“If you get gum in your hair we’ll have to cut it” – my mother used to say this to me when I was young pretty much every time I was chewing a gum. You would thing the warning would suffice – in my early teens the day came, the day when I had to ask myself how to remove gum from hair without cutting it. My hair was really, really long and the gum was right on top of my head. I somehow managed to get it there in the evening, went to bed and only realized what has happened in the morning so it was all nicely tangled and mocking me. Worst day ever! But I was 100% sure I won’t be cutting my hair.
Back then internet access wasn’t really a “thing” and even if I would have it I doubt I would go and search for the answer online – times surely were different. I had to depend on “old wives tales” which weren’t all that optimistic (aka we have to cut your hair).
It was a day of solitude – I closed myself to my room and wouldn’t let anyone get in to see what has happened. It was time to use some elbow grease. Yep, I was taking that bugger out piece by piece, breaking it down slowly, literally releasing one hair at a time. When I got stuck I tried to soften the gum with pretty much anything that was at my reach – water, creams, lotions (nailed it) and eventually after many hours of hard work I got the gum out of my hair! Naturally there are easier methods to do it, I just didn’t know about them back then, so let’s just stick to those shall we?
How to Remove Gum from Hair – Tried and True Methods
Gum is a hydrophobic material which means it won’t dissolve in water, sadly.
There’s really a simple solution to this common problem though and I am 100% sure you have all you need at home as all you need to do is rub something greasy into the gum and then slowly comb the hair. Not all oils work the same though so here are some that work out the best.
- peanut butter
- butter
- vegetable oil – olive oil
- Vaseline
My personal favorite picks for how to remove gum from hair are butters and Vaseline as they are easier to apply however if the gum got stuck at the end of hair and you can soak it in oil that works out great too!
Now that this ordeal is over with you can use this experience to teach your kids about hydrophobic materials and how they don’t mix with water (the way I remembered this was that hydrophobic materials have a water phobia and don’t want to mingle with water).
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