Please help I've ruined my carpet!!

[babzydoodle]

I had a few makeup stains on my bedroom carpet so I looked on the internet for how to remove them and laundry detergent diluted with water seemed to do the trick for most people. I thought well that washes makeup out of my clothes so it makes sense that it would work on the carpet! But NO! The carpet dried and left some big yellow stains instead! Maybe I used too harsh a detergent? Or wet the area too much with it? I don't know but it looked like someone had been sick on my carpet!

So the next thing I did was sprayed white vinegar mixed with water on to the stains and added some baking soda and let it sit for a while. Then I blotted the areas and it seemed to have taken most of the orangey/yellowy colour out. Before it dried I went over the whole area with hot water using a carpet cleaning machine to get rid of the vinegar smell and any residue left on the carpet.

So it's dry now and for some bizarre reason the areas around the stains have dried much lighter than the colour of my carpet!?? (see pic). It looks awful! I don't know what to do now. :(

Please help!!

Thank you x

Have you tried shampooing the whole carpet with proper carpet shampoo?.

Is the carpet wool? was the laundry detergent biological?

Hi Fluffycloudland77, thanks for your message. I forgot to mention - before I put white vinegar and baking soda on the carpet I did try shampooing the whole carpet but it made no difference at all. I haven't tried that since the weird light patches have shown up though. I'm not sure what the carpet is made of - is there a way to tell? And the detergent was biological. x

I suspect it's wool or wool mix. Did it smell like a wet woollen jumper after you cleaned it? It looks as though what you have used to clean it has removed some of dye. You should only use warm water on wool carpet, not hot, as that can shrink it. I also think bio detergent might have been the cause of the problem.

I would suggest you wait until it is fully dry if it isn't already and ask a professional for their opinion. Their equipment will be more powerful than domestic stuff and they may be able to get the rest of the carpet cleaner so the patches are less noticeable.

For spot cleaning carpets, a bit of original Stardrops in cold water applied with a lint free colourfast cloth (old tea towel or cloth napkin) is really good while being gentle on the carpet. The trick is to work up a lather in a bucket and not to get the carpet wet, just slightly damp.