Material
Faux fur
Acrylic pile on a knitted backing. It melts with heat, dissolves with solvents and mats if you scrub it. Cold water, a damp cloth on the pile only, and a soft brush afterwards.
- SurfacePorous
- WashingHand
- Colour run riskMedium
- Reviewed1 September 2026
What faux fur can and cannot take
- Heat Avoid
- Water and soaking Use with care
- Acids, including vinegar Use with care
- Strong alkalis Use with care
- Solvents Avoid
- Chlorine bleach Avoid
- Abrasives Avoid
Always test on a hidden area first and let it dry before you treat the visible mark.
General rules for faux fur
Cold water, no heat at any point, and brushing rather than scrubbing. Hand wash at no more than 30 degrees if the label allows washing at all, press the water out rather than wringing, and dry flat and away from any heat source. Treat a mark by working on the pile alone with a damp cloth rather than soaking the backing, because a wet backing takes days to dry and can shrink. Restore the pile with a soft bristled brush or a wide toothed comb once it is dry, brushing against the lie of the fibre. A fine comb, a stiff brush or a scrubbing motion snaps the fibres, and a bald patch cannot be repaired. Solvents soften and dissolve acrylic, so a dry cleaning fluid or an acetone based product is not an option here even though it would be on many other fabrics.
Check the label
The pile is acrylic and modacrylic, which are plastics. They melt. A tumble dryer, a radiator, a hairdryer on anything but cold, and a hot wash all do the same irreversible thing: the fibres fuse into a matted crust that no amount of brushing separates again. The backing is usually a knit and can shrink independently of the pile, which is the other way a faux fur garment is ruined in one wash.
Stains on faux fur
- Baby sick Lift off solids, blot, check the care label and use only a small amount of cool water with mild detergent if...
- Blood Blot first, then use cold water and a tiny amount of compatible detergent. Work from the edge, rinse or blot...
- Body oil Dry blot faux fur, then wash only if the care label permits it using diluted delicate detergent. Do not apply...
- Breast milk Dry-blot first. Use this route only on an unstructured item whose whole label expressly permits hand washing....
- Bronzer Lift loose bronzer from faux fur before it is rubbed in. Blot cream bronzer, follow the material or care labe...
- Coffee Blot without rubbing. Support the fabric and check the care label before adding water. Use a brief fibre-appr...
- Concealer Lift thick concealer from Faux Fur, blot without rubbing, then use a very small amount of diluted washing-up...
- Cooking grease Lift and blot cooking grease from Faux Fur, then use a small amount of diluted washing-up liquid only if the...
- Deodorant Work dry first: pick the deposit out of the pile with your fingers and comb it out with a wide tooth comb. Th...
- Hair dye Blot the pile, check the care label and use only a tiny amount of cool dilute washing-up liquid if water is p...
- Lipstick Lift lipstick from Faux Fur with a blunt edge, blot without rubbing, then use a very small amount of diluted...
- Motor oil Blot motor oil from Faux Fur, absorb as much as possible, then use a small amount of diluted washing-up liqui...
- Nail polish Lift accessible free polish without rubbing and keep the item dry. The fibre, finish or construction makes a...
- Period blood Work on the pile alone with a cloth damped in cold water and a trace of washing up liquid, following the lie...
- Pet urine Blot between towels, then check the label. If it permits hand washing, rinse the patch with cool water, work...
- Sweat Blot, check the label, then use cool water and a small amount of mild liquid detergent only if washing is all...
- Tomato sauce Lift tomato sauce from Faux Fur, then wipe or blot inwards with a tested cool detergent solution. Remove resi...
Faux fur is a pile of synthetic filaments, normally acrylic and modacrylic, anchored into a knitted or woven backing. Treating it well means thinking about the pile and the backing as two separate problems.
The pile is plastic
Acrylic softens and then melts at temperatures a tumble dryer reaches easily. Specialists in the fabric are blunt about it: heat causes irreversible damage, and once the fibres have fused there is no treatment that separates them. The same applies to drying a wet coat over a radiator, which is the most common way it happens.
The backing is the part that gets wet
Soak a faux fur item and you have wet a knitted backing that will take a long time to dry, may shrink, and can pull the pile into permanent partings as it does. That is why almost every method for faux fur is a surface method: wet the tips of the pile, not the base.
Brushing is a real step, not tidying up
The pile always dries flat and clumped, and it looks ruined at that point. A soft bristled brush or a wide toothed comb worked against the lie of the fibre brings it back. A fine toothed comb does not: it snaps filaments off at the root.
Similar materials
Sources
What we checked and when. Where a manufacturer instruction disagrees with anything here, follow the manufacturer.
-
How to care for faux fur, Jayley
specialist
Faux fur specialist establishing that the pile is acrylic and modacrylic, that washing is cold and no warmer than 30 degrees, that a tumble dryer or a radiator melts the fibres and the damage is irreversible, and that the pile is restored with a soft bristled brush or a wide toothed comb rather than a fine comb, which snaps the fibres.
Checked 1 September 2026
-
Upholstery cleaning technical help guide, Prochem
specialist
Trade cleaning chemistry guide stating that two light cleans beat one that over wets, that browning appears where natural vegetable fibres are unevenly or excessively wetted, that a 60 mm test square losing more than 3 mm after wetting means the fabric will shrink noticeably, and that silk, real suede and natural velvet cannot be wet cleaned at all.
Checked 1 September 2026
-
Cotton garment care guide, Asket
manufacturer
Clothing maker guidance to wash cotton jersey at 30 degrees or by hand for a spot treatment, to avoid the tumble dryer because cotton shrinks in it, to air dry out of direct sunlight, to shake and gently stretch a jersey garment back into shape while it is damp, and to keep bleach off coloured cotton.
Checked 1 September 2026