Gum is everyone’s favorite but some are afraid of the sweet because of its stickiness. Having gum stuck on your clothes is a nightmare. In the past, most people just tried their best to wash it off with soap. Now, we have found many ways to remove it. You don’t need to buy any special product. With home remedies, it is possible to remove any type of gum. From ice to peanut butter, anything can be a great gum remover if you look hard enough.
How to remove gum from clothes
Lucky for you that the gum doesn’t stick on your hair. But to be fair it is still a pain to have gum stuck anywhere. We are going to give you some pieces of advice on how to remove the stubborn sweet from your clothes.
Peanut butter
Peanut butter is the most bizarre method to remove gum from clothes, but it works. After breaking down the composition of peanut butter, we understand why it helps. The ingredients of peanut butter are: peanut, oil, sugar and salt. There is no butter in peanut butter. By grinding these ingredients, we have a smooth mixture that is fused with oil.
We believe oil is the reason why peanut butter can take off gum from clothes. This leads us to the next home remedy.
Any type of oil you can find
Given that oil in peanut butter breaks down the friction between the gum and clothes, any type of oil should work as well. You can use any type of oil to remove gum. Thanks to the slippery oil, the gum slowly but surely let go of the fabric. You can choose any type of oil you have in the kitchen. But normal cooking oil should be enough.
Cold press works like a charm
The ingredient that you need is ice. Ice can be found in any household. This is the first method that people find 100% useful. All you have to do is rub the ice on the gum or leave it on top of the gum. The cold temperature freezes the gum and reduces the friction between it and the fabric.
Overall, working ice with clothes is light work. You don’t need to cover it in a cloth like when you do it with your hair. Just leave the ice there and let it do its job.
Put your clothing item in the freezer
If you are in lazy mode and don’t want to work with ice. You can use the freezer to remove gum from your clothes. All you have to do is fold the clothes neatly while making sure that the part with gum faces upward. Put your item in the freezer for about 15 minutes and check. In 15 minutes, a pants or a t-shirt won´t freeze since it is very thick. If the gum hasn’t frozen then leave it for a longer period of time. But don´t go over 30 minutes, or the clothing item will start to freeze as well.
Rubbing alcohol or any dissolver that you can find
Rubbing alcohol, vinegar, glue dissolvers, etc. are many options you can choose from. These substances can loosen the grip of gum on the fabric. It can take quite some time to dissolve the gum, but it is an option. You can work the dissolver into the gum. Or, you can soak the gum in the dissolver for 10 minutes then remove it.
Which dissolver do we recommend? Overall we find rubbing alcohol to be the best option. It can dissolve the sugar in the gum and help loosen the grip. Also, it doesn’t smell unpleasant like vinegar.
Glue dissolver is not a home remedy. It is more probable that you have to take a trip to the store. So we don’t appreciate this method that much. Even though it works perfectly.
Powder or flour
Gum is super sticky. So how do we reduce the stickiness of gum? The answer is powder. If you don’t have baby powder in hand, you can use baking powder. Imagine the gum as a batter of eggs and flour. It sticks to the surface unless you cover the surface with a layer of flour first.
So this trick works just like baking. Apply a generous amount of powder/ flour so that the gum gets thicker and harder. Thus it can be removed.
FAQs about removing gum
I saw a trick on YouTube. Can ironing the gum help remove it?
No. We have tried this “method” and it doesn’t work. With this trick, you are supposed to put a thin tissue over the gum then iron it. The ironing melts the gum and makes it stick to the tissue so you can remove it easily. But the big question here is: What makes the gum stop sticking to the fabric, when it sticks equally on the tissue?
This trick is an absolute fraud and it works the gum deeper into your favorite shirt or jeans. Don’t ruin your clothing item with this trick.
What to avoid when removing gum?
As we have mentioned, heat is not good for removing gum. Another thing is that you should use home remedies that don’t have a strong scent if you have to wear the item soon.
If you are in an urgent situation, go to the nearest pharmacy and get a bottle of rubbing alcohol. You can remove the gum AND not smell bad. Also, the alcohol evaporates quicker than water. So your clothes will dry faster.
We have given you 6 easy methods to remove gum from clothes using things that you have at home. Overall, our advice is that you avoid adding heat to the gum. Heat doesn’t harden gums, cold does. So tricks like putting it under the sun or iron the gum is not going to solve the problem, it is going to spread the gum into the fabric. If you have gum stuck on your hair, try tricks we have recommended only.