Chewing Gum Stain Removal Guide
How To Remove Chewing Gum From Surfaces

Here are step by step instructions for chewing gum stain removal and how to remove gum from fabric, upholstery, carpet, hair, shoes and even in your dryer, for when you or your child's bubble gum bubble pops and covers everything.

Never fear -- here are instructions for how to remove gum, and the gum stains it can leave behind, from all types of surfaces in your home.

Remove Gum From Clothing And Gum Stain Removal From Fabric

Step 1: Scrape off the excess gum from the fabric with a dull knife.

Hint: If the gum is still soft, and has not yet hardened, place the clothing in the freezer which will harden the gum and make it easy to scrape off.

If you scrape while the gum is still soft you run the risk of grinding the gum into the clothes's fibers, which will make it harder to remove.

Step 2a: If there is gum stain still remaining after you have scraped off as much of the chewing gum as you can take a clean white cloth and sponge the stain with dry cleaning solvent or with a chewing gum remover safe for fabric.

Step 2b: If instead of gum remaining you have a stain caused by either the dye or sugar from the gum, pretreat this part of the stain with a laundry prewash stain remover.

Step 3: Launder in the hottest water the fabric will allow to get out the stain and any remaining gum.

Hint: Make sure the stain is gone after washing, but before you place in the dryer or you may set the stain. Repeat if necessary.

You may also like to check out this collection of tips and videos on how to remove gum from clothing for a visual of the techniques described above for gum stain removal.

If you accidentally wash a pack of gum with your clothes, and don't discover it until after it has run through the dryer, the gum will be dried and melted onto clothing, like the picture to the left. (This happened to me actually!) This makes it harder to remove, but not impossible.

See below for hints on removing the melted gum from the dryer itself. However, for the actual clothing, I used Goo Gone, which is an example of a gum remover which is safe for most fabrics, to loosen up the melted gum and then it all washed out when I washed it again in the washing machine!

Finally, an alternate way to remove sticky gum is to fight it with your own sticky substance, to "grab it" and pull it off. You can read this article about fighting sticky with sticky here.

Gum Stain Removal From Upholstery

Step 1: Scrape off the excess gum with a dull knife.

Hint: If the gum is still soft, and has not yet hardened, you can make it brittle, and thus easier to remove, by putting some ice into a plastic bag and placing this on the gum.

Be careful, however, that you don't use a thin plastic bag or platic wrap to cover the ice or the plastic will stick to the gum and cause a bigger problem.

A freezer safe baggy should be thick enough not to stick to the gum.

If you don't have such a thick plastic bag you can just apply the ice directly to the gum. Just be careful to not let the ice drip onto the upholstery and gum.

Next, for the gum stain removal portion of the instructions:

Step 2: For the gum stain still remaining after you have scraped off as much of the chewing gum as you can take a clean white cloth and sponge the stain with a dry cleaning solvent, or with a chewing gum remover safe for upholstery.

Hint: First, be sure to test this solvent or remover on an inconspicuous area of the upholstery to make sure it is safe, and does not harm or discolor your upholstery.

Step 3: Next, blot at the stain until the solvent is absorbed.

Step 4: Repeat steps 2-3 until the stains are removed from the upholstery.

If this does not completely remove the stain continue on to the next step.

Step 5: Mix a solution of two cups warm water, one tablespoon dishwashing liquid, and one tablespoon of white vinegar.

Step 6: Using this solution, sponge the stain from the gum with a clean white cloth.

Step 7: Next, blot at the stain until the liquid is absorbed.

Step 8: Repeat steps 6-7 until the gum stain is removed from the upholstery.

Step 9: Now that the stain is removed you should get plain cold water and a new white cloth and sponge the area to remove the cleaning solution, and then blot dry.

Hint: Be sure to get the upholstery only as wet as necessary for chewing gum stain removal.

You can get more information on how to clean upholstery here.

How To Remove Gum From Carpet

The instructions for gum stain removal from carpet is the same as for upholstery.

There are a couple of videos demonstrating techniques for how to remove gum from carpet that I've collected, including showing how to scrape away with the gum after using ice, and one suggesting to use scissors to trim away the gum on the carpet fibers.

Remove Gum From Hair

It seems like at some point in your life you either get gum in your own hair, or your child does and you need to know how to remove it fast.

First, make sure you deal with it ASAP before it gets more embedded into the hair, and try not to touch it too much until you get the rest of the hair out of the way.

Next, check out this video and written instructions for how to remove gum from hair for more information.

Chewing Gum Removal From Dryer

If you've ever washed a load of clothes, and then put it in the dryer only to find someone had a pack of gum in their pocket you know what a mess you find inside your dryer (see picture to the left of when this happened to me!).

Look above for tips for removing gum from the clothing itself.

You should also check out these instructions for how to remove gum from a dryer for ideas on how to get out that gum before you dry another load of clothes. You don't want it to get on even more stuff, and fortunately it is actually not too hard to remove!

How To Remove Gum From Your Shoe

I just hate it when people toss gum onto a street or other area where people walk, because inevitably it ends up on the bottom of someone's shoe.

Here are instructions for how to remove gum on shoe for when this happens to you, so you hopefully don't permanently ruin your shoe or your day.

Submit Your Own Tip For Chewing Gum Stain Removal

Do you have your own gum stain removal tip to share? If so, submit your tip about removing chewing gum here, or read others already submitted.

In addition, as you may have guessed, this is one of the top Halloween spots and spills. You can check out my article for removing the top 10 Halloween stains here, if you're a victim of such a scary problem!

Get Even More Stain And Spot Removal Help Here

Are you a stain magnet like me? If so, check out the A to Z Stain Removal Guide which gives directions for how to remove over 100 types of stains from all kinds of surfaces.

Sixth photo by Raj Deut and ninth photo by andy_tyler

Related Pages You May Enjoy

A-Z Guide: Instructions For Removing Over 100 Types Of Stains

Dryer Cleaning Tips

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CAUTION: This website is provided for informational purposes only. It is provided as is, without warranties or guarantees. Some stains and messes just won't come out, and are permanent. Further, some cleaning methods can harm your item, so if what you want to clean or launder is sentimental or expensive call a professional. See disclaimer of liability for more information.