How to Clean a Faux Sheepskin Rug

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Faux sheepskin rugs add such a luxurious feel to a space. They look fabulous in any room and are extremely comfortable to walk on. 

The downfall is that they get dirty pretty easily and seem to collect dirt on their own. Luckily, how to clean a faux sheepskin rug doesn’t have to be a mystery. 

We are assuming you aren’t one of the lucky ones that have a machine-washable faux sheepskin rug if you’re reading this article. If you haven’t already, check your rug’s tag to see if it can be thrown in the wash. 

Also, pay attention to the tag’s special instructions, if any. Still here? Don’t despair—cleaning a faux sheepskin rug isn’t difficult. Let’s go over how to now. 

How to Clean a Faux Sheepskin Rug: 4 Steps

Rugs and carpet can hold four times their weight in dirt and bacteria. Obviously, with a statistic like that, you’ll want to wash your rug pretty regularly. 

Also, while faux sheepskin rugs look luxurious, they only do when they are clean! So, what exactly do you have to do to clean a faux sheepskin rug?

Living room with a faux sheepskin rug

As we said before, most rugs are not machine washable and can’t be thrown in the dryer. We’ll go over each section of care, starting with washing. 

1. Washing Your Faux Sheepskin Rug

Assuming your rug can’t go in the wash, we are looking at handwashing your rug. It’s important to be gentle with your rug. 

We recommend washing your rugs in the bathtub as opposed to getting a giant tub to clean it in, but you may also have a storage tub big enough to clean your rug in. 

Materials

To wash your faux sheepskin rug, you don’t need much! For the hand wash method, you’ll simply need:

  • A large tub or bathtub
  • Liquid detergent (mild) or castile soap

Method

This looks like a lot of steps, but it isn’t that hard. You can easily wash your faux sheepskin rug by following these steps:

  1. First, go outside and shake your rug vigorously to remove loose dust and debris
  2. Pour a good amount of soap in the bottom of the tub or bathtub; the amount of soap depends on the size of your rug
  3. Fill the bathtub or tub with cold water to a level that will let your rug be fully submerged
  4. Submerge the rug fully
  5. Use your hands to rub the rug together and work the soap into the rug
  6. If focusing on any area, make sure to use your fingers to comb through the dirt or stain underwater
  7. You can put soap directly on the area, but make sure to scrub it out after you are done
  8. Drain the bathtub and rinse the rug in cold water, making sure to remove soap and any leftover particles
  9. Squeeze out all of the water you can from the rug

Your rug may look matted and not as you expected—but don’t worry. By the time you are done drying and combing the rug, it will look like new! 

2. Drying Your Faux Sheepskin Rug

As tempting as it may be to throw your rug in the dryer, generally, that’s a no-no. Unless your rug specifically states it can be thrown in the dryer, it’s best to avoid doing this for a few reasons:

Baby room with a rug
  • Some faux sheepskin rugs are flammable
  • Others will be damaged by the heat
  • Some rugs’ backings will shrink in the dryer

As you can see, there’s a lot of reason to avoid throwing your rug in the dryer. However, there are other ways to dry your rug as well. 

Materials

For drying the rug, we recommend you at least have:

  • Enough towels to lay your rug on with at least one to blot out the water
  • It is great if you also have a place to hang or drape your rug where it can freely drip water on clean concrete.

Method

Drying your rug is extremely important. Letting it completely dry will make sure to deter unwanted odors. You should follow these steps immediately after washing your rug. To dry your rug, follow these steps:

  1. After squeezing out all possible water with your hands, shake the rug to get any excess water off it
  2. Lay enough towels out on the ground to spread out your rug
  3. Place your rug over the towels 
  4. Using your extra towel, press down firmly to absorb water on all sections of your rug
  5. If your towel becomes wet, grab another one—we don’t want to be pressing more water back into the rug! 
  6. Using this method, absorb as much water as possible
  7. Hang your rug in an area where it will get airflow and be able to dry itself the rest of the way

It’s important to note that you do not want to place your rug in direct sunlight—the heat and UV rays of the sun can have a damaging effect on your rug. 

3. Combing and De-matting Your Faux Sheepskin Rug

Right after your rug dries, you might be panicking because it looks matted and definitely not as fluffy and chic as it looked when you first bought it. Don’t worry! This is normal after washing your rug and is easily fixed.

