How to Remove Chewing Gum from Cotton

Last Updated: October 21, 2021

Have you ever come out of the movie theater and found that you had been sitting on someone’s discarded chewing gum? Do you have kids whose bubble-gum-blowing skills are best described as “messy”? Simply trying to peel or wash sticky gum off clothing may only further mash it into the fabric. Thankfully, there are several simple methods for effectively removing chewing gum from cotton and similar clothing.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Freezing It Off

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Make an ice cube sandwich. Soft, mushy chewing gum will harden like a rock when frozen, and be much easier to remove. Often, two ice cubes are all you need to get the job started.^{[1]
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- Lay the gummed up spot of the garment, gum side down, on top of an ice cube. Place a second ice cube on top of the spot.
- Wait for the ice to melt. By this time, the gum should be sufficiently hardened.
2
Bag it up in the freezer. If ice cubes prove insufficient in hardening the gum, or if you have time to wait, you can put the garment, gum and all, into the freezer. Give it at least one hour, or even better a day, to harden.^{[2]
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- Place the garment in a zip-close bag, with the gum stain facing out.
- You could conceivably skip using the bag, but it helps prevent unwanted stains and having the cotton (or gum, for that matter) stick to a frosty surface in the freezer.
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3
Get scraping or tweezing. Once the gum is hardened, carefully remove it from the cotton. The last thing you want to do is damage the garment you are trying to salvage through careless yanking or rough scraping.^{[3]
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- The back (non-serrated) side of a metal or plastic butter knife makes an excellent frozen gum scraper. Work the blade in between the gum and fabric, without stabbing or digging into the cotton. Take your time, because the more you remove now, the easier the final cleaning will be.
- If you prefer, you can also employ tweezers to pluck away the frozen gum. This may be preferable if you have several smaller gum spots on the garment. Again, be gentle and thorough.
4
Spot-clean and launder the garment as usual. If there is still gum residue or staining on the garment, use a spot cleaner or a bit of laundry detergent and blot, wipe, or lightly scrub it away.^{[4]
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- Check that the spot cleaner is color-safe for your garment by testing it in an inconspicuous spot.
- Launder the de-gummed garment as normal, following the recommendations on the tag.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Heating It Off

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Use your hair dryer. Instead of trying to harden gum by freezing it, you can instead soften it further with heat. This is faster, but a bit more risky, because you can scorch the cotton or overheat the gum and make an even bigger mess.^{[5]
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- Set the dryer on a medium or low setting, and wave it back and forth so no one spot overheats.
- Keep going until the gum appears to be on the verge of melting.
- Put gloves on (because the gum may be very hot in spots), and peel the gum away. If sufficiently heated, it should pull away easily.
2
Get out the iron. If you don’t have a hair dryer, or happen to have your iron out anyway, you can use the latter item to soften and peel away the gum. Once again, though, be careful not to scorch the garment or melt the gum into a puddle of sticky goo.^{[6]
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- Place a piece of cardboard on your ironing board. Place the garment, gum side down, on top of the cardboard.
- Set your iron to medium to prevent scorching or overheating. Run the iron over the back side of the gum spot as you normally would.
- Check your progress occasionally. When the gum is sufficiently heated, it should peel right away from the clothing and stick instead to the cardboard.
3
Remove any residue. The process for removing any remaining stickiness or residue is the same whether you freeze or heat the gum off.^{[7]
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- Blot, wipe, or lightly scrub away any gum remnants with a color- and fabric-safe spot cleaner or with laundry detergent, then launder as usual.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Trying Other Tricks

1
Give it a sour soak. Soaking the the garment in a slightly acidic solution will start to break down the gum and help release its grip on the fabric. You need only soak the gummed up portion of the garment, but you can also dunk the entire item if that is easier to do.
- The first option for soaking is lemon juice, either fresh-squeezed or bottled pure lemon juice.
- You can also use white vinegar, which may work even better if warmed.
- Let the garment soak until the gum begins to loosen from the garment, then scrape it away with the back of a butter knife. Rinse away the remaining juice or vinegar, then spot-clean (if necessary) and launder the garment as usual.
2
Coat it. No one would ever confuse hairspray and mayonnaise, but either one can be used as a gum-removal coating in a pinch. They may also be a bit messier than other methods, though.
- Coat the gum with aerosol hairspray, then let it dry. The gum will harden and be easier to scrape away.
- Work a healthy dab of mayo into the gum. The oils and acids in the mayonnaise will help break down and loosen the gum, and it should peel away much more easily.
- Rinse, spot-clean, and launder the garment as needed and recommended.
3
Fight sticky with sticky. Chewed gum may love to stick to cotton clothing, but if you give it an even more appealing option — like something that is also sticky — it may change its mind and move on without a fight.^{[8]
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- Mounting putty — the kind used to hang dorm-room posters — can be pressed over the gum. Once you get a good bond, peel the entire glob away.
- Also, you can add one more item to the long list of uses for duct tape. Lay a strip over the gum, smooth it over, then pull it off purposefully (somewhere between gently peeling and ripping it away).
- Once again, spot-clean and launder the garment as recommended.

Community Q&A

Question

How do I get chewing gum out of the lining of my leather coat?

Community Answer

Use cleaning spray and spray on the spot where the gum is. Wash with soap and water. Repeat if necessary.
Question

How do I get gum out of nylon?

Community Answer

Peanut butter will dissolve chewing gum. Rub it on. Wipe away. Spot clean area with soap and water or just water.