Before you prepare for warm days, you need totake care of winter clothes. After the cold season, fur coats, hats and jackets take their place in the closet for several months. But before you put these things away for storage until next winter, they need to be cleaned. Some can be washed, some can be dry-cleaned, but what about a fur coat or a fur hat? Natural fur has always been considered a luxury item. But fortunately, fur products have become affordable for most people lately. And in our winter conditions, fur is not a luxury, but a vital necessity. And so that products made from it - fur coats, hats - do not lose their appearance, you need to know how to care for the fur. Natural fur is quite capricious in care, so it is advisable to dry-clean a fur coat made of natural fur. But if for some reason you do not want to dry-clean your item, you can try to cope with it yourself. And how to clean fur at home, we will find out. First, you need to make sure that your fur coat needs cleaning at the moment. This can be done with a regular hair dryer. Direct a stream of cold air at the fur and see:
- if the villi are free and easy to fly, forming a dimple, which with the termination of the supply of air disappears, hence, the fur is clean;
- if the fur is dull, stuck together, when blowing it with a hair dryer it does not swell, which means that enough dirt and dust accumulated on it, and it is necessary to clean the fur.
In the old days, fur was cleaned usingpowdered fine bran or sawdust. This simple method is still relevant today for cleaning fur at home. Moreover, it is also environmentally friendly. In order to clean fur this way, the fur coat is spread on a flat surface, sawdust or bran is poured onto it in an even layer, and then thoroughly rubbed. This can also be done with a brush. Then the sawdust or bran is shaken off or swept away with a brush. If necessary, the procedure is repeated.
Cleaning of light fur
The question is often asked: how to clean light-coloreda mink coat and white fur on a hat or collar? The question is not accidental. White fur turns yellow over time and loses its attractiveness. A light mink coat and any other white fur can be cleaned using the previous method, but it is better to use potato starch, wheat flour or semolina to clean light fur. By the way, this is the most ideal way to clean light fur at home. They say that cleaning with these products will be more effective if they are preheated to 70-80 degrees in a frying pan. The main thing is to ensure that the flour, starch or semolina do not burn, otherwise your white fur will be cleaned and dyed at the same time. Then the prepared flour or cereal is also sprinkled in an even layer on the white fur or on the spread out fur coat and the fur is kneaded. Hydrogen peroxide will get rid of the slight yellowness of the whites. To do this, simply wipe the fur with a three- or five-percent solution of hydrogen peroxide, repeating this procedure several times. There is also a more radical way to clean white or any other light fur at home. To do this, mix starch (potato or corn) with gasoline until a uniform consistency is obtained. This product is used to clean small but heavily soiled areas. It is important to remember that the gasoline must be purified. For example, you can clean a greasy collar, a stain from grease, juice, etc. To do this, apply the resulting gruel to the dirty area, gently rub this place with a brush, and then use the same brush to scrape the mixture off the fur coat. After this, the item should be hung on the balcony to air out until the smell of gasoline completely disappears. It should be added that gasoline not only cleans white fur well, but also degreases it and the flesh side, which also significantly prolongs the life of any fur product.
Cleaning of other types of fur
You can clean old fur with the help ofpotato peelings. Rinse them thoroughly under running water, then mince them with a fine mesh. Add a little ammonia to the resulting gruel, apply it to the dirty area and rub it thoroughly with a clothes brush. After that, rinse and wipe the item thoroughly. After cleaning, dry the fur coat at home at room temperature, hanging it on a hanger. It is recommended to clean a fur coat made of long-haired fur, such as arctic fox or fox, with salt. Take finely ground salt, sprinkle the fur and brush it. If the fur is very dirty, prepare the following solution: take three teaspoons of salt and a teaspoon of ammonia per half a liter of water. Dip a clothes brush in the solution and gently brush the fur with careful movements. Then let it dry. If a greasy stain appears on your fur coat, you can remove it with a solution of ammonia and table salt. To do this, mix three teaspoons of table salt and one teaspoon of ammonia in half a liter of warm water. Using a sponge soaked in this solution, carefully remove the greasy stain from the fur. And how to clean faux fur at home? The easiest way to clean it is with a paste of regular washing powder diluted with water. By the way, most often faux fur easily tolerates regular washing. Just before washing a faux fur coat, you need to rip off the lining.
How to make the fur glisten and not yellow?
