Furniture made with Haitian cotton is 100% natural, unprocessed cotton, and it contains brown cotton seeds in the yarn. These seeds give the fabric a natural and elegant look. For this reason, unbleached Haitian cotton can’t be steam cleaned or cleaned with water or just any upholstery cleaner. You should never try to clean Haitian cotton with homemade cleaning solution or any cleaning product from your local grocery store.
When water or alkaline cleaning product is applied to the fabric, the cotton seeds will burst and cause browning. This will permanently damage your sofa. We have been able to find only 1 cleaning solution for Haitian cotton that can be purchased in Toronto. This cleaning product can only be bought from professional carpet cleaning supply stores, and a small number of stores carry it. One of them can be bought from Kleen Kuip. The product is called “Haitian Cotton Shampoo” and is made by Esteam.
While cleaning and using this chemical, you should have safety gear. A NIOSH respirator mask is needed, as well as chemical goggles and rubber gloves. While cleaning, the areas should be well ventilated, and pets and children should be away from the area.
It generally takes more time to clean Haitian cotton furniture than any other fabric. Therefore, it can be costly to get it professionally cleaned. In fact, some years ago, when Haitian cotton furniture was very popular among Torontonians, there were no cleaning products on the market to clean it. This caused furniture to be damaged by professionals when they tried to clean them. For this reason, you need to hire a reputable upholstery cleaning company like Vivid Cleaning.
Cleaning Haitian cotton is not very complicated. It doesn’t require expensive equipment. All you will need is a wet vacuum, horsehair brush, gloves, foaming soap dispenser and Haitian cotton shampoo.
Materials you will need
- Esteam Haitian cotton cleaning solution
- Foam dispenser
- NIOSH respirator mask
- Chemical goggles
- Rubber gloves
- Horsehair brush
- Wet vacuum
Here are the steps to clean Haitian cotton furniture
- Vacuum your sofa.
- Put on gloves and open windows to let fresh air into the room. The cleaning solution has a strong sulphur odour. Do not clean if you don’t have adequate ventilation. Using a NIOSH respirator is recommended. Don’t let kids or pets in the area where you are cleaning.
- Mix the shampoo with water for a dilution ratio of 1:4. Pour the mixed solution in a foaming soap dispenser.
- Start with one area and spray-dispense foam onto the horsehair brush and brush it onto the fabric. It is recommended to work parallel to the weft yarn for best results and avoid any discolouration.
- Spread the foam evenly on the entire section and scrub it in with the brush. Areas that are dirtier require more foam applications. Move on to the next section.
- After you have applied foam to the entire cleaning area, go over the entire sofa with the wet vacuum.
- To help with the drying process, put on any fans you have.
Don’t worry if stains do not disappear completely as you clean. They might disappear during the drying process. Once it is dried completely and the stain is still visible, you can apply more cleaning foam with the brush to the area. You do not want to make the fabric wet. Therefore, use only the foam to clean. Always test the cleaning solution first in an inconspicuous area to see if any discolouration occurs. If there is any discolouration, get it cleaned professionally.
