Dell v313 Print Head Problems - Tried to Clean - Added new Color Cartridge and then black and white

My printer gave me the error message regarding Print Head Problems.  I read some instructions and tried to replace the color cartridge, cleaned the printheadd and then tried to print. In the sequence it printed out a page of color lines ,using a lot of othe ink.  When I tried to print It gave me the print head error . I was then advised to replace the black ink cartridge.  After cleaning the print head cartridge, and changing black cartridge I was able to print a page with the black cartridge. I also printed out a partial excel spread sheet , numbers in red.  When I had the printhead out for cleaning, it "appeared" that there is a smudge, looks like copper rather than ink { may actually be nomal for the print head]. Can I use anthing other than water on a clean cloth and rubbing the printhead across the cloth to clean i?.  It looks like it needs to be cleaned more.  The routine of print head checking processed used up about 30-40% or the ink.