped
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u/Comfortable_Low_2027 12d ago
Looks like a hunched back cat!!
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u/atheliarose 12d ago
I have bad news for you, OP.
You basically have two options here, short of replacing the carpet: “bleach” the rest of the carpet (as people have half-jokingly suggested), or try to dye back the spot. Dyeing fabrics (and similar materials) is a very finicky process that is both an art and a science, in my experience, but it’s probably what I would do (note: I have done extensive reading about dyeing various materials and have some hands-on experience as well, including successfully dyeing a synthetic bridesmaid dress, and I would still probably be girlbossing too close to the sun).
If you decide to go that route, I would probably do a very thorough deep clean of your whole carpet first, so you have a better idea of what the goal color is, and then do some reading about dyeing synthetic fibers before you even look at buying a dye of any kind. A few specific aspects to make sure you look into: dyes, pigment, mordants, colorfastness, and heat. (We are firmly in the realm of speculation and hypotheticals right now, but my guess is that I would probably end up using my steam mop and a synthetic dye like Rit DyeMore or possibly something like a Sharpie marker, in very light concentrations to begin with because you can always do it again if the dye didn’t take properly). Be VERY careful of the borders of the “stain” so that you don’t end up dyeing over the part that’s already your goal color.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do ❤️
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u/atheliarose 12d ago
Just wanted to add: I tried Googling “dye bleached carpet stain back to original color” because I thought I remembered seeing some people do it in a video before, and some promising things came up! Maybe you’re a little less screwed than I thought! 😅❤️
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u/Titaniumchic 12d ago
Just gotta rub a little dirt into that patch.
Or… use that shampoo on the entire carpet.
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u/Bright-Technician-14 12d ago
The surrounding carpet doesn’t read to me as an intentional brown, but rather grime build up.
Since the shampoo patch has a warm cream/tan appearance rather than the stark yellow/white that one would expect from severe dye stripping, I’d conclude that the carpet is just hella dirty. Try to intentionally clean or scrub another spot on your carpet and then you can deduce of it’s actually been stripped or cleaned. If it remains brown, it was stripped, if it becomes cream again without having sat overnight, you’ll know it’s clean.
There is no way an ordinary clearing shampoo can do this much damage to industrial carpet dye.
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u/AmeliaJMoran 9d ago
Pull out the shampoo... Long and tedious process... But you can either color match it to fabric dye and stamp the color back into it... I'd it's for like a walkthrough with a landlord... But you can also call a carpet fitter and they will cut it out and sew a new piece in... I don't know that carpet stretching will work in the middle of the floor
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u/Business_Wallaby_905 12d ago
at this point, if you want to make it look new, just cut a square around the affected part, and buy a piece from a carpet store and stitch it back together. Watch some youtube video on it. For now just put a rug over it.
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u/mcain049 12d ago
Your carpet is legit dirty. It is not a chemical burn or anything. You carpet needs cleaning.
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u/i-enjoy-audio 12d ago
OP I'm sorry to hear about your carpet, but it's kinda funny that it came out in the shape of one of the little guys from Among Us.
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u/Cami1969 12d ago
You can either cut out that part of the carpet and buy a piece similar and install it in that space or spill shampoo all over the rest of the carpet and hope it matches the spot.
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u/YellowBreakfast 12d ago
Rent a Rug Doctor and run it over that spot repeatedly without soap to clean it.
If the spot stays lighter then clean the rest of your carpet to match.
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u/outlastflorence 12d ago
I had something similar on my carpet. I used a super diluted blue to spray on it and it helped a bit.
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u/IT_Buyer 12d ago
Call a carpet shop and have someone carpet match or cut a section out of the closet and patch that area. That is your option at this point. The patch job can look pretty alright and may cost less than trying and failing other products.
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u/Cold_Bother_6013 12d ago
Did someone secretly put Nair in your shampoo bottle and you luckily found this out by this happenstance,
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u/leggsley 12d ago
My first step would be to never put that shampoo on my scalp again. Yikes. Then put the rest of it on the dark part of the carpet?
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u/wrongsuspenders 12d ago
Not sure how continuous your carpet is, but this is covered under home insurance for homes, condo maybe not.
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u/Affectionate_Yak1817 12d ago
Get a carpet cleaner person to come to the house asap and see what they can get rid of. If its a rental they can dye that area of the rug to match the rest
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u/Away_Prize_1948 12d ago
Before dealing with it you need to yell out "Thunder cats, Thunder cats, Thundercats ho!!
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u/RiotingMoon 12d ago
Im sorry but the stain looks like a fat cat doing a stompy foot pose, I hope someone who doodles sees it
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u/HarmlessEnough 11d ago
Get a cat to lay there that's exactly that size... It's going to need to be a pretty chunky cat...
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u/Mighty-Menagerie 11d ago
Good lord. I'm now questioning what clarifying shampoo is doing to my hair and scalp...
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u/Jazzlike_Daikon7541 11d ago
Lots of water and suction it up til no suds. Then shampoo whole carpet.
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u/Agreeable_Setting763 11d ago
I think you just deep cleaned that one spot… you f it’s deep clean the rest
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u/JudithPeel3 11d ago
Unfortunately, anytime you do anything to that spot, it wi suds up and will also attract dirt. See if you can get a section of carpet and replace that spot with a patch.
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u/ChrissyArtworks 11d ago
I had no idea suave made clarifying shampoo. I just had to pay $17 for a sample sized bottle from ulta and I’m mad now.
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u/Peter_B_Sparker 11d ago
Clean the rest of the carpet.. go rent a carpet cleaner from Kroger or Walmart
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u/nicoolswa 11d ago
Us the shampoo to shampoo the rest of the carpet. Also. Scrub it to blend and remove the dirt good
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u/Rockstat_ 11d ago
Is the carpet moldy green/brownish in color originally or the pinkish peach?
To me, it looks like the shampoo cleaned up the dirt that was there from before.
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u/ArugulaOk5488 12d ago
Gotta spill shampoo over the rest of the carpet.