How to Remove Gum from Clothing

By: Maeve Rich

If you have children, you'll want to know how to remove gum from clothing. Children and chewing gum can be a messy combination, one which sometimes means the end of some articles of clothing. Thankfully, with a little special fabric stain removal, you can save clothes that have been tarnished by gum. Here are some techniques to try to get gum out of clothing.

Hardened gum is easier to get out of clothing than soft gum. Oftentimes you discover that gum has gotten onto clothing after it has already been in the dryer and is a soft gooey mess all over a garment. Try putting the affected piece of clothing into the freezer for a few hours and letting the gum get hard. Then try to remove as much of the gum as you can by peeling it off and scraping at it. Be careful to srape at it using something that won't damage the fabric.

Next you want to treat the gum stain. You can use any number of solutions, each of which is touted as being highly effective. One of these, which you may have in your house, is olive oil. Try soaking the piece of clothing in a little bit of olive oil, then hand washing the spot with liquid laundry soap. Afterwards launder as usual.

You can also buy a special product called Goo Gone. Goo Gone is known for its ability to remove any number of substances from a variety of surfaces and is a great thing to have on hand.

WD-40 is sort of a universal stain remover, but it can damage clothing. Use WD-40 the same way that you would use olive oil. Just spray it on to the gum stain, allow it to sit, hand wash, then launder as usual. This should be a last resort and even then do a spot test to ensure that it doesn't ruin your garment.

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