Pepper Spray Spot & Stain Removal from Carpet

Pepper sprays and pepper foams are the number one selling self-defense products. These non-lethal deterrents cause temporary blindness and inflammation of the lungs making breathing difficult.

The active ingredient in pepper spray is capsaicin, usually carried in an oil and called oleoresin capsicum. It is made by grinding the peppers very fine to the point the oil looks yellow to orange to red. A solvent is usually used as the carrier. Sometimes pepper sprays also spray out a foam to make it stick to the assailant better. Additionally, a marker dye may be added, usually a UV dye, so that the police can identify the assailant.

There are three materials to be removed from the carpet: oil, ground-up pepper dust and dye.

Follow these steps to remove pepper spray from carpet:

1. Start by removing the extremely fine pepper dust by THOROUGH vacuuming.
2. Remove the oils, if any are left, with Saf-T-Solv™ Dry Volatile Solvent Spotter and do a normal cleaning.
3. Finally, use Red Relief^® 2-Part Color Stain Remover or Red 1^® Stain Remover to remove the dye.
4. If the Red Relief fails to remove the dye, use Stain Magic^® Stain Remover.
5. NOTE: Some of the dyes used are designed to be permanent. DO NOT use heat-transfer to remove the dyes until you’re sure you have all the pepper out!