Mom Ruins Car Interior After Viral 'Shaving Foam Hack' Goes Terribly Wrong

Apr 08, 2024

A mom from Australia was left with quite the mess to fix after a cleaning hack went wrong.

From easy ways to clean your ceiling fan to keeping your home free of dust "forever," we're always on the lookout for a great cleaning tip, but it doesn't always go to plan.

In a post on Reddit, user pixitwist, who didn't want to be identified, posted the pictures of the moment she was left with a mess after trying out the "shaving foam hack" for cleaning she had seen online.

"I thought I'd give my car a wash because it was muddy in the exterior, and I thought I'd vacuum the inside. I saw markings on the seats, which were minimal anyway, but I remembered the shaving foam hack I saw on a Facebook group," she told Newsweek.

Shaving foam is sometimes used for cleaning, for example, to remove stains and lift dirt and grime from surfaces in bathrooms and kitchens.

April, aka The Secret Cleaner, is a mom-of-two who shares cleaning types and myth-busts the latest trends on her Instagram page @TheSecretCleaner. She said: "Shaving foam can be used for cleaning, but it's not going to beat a specialist product. Most cleaning products work using the power of surfactants. These chemical compounds create an ionic charge that picks up dirt and carries it away in water in a process called emulsification. Most shaving foams contain emulsifiers.

"But cleaning anything porous, like upholstery or carpets, with shaving foam probably won't end well," April added.

By the time the mom realized the shaving foam hack wasn't going to work, it was a little late.

"I began covering my car seats with shaving foam," pixitwist said. "After around 30 minutes, it was time to wipe down and see the clean result. But I started panicking when I saw that it had just made my car seats look horrible."

When the mom tried to remove the foam from the seat, it stayed stuck to the porous fabric and left bigger stains than before.

"Shaving foam is designed to expand and stay bubbly during shaving, so its bubbles are much more stable and difficult to dissolve and remove than the bubbles from a standard cleaning product," explained April. "Second, surfactants rely on water to carry away dirt, and it's not possible to rinse the product off in this case because it has been applied to car seats."

At a loss for what to do next, the mom shared the picture of the car interior on Reddit and asked for help.

"Reddit users suggested water and vinegar, but I just tried warm water with brushing. But it just kept me in panic mode because it still wasn't improving," said the poster.

After some trial and error, the mom washed down the seats with warm water and turned on the car heater for 45 minutes to dry it out.

"I wasted hours and hours trying to find a fix," said the frustrated mom, but all was not lost. "The car now smells nice," she added. "But I don't know if the smell will disappear in a few more days or will stay."

If you're looking for the right way to clean your car's interior, April said: "Resist the urge to use hacks. Cars consist of a variety of materials. Use products designed for the surface you're working on, and always read and follow the instructions carefully for the best results.

"For fabric seats, use an upholstery spray or wipes, making sure to follow the instructions on the back of the bottle, and be cautious with how much product you use," she added.