How do you remove a remover?

June 30, 2013 6:08 AM

I spilled antifungal nail liquid (undecylenic acid) on the seat cushion of my fabric couch. It dried out before I had a chance to rinse it out. I searched on line for things like "remove antifungal" but just got results like "antifungal removes", "remove antifungal from cell membrane", etc. I called Sally Hansen and they said if water didn't get it out, to go someplace like Home Depot and they would know what to use. I removed the seat cushion cover and tried rinsing it, but it didn't work. Rather than making a trip and possibly finding out that they don't know exactly what to use, or getting sold the wrong thing, can anybody here tell me what to do?
posted by serena15221 to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

I'd take it to a dry cleaner; they'll have a wide range of experience with most stain types, and lots of solvents on hand.
posted by jenkinsEar at 6:29 AM on June 30, 2013

This MSDS claims: Soluble in diethyl ether. Insoluble in cold water, hot water. Soluble in alcohol, chloroform.

I'd try rubbing alcohol or vodka. Possibly try soapy water because the acid has a long hydrocarbon chain which might go into the micelles. Plain water clearly won't work. But I'd go with the alcohol first.
posted by Comrade_robot at 7:20 AM on June 30, 2013 [3 favorites]

Try a test spot if you can. Maybe put some on a similar fabric, and try cleaning it, as alcohol may remove color from the fabric.
posted by theora55 at 10:34 AM on June 30, 2013

Agree with Comrade_robot, and I'd also bet on nail varnish remover (acetone or ethyl acetate) as well. theora55 is also correct re spot tests though!
posted by firesine at 2:24 PM on June 30, 2013