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How to Remove Gum from Hair

By Louisa Price

Bet when you were a kid, you had bubblegum stuck in your hair. In sheer desperation to remove gum from hair, you cut your precious locks. That left you with weeks of bald spots, embarrassing stares and tittering laughter from the neighborhood kids.

The good news is, there's no need for such drastic gum removal methods. Actually getting gum out of hair is fairly simple.

What You Can Do to Remove Gum Stuck in Hair

1. The first step is to remove as much of the gum as possible. Place several ice cubes in a plastic bag and press it against the wad of chewing gum. Hold it there until the gum hardens, about 20 minutes.

Once the gum is hard, you should be able to pull it away from your hair, or at least cleanly break off the frozen gum in sections. Repeat icing the gum when some of it stretches and thaws. Remove the hard parts first and treat the remaining gum with ice.

2. After you've removed as much gum as possible by hand, apply oil to the hair. Any type of oil – olive oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, or baby oil – will work. Massage a small amount of oil to the hair around the gum and allow it to soak into the gum and hair for 20 minutes.

Then use a fine-toothed comb to comb out the gum gently and carefully. The gum should slide straight off. If it doesn't, repeat the process until there is no more gum left.

3. Once the gum is removed, use a bit of dishwashing liquid or soap to wash that section of your hair. After that, use your regular shampoo to remove any remaining traces of residue.

4. Another surefire way to get rid of chewing gum in hair is to rub a thick layer of creamy peanut butter over the gum. Massage it into the chewing gum by pressing the peanut butter into it, until the gum begins to lose its hold on the hair.

The reason it works is because peanut butter has a very high oil content. However, after the gum is removed from your hair, you'll need to deal with the strong nutty smell in your hair. You may need to lather, rinse and repeat several times.

With these easy "gum in hair removal" solutions and a little effort, you can get rid of gum in hair easily without having to ruin your precious hairdo.

what can you do to remove gum stuck in hair

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