There’s nothing quite like gum sticking to your clothes to ruin your day. As much as we try to avoid something like this from happening, the universe can’t help but tease us. Before you start stressing out, know that there are some things you can do to get gum out of your clothes in no time!
What Makes Gum Sticky?
When gum accidentally sticks to your clothes, you might think it’s a nightmare. How does something so small cause so much chaos? Why can’t people chew non-stick chewing gum instead?
With that said, perhaps we need to know what makes gum stick to whatever surface it encounters, clothes included. We need to look into the ingredients so we would be able to identify the culprit for all the stickiness.
Gum is made up of several components including the following:
- Gum Base
- Softeners
- Sweeteners
- Flavorings
The Gum Base is composed of three major elements – polymers, stabilizers, and plasticizers. If you put all three together, they add elasticity to the whole thing.
Apart from that, they are also responsible for the gum’s sticky factor. One of the main traits of the polymer ingredient is its ability to repel water. When they come in contact with something oily, it forms a strong bond, activating its stickiness.
What To Do When Gum Sticks To Your Clothes
When gum sticks to your clothes, you might not necessarily notice it as soon as it happens. Sometimes we only notice such mishaps when we are already at home and start taking our clothes off. If you still want to salvage your clothes, you can try using some of these time-tested methods.
1. Freeze It
It is, perhaps, one of the simplest ways to remove gum from your clothes. It’s easy to do, and it doesn’t require a lot of materials. If you have a freezer bag lying around the house, you can put the clothing in question inside it. Just make sure that the part where the gum is does not stick to the inside surface of the bag.
Once you have sealed the bag, throw it in your freezer and wait for two hours. After patiently waiting for two hours, extract it from the freezer and take that piece of cloth from the bag. To get rid of the gum, take a blunt object and use it to scrape the sticky thing from the clothing.
If you are going to use this method, you have to scrape or pull the gum off the clothing as soon as you take the bag from the freezer. If it’s no longer in its frozen state, it can make it harder for you to pull the gum out.
2. Ice It
Another uncomplicated way of getting gum out of clothes involves ice. Yes, you only need a cube of ice to do this.
You can start by laying the damaged piece of clothing on something flat. It could be your kitchen or bathroom counter. Once that’s done, just get one ice cube from your freezer. Put the ice cube on top of the gum.
If the gum covers a bigger area, you can use more than one ice cube. When the gum under the ice cube hardens, you can start removing it. If using your hands won’t work, use a dull knife to scrape the gum off.
3. Hairdryer To The Rescue
Removing hardened gum on a piece of cloth can be quite hard. One of the best ways to take it out is to soften it first. For you to do that, you would need the help of a hairdryer.
The heat coming from the dryer is the key to softening the gum. You can start scraping the gum with a knife or any blunt object for that matter as soon as its state changes from hard to soft.
As you are using an electric device, make sure you take the necessary precautions, such as ensuring the fabric isn’t too delicate or flammable, before starting.
4. Get A Spoonful Of Peanut Butter
If you don’t mind a little food wastage, you can use a bit of peanut butter to get gum out of your clothes.
Start by spreading a spoonful of peanut butter on the affected area. Give it about a minute to do its magic. Don’t let the peanut butter stay on the clothes for too long or else risk staining it even more. After about a minute, you can start taking out the gum with a knife.
This method works because of the peanut butter’s oil content. Both the oils from the peanut butter and the polymer ingredient of the gum base are hydrophobics. With that, they attract each other, causing the gum to loosen up and become elastic. Once you have taken out the gum, make sure you wash your clothes as soon as possible.
5. Spread Some Mayo
Here’s another gum removal method that involves food. This time around, you can try using mayonaisse. It doesn’t matter what brand you have. Any mayo would work!
You can get a dollop of mayonnaise and apply it to the area where the gum has stubbornly stuck. Try rubbing the mayo until the gum softens. This method works quite similarly to the peanut butter one. Mayonnaise has a lot of oils as well. It binds easily with the oils from the gum base.
6. Juice That Lemon
Do you remember that saying about life giving you lemons and all that jazz? Well, you can either make lemonades or use them to get gum out of clothes. It is a testament to how multifunctional lemons are!
If you have a lemon at home, you can use this to take gum off any piece of clothing. It’s an inexpensive method that works like a dream!
It starts with you juicing the lemon. Once done, you can soak the cloth in the lemon juice until the gum budges, and you can scrape it easily
7. Toothpaste: Not Just For Your Pearly White
The toothpaste you have in your bathroom is not just for brushing your teeth. If you have gum stuck on your clothes, you can use it as a removing agent.
The amount of toothpaste to use depends on the size of the gum. Once you have the estimate, put some toothpaste on your hand and start applying it all over the surface. It might take a couple of minutes before you can start the removal process. You have to wait for the toothpaste to dry first before you begin pulling the gum off the garment.
8. Heat Some Vinegar
Whenever there’s something to remove, people would usually try using vinegar. And it’s no different when it comes to dealing with gum sticking to clothes. If you want to get rid of this predicament, all you have to do is heat some white vinegar up. If you don’t have the white variety, use whatever vinegar you have in your kitchen.
When it comes to heating vinegar, you don’t have to wait for it to boil. As long as it’s heated, you can start using it. Given that this acidic liquid is hot, you should not touch it with your bare hands. Use an old toothbrush and dip it into the pot of vinegar. You can then brush it over the piece of garment. Do this until the gum softens up, and you can remove it with no problem!
9. Oil It
Whatever cooking oil you have at home can help you deal with gum sticking to your outfit. If you do decide to use this, you don’t have to use it a lot. Just pour the right amount of oil carefully. When done, wait for a little bit as the oils start binding together, eventually loosening the stickiness of the gum.
As soon as you remove the gum, put a bit of cornstarch on the area to avoid leaving a stain. After 10 minutes or so, you should wash the clothes as you usually do.
11. Alcohol: Not Just Your Disinfectant
Many households have a bottle or two of alcohol. If you encounter a problem that involves the gum and your clothes, trust that alcohol can help you fix it. Alcohol does more than just disinfect. In this case, it removes gum and its residue as well. What the alcohol does exactly is dissolve the polymers found in the gum.
You don’t have to pour alcohol directly on the part where the gum has stuck. You can just put some alcohol on a cotton ball and dab it on your clothes. You can repeat the process until the gum comes off.
Don’t Wait For The Gum To Harden! Remove It ASAP!
Gum clinging to your clothes is not fun at all! Once it hardens, it becomes even more difficult to remove. There are tried and tested techniques for removing gum from your clothes that you should try as soon as you can.
Jessica Oliver is a fashion enthusiast with more than ten years of experience in the industry. She previously managed her own clothing store in New York before becoming a mother of three. With a passion for sustainability and a desire to share clothing care and recycling tips.