Protector is a coating that is applied to clean rugs and textiles. This coating doesn’t interact with the rug. Instead, it interacts with the fibers that make up the rug at a molecular level and helps prevent permanent staining. It also makes it far easier to clean up spots, spills and general dirt. Protector is completely invisible and doesn’t change the look or the feel of your rug at all.

Experienced weavers that handle wool all day long can’t tell the difference between fibers that have been protected and those that haven’t. If someone spills something on your rug and then steps on it, your rug will certainly get dirty. Nothing can prevent that. But a protected rug will clean up easier and will be far less likely to have a permanent stain than an unprotected one.

When rugs get dirty or if there is a spill, it works its way in between the fibers of the rug, and that’s not a problem because that can be cleaned up. The problem occurs when the fibers of the rug become stained with something in the spill. When everything is cleaned out from between the fibers, there are sometimes stains left behind that have re-dyed the fibers. Those stains are now a permanent part of the rug, and only expensive reweaving or redyeing the rug can sometimes fix the damage.

Protector really isn’t meant to keep your rug from getting dirty. What Protector does is make it far easier to clean up. Protector does cost something extra, but compared to the cost of a rug or even just the cost of cleaning, it’s inexpensive. As rug cleaners, we hate to see beautiful pieces of textile art that took months to make by hand ruined because of permanent stains. This is why we not only recommend Protector for all of our clients, but we use it on our own personal rugs as well.