# Cleaning shampoo out of a carpet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 11, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-shampoo-out-of-a-carpet/174466 "2003-05-11T06:40:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-shampoo-out-of-a-carpet/174466/1 "2003-05-11T06:40:25Z")
Help I spilled a large amount of Head and Shoulders on my carpet and need to know how to clean it up. I wiped up what I could but that smeared it. I tried a wet cloth but that made it sudsy, now the carpet is slippery there. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-shampoo-out-of-a-carpet/174466/2 "2003-05-11T06:50:03Z")
Do you have access to a steamer? Try using that using only water. Keep going over the area until the shampoo is gone. ---
**Author:** ![TBone2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@TBone2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBone2)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-shampoo-out-of-a-carpet/174466/3 "2003-05-11T12:38:44Z")
Rinse. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-shampoo-out-of-a-carpet/174466/4 "2003-05-11T12:46:22Z")
Have you tried carpet shampoo? _rimshot_ Seriously, it shouldn’t be too difficult to clean out - allow the suds to dry, then vacuum it. Repeat over the next few days. Problem is, the patch where the shampoo was will probably end up looking a lot cleaner than the rest of the carpet, so you probably need to clean the whole damn thing. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-shampoo-out-of-a-carpet/174466/5 "2003-05-11T13:14:14Z")
Do you have access to a wet/dry vac? If so, flood the area with water, squish it in a bit, and vacuum dry. Repeat until you no longer get foam when you do the squishing. BTW, just letting the area dry and vacuuming won’t work very well: they are dyes in the shampoo, so if you have a light color rug it will show. Also the detergents will tend to ‘grab’ onto dirt, meaning that that spot will collect soil and get dark and dirty much faster than the rest of the carpet. But **jjimm** is right about the clean spot. If it isn’t too inconvenient, just rent a rug cleaner and do the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-shampoo-out-of-a-carpet/174466/6 "2003-05-11T21:07:37Z")
Professional cleaner here. **StarvingButStrong** had it almost right. If you use a wetvac, pour a couple ounces of fabric softener in the vac before you start. That’ll kill the suds, so you won’t have a whole roomful of foam. Also, just wet the spot repeatedly with a trigger sprayer. If you soak it deeply, you’ll wet the pad underneath. It’ll take days to dry, and it might go moldy before then. Ick. There’s nothing wrong with renting an extraction cleaner for this job, if you want to do the whole room anyway. Just start with the shampoo spot, and use plain water and defoamer until you’re done with that spot. Then switch to the regular solution for the rest of the floor. It’s really pretty simple.