To comb and de-mat your rug, you must wait until the rug is one hundred percent dry. This will allow you to gently get through each hair and get your rug looking new again. 

Materials

To comb out your rug, you will only need a wide-tooth metal comb. 

Method

This process must be done gently or you can rip out pieces of the rug, damaging it in the process. Before you proceed, make sure your rug is completely dry. 

Sofa with a faux sheepskin rug

Run your hand through it all the way to the base to make sure of this—otherwise, you may rip out pieces of the rug. 

Follow these steps to comb your rug and have it looking as good as new:

  1. Spread the rug in an area where you can get to all sides of the rug 
  2. Start at a corner of the rug and gently comb the fur, removing the tangles 
  3. Comb the fur in the direction the strands are trying to go 
  4. Repeat in all areas of the rug

When you are done combing it out, you can fluff it out by giving it a couple of shakes. Now, you are done! You can place the freshly cleaned rug back where it originally belonged. 

4. Spot Clean Stains on Your Faux Sheepskin Rug

Did you spill something on your rug and don’t want to go through the whole process of cleaning the entire rug? 

There’s an easy way to spot clean spills and fresh stains from your rug. But be warned: if you have waited too long after the spill, this may not get the stain off completely and you may have to wash the whole thing. 

Materials

To spot clean your rug, you will need:

  • Mild liquid detergent or castile soap
  • Water
  • Spray bottle
  • Clean cloth or rag

Method

When you just want to clean a single area of the rug, follow these steps:

  1. Pour some dish soap in your spray bottle and fill with warm water
  2. Feel free to give your spray bottle a little shake or swirl to mix together the water and soap well
  3. If there’s any excess liquid from what you spilled, make sure to take a clean cloth and remove as much of it as possible
    1. Press on the stain—do not wipe or it will rub the stain in more
  4. Spray your cleaning material on a new clean cloth
  5. Press on the stain firmly with your soapy cloth
  6. Repeat until the stain is gone, replacing your rag when it is dirty 
  7. Once the stain is gone, empty your spray bottle and fill with cold water
  8. Spray the soapy area with your water to rinse it off
  9. Press with a new clean cloth to dry as much as possible

When you’re done with that, assuming it was a small area and you didn’t completely soak your rug, you can leave it alone to air dry. If your rug is extremely wet from your cleaning, it would be best to hang it up to dry on your Azek decking, if you have one. 

Get Rid of Smells from Your Faux Sheepskin Rug

Is your rug clean but has an odor you can’t seem to get rid of? This can happen if the rug is used by a pet or in contact with moisture a lot. 

There are many other reasons a rug can develop a smell—but the good news is, it can be fixed. 

Close up of a clean faux sheepskin rug

For this problem, you can use the natural deodorizer of baking soda. Simply follow these steps to remove any smells from your rug:

  • The rug should be fully dried before you do this process 
  • Sprinkle the baking soda over the entire rug
  • Wait at least 6 hours or overnight 
  • Shake off the baking soda outside
  • Vacuum the rug using a hose—do not use a vacuum made for hardwood floors

Baking soda is an effective and simple way to get rid of any smells that your rug has seemed to pick up.

Maintenance Tips for Faux Sheepskin Rugs

Despite the maintenance being a bit more than regular rugs, thousands of shoppers are buying faux fur rugs. 

This is mainly because they are so luxurious and soft! Now that you know how to clean faux sheepskin rugs, the next step is knowing how to maintain that cleanliness. 

Quickly Wash After Stains

The worst thing you can do for your rug is letting a stain sit on it for too long. This allows the stain to make itself at home and set in your rug. Spot clean your rug as soon as possible. 

Avoid Moisture

It may be tempting, but don’t use your rug as a bathroom mat. Moisture and faux sheepskin rugs result in odors that are hard to remove.

Wash Regularly

It may seem tedious, but washing your rug is an important way to keep it maintained and clean. It is good to make washing your rug part of your cleaning routine. 

Conclusion

Maintaining faux sheepskin rugs takes a little more TLC than other rugs, but it is worth it! A rug that you maintain well and clean regularly makes a wonderful addition to any home. 

Now that you know how to clean a faux sheepskin rug, you can make it part of your cleaning routine as needed.