Most people know that when something is spilled on a carpet, prompt action is essential to avoid permanent staining. Although everyone would love to have the foresight, time, and mental energy to anticipate different types of carpet mishaps and stock their broom closets with safe and effective carpet cleaning solutions, the truth is, sometimes it is necessary to improvise.

According to Queen of Clean Lynsey Crombie, specialist carpet cleaning products are not needed when you have shaving foam. Taking to her Instagram page @lynsey_queenofclean she said: “Shaving foam is not just for shaving, it is also an amazing inexpensive stain remover that works brilliantly on both carpets and mattresses. Shaving cream is simply a form of whipped soap. When applied it lathers up, penetrating and adding moisture to just about any stain.”

The foam easily breaks down grease and other substances that cling to the carpet fibres, making them easier to remove.

Shaving foam works so well thanks to its ingredients, designed to help soften facial hair and containing a light abrasive to help break up knots and tangles and remove dead skin. These ingredients, called surfactants, break down the particles causing the stain.

The foam texture also allows the substance to cling to the stain, keeping the cleaning agent in contact with the stain for longer, rendering better results.

So how do you use shaving foam to remove carpet stains? Lynsey said: “Just use warm water and a small soft brush or cloth and very gently rub into the stain, leave for 10 minutes, then rinse away.

“Then open up your cloth into a square and pat dry. I opt for a white cloth so I can see the stain lifting out. Let it air dry naturally.

The cleaning pro said that she only uses white shaving foam because “it contains no dyes” and urged households using this hack to spot test first.

This technique is particularly effective for getting rid of water-soluble stains like milk, mud, most foods, soda, ice cream, gravy and most other foods.

A few fans in the comments section have tried this hack out and have shared their thoughts on it. @kolijohnson wrote: “I did this on a stain on our hallway carpet, worked a treat. Thank you so much for the tip.”

@kels_84_ said: “My carpet had big black sticky glue marks on it and nothing worked. My sister told me about this and omg I couldn’t believe it worked. Made up.”

@_kimholland commented: “Thank you for the top tip. My cat threw up on the hall carpet in the middle of the night. I used your shaving foam tip to clean the stains and it’s worked amazingly well and left no stains or marks on the carpet. Thank you so much for an easy to use but brilliant tip.”

@kazmcgaz76 said: “We used this when my daughter got nail varnish, all over the carpet. I went mental while the other half was googling as fast as his fingers would let him. Wow, couldn’t believe it brought it out!”