If the mink coat does not need cleaning, and the furit has simply lost its shine a little, try combing it with a fine-toothed metal comb. If you don’t have a comb, you can use another home remedy and wipe the fur with a solution of table vinegar or rubbing alcohol using a sponge. To prepare the solution, take equal parts water and vinegar or alcohol. Dip a sponge in this mixture and gently rub it over the surface of the fur. In order to simply return the fur coat to its original shine, you need to very carefully beat it out, and then brush the surface of the fur with a clothes brush soaked in purified gasoline. To prevent white furs from turning yellow, they need to be wiped with a solution of hydrogen peroxide. To do this, add a tablespoon of peroxide to one liter of water. The same solution, only more concentrated, is used to clean yellowed white fur. In order not to damage the flesh side, the fur is wiped with the solution only on the surface. In addition, to ensure that the fur coat has a long-lasting and beautiful shine, carefully wipe the fur with a cloth napkin or sponge soaked in vinegar essence. Remember that the essence is very caustic, so it is better to work with rubber gloves. You can also restore the shine to the fur at home using walnuts. To do this, finely chop the walnut kernels, wrap them in gauze folded in half, and then wipe the fur with this swab along the pile. The fur, absorbing the nut oil, acquires a long-lasting and beautiful shine. The fur coat will have a spectacular lively gloss for a long time. After this, the fur should be combed with a clothes brush with natural bristles.
Tips for caring for fur products
If the leather base of your fur coat is dry, itcan be restored. To do this, you will need glycerin or Vaseline oil and an egg yolk. Rub the yolk thoroughly with one tablespoon of glycerin or Vaseline and add half a liter of warm water. Wipe the base of the fur with this mixture from the back side. Then dry it, hanging it upside down. When the fur coat is dry, knead it and stretch it in all directions. If the flesh side of your fur coat has become rough, this defect can be easily corrected at home, as follows. Prepare a solution of vinegar essence - two tablespoons per liter of water. Moisten the flesh side with this solution, then carefully knead and stretch the fur in different directions. Repeat this procedure two or three times every two or three hours. After this, dry the fur coat in a stretched form, knead it again and lubricate it with a previously prepared emulsion: 15-20 drops of ammonia and 100 g of castor oil per liter of warm water. Fold the fur coat flesh side to flesh side and keep it like this for three to four hours. Then hang it up and dry it again. If the fur is wrinkled, go over it with a damp sponge to wet the pile. Then comb the fur in the direction of the pile and hang the fur coat on a hanger to dry. When the fur is dry, shake the fur coat well.
Storage of fur items
After you have brought your fur coat back from winterorder, it's time to pack it for summer storage. To do this, dry it in a draft or in the air, but in the shade. After this, the fur coat should be carefully shaken out and beaten. It is best to store fur coats in summer in thick paper bags or in plastic covers. If you put a plastic cover on your fur coat, provide air access to it so that the fur does not deteriorate. Do not forget to put moth repellent in there. Since we have already talked about light-colored fur coats, we offer you a little secret for storing a fur coat so that the fur does not turn yellow. Sew a cover for a light-colored fur coat from blue fabric. If you believe in the effectiveness of grandmother's methods, then it is blue fabric that protects light-colored fur from yellowing well. A hat made of white fur can be stored wrapped in blue paper. You can protect your thing from moths with dried orange peel, geranium leaves or tobacco. In addition, special moth repellents are sold in stores. Just never sprinkle the fur with mothballs. This is, of course, an effective remedy, but you will not be able to air out the fur coat from it. The fur coat should be stored in a wardrobe, but so that it is not cramped among other things. Otherwise, the fur will get creased. When placing the fur coat in a cover, you can stuff its sleeves with fresh newspapers. Firstly, this will prevent folds from forming on the sleeves, and secondly, it will scare away the moth, because it cannot stand the smell of printing ink. Newspapers should be changed at least once a month. Never hang dyed and undyed fur items next to each other, so that the undyed fur does not get stained. You cannot hang a fur coat near a wall whitewashed with lime, because it spoils the fur. If you want your fur coat to always smell nice, put a handkerchief or cambric napkin soaked in your favorite perfume in the coat pocket when you put it away for storage. Natural fur absorbs and holds all odors well. On the eve of winter, when you take your fur coat out of the closet, it will look great and smell nice. We recommend reading:
