Removing lipstick: pick your surface

Lipstick is a two-phase grease-plus-colour stain, usually from a lipstick trodden into carpet or crushed against a sofa seat. The chemistry stays the same wherever it lands — but the safe way to treat it changes completely with the surface, which is why each pairing below has its own guide.

Not water-soluble

Water alone will not touch this stain; it needs an absorbent, surfactant or solvent stage.

Heat sets it

Keep hot water, steam and dryers away until the lipstick is fully out — heat fixes it permanently.

Fresh vs dried-in

Lipstick is wax and oil carrying a strong dye — grease first, colour second. A fresh smear lifts surprisingly well once the waxy bulk is scraped off cold. Trodden-in or dried lipstick has pushed dye into the fibre and usually leaves a faint tint that needs the alcohol stage.

Lipstick removal guides by surface

Lipstick on a wool carpet

very hard to remove · pro sometimes needed

Neat washing-up liquid for the wax and oil phase, then isopropyl alcohol for the dye phase

Lipstick on a nylon carpet

hard to remove

Neat washing-up liquid for the wax and oil phase, then isopropyl alcohol for the dye phase

Lipstick on a polypropylene carpet

hard to remove

Neat washing-up liquid for the wax and oil phase, then isopropyl alcohol for the dye phase

Lipstick on a fabric sofa

hard to remove

Neat washing-up liquid for the wax and oil phase, then isopropyl alcohol for the dye phase

Lipstick on a microfibre sofa

hard to remove

Neat washing-up liquid for the wax and oil phase, then isopropyl alcohol for the dye phase

Lipstick on a polyester carpet

hard to remove

Neat washing-up liquid for the wax and oil phase, then isopropyl alcohol for the dye phase

Lipstick on a velvet sofa

hard to remove

Neat washing-up liquid for the wax and oil phase, then isopropyl alcohol for the dye phase