Chewing Gum Removal

Chewing gum removal usually comes at the worst time.
Imagine you decide to go catch a movie.  You get your overpriced soda and popcorn, wander into the darkened theatre, and find a seat.  The movie is all right, nothing amazing but not terrible either.  You much all of your popcorn and drink your soda, and after watching the credits and wondering what a grip does, you stand up to leave, only to realize that you're literally stuck to your seat.  When you finally pry yourself loose you realize that whoever was here before you decided that they were finished with their gum and stuck it on the seat.  Now it's stuck to your jeans.

Chewing gum removal is a problem we've all had to face at some point or another, with mixed results.  The sticky, tough goo is difficult to remove and it's even tougher to remove the stain afterwards.  Removing the gum is easier if it's on a piece of clothing, as the clothing can be easily moved around.  One of the best chewing gum removal techniques is to freeze the gum first.  Freezing the gum makes it brittle, and if you're lucky the gum will just snap off of the fabric, leaving no residue behind.



  For this sort of success it's important to avoid rubbing the gum into the fabric; the less adhered the better.  Put the entire garment into the freezer overnight. The next morning take a blunt spatula or butter knife and slide it under the gum.  Hopefully the gum will pop right off.  If not, use an alcohol-based solvent to try and remove the rest of the residue.  Be sure to test the solvent on an inconspicuous part of the garment first, since some solvents can stain or discolor certain fabrics.  When this is done, wash the garment in detergent and hope for the best.

If gum is ground into carpet, chewing gum removal becomes a bit tougher since it's pretty tough to move your entire living room floor into the freezer.  Instead, fill a plastic Ziploc bag with ice cubes and leave it to sit over the gum for a while.  When the gum is frozen, go through the same sequence of steps. 

Some industrial cleaning companies market commercial chewing gum removal systems.  These systems, costing up to $8000, basically use the exact same system of freezing the chewing gum, scraping it away, and then cleaning out any leftover residue with some sort of solvent and/or detergent.  Save your $8000 and your fabric, and stick with the simpler method.