Do you have a quality fur jacket or coat in your wardrobe and want to know how to clean it? Then this is the article for you! Learning how to clean a fur coat will help maintain the item for years! Here’s how you can keep your favorite clothes intact: 

How to Clean A Fur Coat: 5 DIY Tips! 

Controversial as it is, learning how to clean a fur coat is useful. Even if a person is for or against the use of animal fur (in clothing and the fur trade), it must be recognized that fur coats or jackets, vintage or not, are in fashion. In this article, we discuss how to clean a fur coat at home using 5 simple tips. 

5 Methods On How to Clean A Fur Coat

Unlike other clothes, fur cannot be washed with water. However, you don’t need to buy expensive fur cleaners. Just use common everyday products that you already have at home instead! 

1. Turpentine

This product is ideal for removing stains from natural fur garments. You can use it indifferently on all your fur clothes. However, avoid using it on white fur. Start by laying out your jacket, coat or scarf on a towel. Dampen a rag with turpentine. Wring well before cleaning your garment. Then remove the remnants with a damp cloth. Dry the fur, still flat, on a dry towel. 

2. Talc

To clean your beautiful fur coat, you just have to sprinkle it with talcum powder. Rub by hand, in the direction of the hair, to allow the product to penetrate well. Then let it act all night, then remove the powder residue by shaking your garment vigorously. Be careful, however, to choose good quality talc. To avoid spreading it all over your home, preferably perform the last step outside the house.

3. Butter

Another tip for removing stains from your fur is to rub butter on the stained area. Wait a few minutes before soaping. Then rinse with clear water.

4. Baking soda

On fur coats or jackets, baking soda helps fight against humidity. Sprinkle your clothes with a thick layer of baking soda, then let them sit for a few hours, before dusting them by shaking them. In addition to cleaning fur, baking soda also has deodorizing properties.

5. Ammonia

Dampen a cloth with slightly diluted ammonia. Dab your fur clothing, insisting on the most stained parts. Then use a cloth soaked in water, but well wrung out, to rinse the product. When using ammonia, preferably work in a well-ventilated room, and avoid inhaling its vapors as much as possible. Also wear gloves. 

Other FAQs related to cleaning a fur coat:

How to remove a stain of urine, blood, or sauce from fur?

Before you start, practice the usual precautions when handling ammonia: do not breathe its vapors, operate with the window open, and with gloves.

• Dab the fur with a cloth moistened with barely diluted ammonia.
• This linen must be damp and in no case soaked.
• Rinse off the ammonia by passing a cloth soaked in water (wrung out) over the fur.
• Pass a washcloth to dry, then lay flat to dry.

What precautions should be taken for the maintenance of natural fur?

Since fur is a really delicate and fragile material, you must take certain precautions if you plan to maintain it yourself. To make your fur garments last as long as possible, avoid getting them wet at all costs or spraying them with any perfume to avoid damaging the fur. To keep them shiny, always rub them in the direction of the hair.

If your fur loses its hair, wrap it in a cotton cover, then place it in the freezer for a few hours to fix the hair. If you are afraid of damaging your natural fur clothes, do not hesitate to entrust them to professionals.

What about dry cleaning?

Rabbit, fox, mink, sable, chinchilla, lynx, and other types of fur can be taken for dry cleaning at the dry cleaners but it is not recommended and in addition to that, entrusting a coat or jacket to a furrier costs a fortune. 

Any fur maintenance tips to beautify your fur? 

Talcum powder is the easiest DIY product to use because it leaves the fur coat smelling amazing in addition to beautifying your fur. If the hair of the fur seems just a little bundled up, spread the coat or jacket on a towel and sprinkle it with talc. 

Rub with the flattest part of your hand which is the palms to make it penetrate well. Rub in the direction of the hair. Then let it act all night, then remove the powder residue by shaking your garment vigorously. Be careful, however, to choose good quality talc. To avoid spreading it all over your home, preferably perform the last step outside the house.

Any fur maintenance tips to remove stains? 

Talc

To clean your beautiful fur coat, you just have to sprinkle it with a good quality talcum powder. Rub by hand, to allow the product to penetrate well. Leave to act overnight.

In the morning, shake the fur to remove the powder (outdoors is better if you don’t want your kitchen or living room covered in talc).

Turpentine

Cleaning a moderately dirty jacket, scarf, or fur coat is easy with Turpentine. Place the fur coat, jacket or scarf flat on a large towel then clean the dirty fur coat, jacket, or scarf with a clean cloth soaked in a little turpentine and well wrung out. Then rinse the product with a damp cloth. Let the fur dry flat on a towel.

Talc and turpentine

Cleaning a heavily soiled fur coat or jacket required both the two products mentioned above: talc and turpentine. 

Lay the fur coat, jacket, or scarf flat on a large towel, then clean and loosen the fur coat or jacket with a cloth soaked in a paste made of turpentine and talc. Rub in the direction of the hair. Let dry. Brush gently. 

Any fur maintenance tips for brighter fur? 

Velvet pad helps with getting brighter fur, so from time to time, run a velvet pad over the fur coat or jacket. 

Iron 

If the fur is very faded, moisten it with a damp cloth then iron the hair with a hot iron, not hot, of course, and one centimeter from the fur.

Blankets and a stick

Restore suppleness to your long-haired or short-haired fur by placing it on a table covered with blankets and then beating the coat with a stick. 

How can we remove musty or mothball odors from fur? 

Leave it out

Clean the fur if it needs it. Otherwise ventilate it as much as possible (one night in front of an open window).

Bicarbonate

Spread the fur on a towel and sprinkle it (thickly) with baking soda. Leave to act for ten hours then dust and shake (outside is better if you don’t want to find baking soda everywhere!).

Vinegar

Pass on the fur, a cloth impregnated with white vinegar diluted by half with water. The cloth should only be damp.

Cold dryer

Only if the fur is in good condition, and does not lose its hair, put it in the dryer for a quarter of an hour in the “cold air” position.

Any fur maintenance tips for smelly fur?

Talc and essential oil acts as perfume for smelly fur

• In a bowl, mix one or two drops of essential oil with talc.
• Sprinkle the fur with this mixture.
• Pass the flat of the hand to penetrate well.
• Leave to act overnight.
• In the morning, shake the fur to remove the powder (outdoors is better if you don’t want your kitchen or living room covered in talc).