So you’ve gone and sat in a wad of gum. Sucks, huh? Don’t despair. You might still be able to salvage your favorite pair of blue jeans with the help of some unexpected gum-removing tools that might already be sitting around your house.

A lot of people reach for ice cubes when trying to de-gum their denim, but the textile experts down the hall at Consumer Reports say that heat and a bit of chemistry are your best bet.

The Tools

Before you get to removing the Hubba Bubba from your derriere, you’ll need a few tools so you can go full MacGyver on the sticky stuff:

• Hair Dryer
• Plastic Knife
• Polyethylene Plastic Bag (like Ziploc)
• Bengay

Step 1:

Heating with the hair dryer will soften up the wad of gum and allow you to swoop in and remove much of the mess in…

Step 2:

This should clear off much of the affected area, leaving only the most tenacious clingers. That’s where Bengay comes in.

Step 3:

One of the active ingredients in Bengay is methyl salicylate (check to make sure first, as not all versions of the cream include this ingredient), which should dissolve the gum base, making it easier to pick off when you move to…

Step 4:

Not only does the methyl salicylate in the Bengay dissolve the gum base, it makes the gum want to stick to the plastic in polyethylene plastic, like you’d find in a Ziploc sandwich bag. So slip your hand into one of those baggies and grab up what remains.

Now that your jeans are gum-free, it’s important to remember the final step, which will render all the other steps unnecessary…

Step 5:

To see all the step in action, just watch the short video below:

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