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There are a surprising number of products that come with stubborn stickers in your home. For example, many stores still use price stickers, and glassware almost always has a sticker that gives you some information about your item. Peeling it off is a hassle and can leave residue behind – but I found a few tips on social media that both work fabulously.
Glue removal hack 1: The melamine sponge
I don’t even remember where I first heard that you should use a melamine sponge, like an eraser, to quickly clean up stickers and glue residue, but I know it was Somewhere on Tiktok. I Do Remember where I first tried it, though: A few months ago I ordered a new glass table and, while putting it together, noticed that the manufacturer had stuck information stickers right on the glass. How kind of them! An old Tiktok hack came from my long-term memory. I reached for a Mr. Clean Magic eraser (the one Ultra foamto be precise), steamed it and started scrubbing. The sticker came off. It disappeared. It was gone before I even noticed it; I was scrubbing for nothing.
Any melamine sponge can do this, although I prefer the Ultra foams just because their foams are something serious. To demonstrate how well this works, I identified a sticker that has been stuck on another table for a few weeks. My goal was to remove half with the magic eraser and half with the second hack, which I’ll share shortly – but again the Ultra Foam worked too well. The entire sticker, which I couldn’t easily apply with my own fingernails, came off immediately, with the majority dissolving on the spot and the rest easily picked up by hand. It’s a shame for my demonstration, but good luck for me overall. It happened so quickly and perfectly that there was no point in taking a mid-scene action photo. Where once there was a faulty tanning sticker to remind me of summer, now there was nothing: no sticker, no leftover glue, nothing.
Glue Removal Hack 2: The Hair Dryer
With my plan to use the same sticker to literally demonstrate both hacks, I looked for another really stuck sticker that I could remove using the second method: the trusty hairdryer. I found a six year old candle that I never use because its scent is sentimental to me. If a sticker really stuck, it was the one that had over half a decade lurking under that candle.
This hack is very popular on Tiktok, where the creators show how easy and well it works. It’s simple: blast the sticker with the hairdryer for a few seconds and you can suddenly pull up the edge. (If it’s a larger sticker, it may take a minute or two.) Additionally, the adhesive is melted all the way to the sticker so it comes right off without tearing or leaving streaks.
I recommend this technique for large, complete stickers, but not for dealing with the remnants of old, semi-dissolving ones. If you have glue on something but no actual sticker to pull, it just makes a mess that you have to scrub. They still reach for the melamine sponge. So just skip the hair dryer and go straight to it.
So back to my candle. I assessed the sticker on the floor and found that it was completely and completely stuck with no lifting and definitely no weak spot that I could peel away. I turned it over on a flat surface, hitting it with it My beloved Dysonand after just two minutes the whole thing was able to come right off without leaving even a little residue behind.
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson
Both hacks work perfectly and I prefer them to others I have tried. Acetone, for example, works, but it takes forever To break up the sticker and glue, leaving a streaky mess that you’ll need to keep scrubbing. (And if you get your nails painted, you’ll need to wear gloves for it.) Similarly, soap and water can dissolve the paper part of a decal if you have the patience, but it takes way too long and, again, requires way too much scrubbing. Vinegar works too, but it stinks. The magic eraser makes through glue and the hair dryer makes each sticker peelable in no time without you having to do too much or stink up the place.
