Thank God for this website - with our wedding less than 4 weeks away, my six year old fell asleep with her silly putty and had it matted into the hair at the nape of her neck. I thought we were going to have to chop it all off... But you guys totally saved my life - a little bit of hand sanitizer and it literally melted away. Thank you everyone for this advice. You saved my day - and my daughters waist length hair!
HAND SANITIZER...the alcohol in it disintegrates the silly putty. I used vegetable oil to help loosen the hair from the huge mass, but the hand sanitizer (rubbing alcohol would also work) "ate" the putty - perfect for the residual mess in the hair. My 11 year old fell asleep with it. She has thick, flowing, Goddess hair half way down her back. Her social life was almost ruined as I read these ideas (with scissors in hand). Thanks everyone!
My 7 year old got an entire egg of silly putty directly in the front of his hair over his forehead. He looked like an alien! We tried water first and that was terrible. Then we found this website and tried the baby oil which worked like a charm! Thanks!
What's up with kids falling asleep with silly putty? My 5 year old did that tonight. She woke up screaming saying she was stuck to her pillow, and sure enough it was THE PUTTY. She has super curly hair. I used baby oil and a comb. It came out it seconds.
Thanks! Olive oil worked GREAT in my 3 year old's fine long hair. You just need to massage it into the hair and putty, then comb it out. Thank goodness I beat my husband to it! He had the big scissors!
Thanks for the thread. We used olive oil and it worked great, except for the fact that apparently, my granddaughter is allergic to the oil on her skin and she broke out in a rash all over because we were doing it in the bathtub. A shot of Benadryl took care of it. I was glad to find a quick solution though.
Well I feel like a fool my baby cousin got a whole egg of the silly putty in my hair. The only thing that worked was olive oil and a rat-tail comb. I let the olive oil sit for about 1-2 min. and then combed out the putty about 1/2" at a time. Good Luck.
Olive Oil - worked great! My 4 year old daughter's beautiful hair down the middle of her back I thought was going to have to be cut out. I was SO happy when it came out fairly easily with Olive oil. I imagine Vegetable Oil would work as well. Good Luck!
Thank you ALL! My 8 year old son woke up this morning with a wad of silly putty in the front of his head! He has 2 birthday parties to go to today! -eek-! Pam & Olive Oil worked like a charm! Just had to let it sit in for a few and pull with my hands! Thank you all!
My daughter woke up this morning with a HUGE piece of silly putty stuck to the side of her head! I jumped online and found this website. I was in a panic she did not need to be late for school and I knew she would since her hair is very long and it was all in it! THE PAM SPRAY WORK! Thank you! Thank you for the info!
My son got a whole wad of silly putt stuck in his hair. We tried everything at 11:30 at night, as we had a swim meet the next morning. We tried olive oil, ice, peanut butter and non of that worked. Then I went to this website and read about using hand sanitizer, and with a few tears and a little hair pulling it came out in about 10 minutes! Thanks this was a life saver!
I LOVE this site! The hand sanitizer didn't work very well, but I used pam spray with olive oil & the sticker was out of my son's hair in seconds. Good luck to anyone going through a situation like this.
My son woke up with a big amount amount of silly putty stuck to the side of his head. His hair is pretty short and very fine so I thought we would have to shave it off. But after finding this website we tried hand sanitizer and within no time it was completely out of his hair.Thank god!
RE: Removing Silly Putty from African American Hair
By (Guest Post)
Good Grief! My daughter woke with silly putty in her hair. We are African American and Ginseng oil worked wonders. This web-site was a lifesaver at 6am!
Thank you! Daughter woke up stuck to her pillow because "somehow the silly putty" got into her bed. cooking spray didn't seem to work but as soon as I put in the hand sanitizer it started to dissolve and break apart. Minimal tears, combed out in a few minutes. also, thanks to Melanie (4/27/08) for the humorous post, the giggles relaxed me quite a bit before going in with the comb.
Thank God for this website! I was getting myself and my daughter ready to go to church on a Sunday morning when I found a big pile of silly putty in her hair. I was so upset cause we had to be there for 11am and it was already 10:30am. The germ X worked so fast. I'm so glad I didn't have to have my 5year-old's long curly hair cut. Thanks so much!
We first tried peanut butter on my son's hair but progress was slow. The PAM worked like a charm, which is lucky for our 8 year old who wanted to keep his long hair for picture day tomorrow.
It's 3:00 in the morning. My son was complaining of something but I dismissed it b/c I was too tired. When I finally sat up to see what was the matter, the pillow stuck to MY head. Just cut about a 4 in. piece of hair from my head (at the root). Hopefully the Pam will work for my son's ear and hair. Good night's rest to all of you!
It doesn't have to be purell. We used germ x so any hand sanitizer should work and it worked great. Used a junk come with the germx to get knots out and started rinsing them. Washed about 3 times and it was gone thank you thank you thank you
So, my 6 year-old son reaches rather slyly for the scissors and then admits to the Silly Putty in his hair. My first thought was try some vinegar -- don't bother. Next, I went to Google and found this thread. The cooking spray needed a couple of minutes to soak in, then worked great. Out in a matter of a few minutes. Thanks.
My daughter just came to me with 3 colors of silly putty tangled into her hair and around her necklace, the cooking spray with a fine tooth comb took it right out, easy peasy, thanks so much!
I too was awaken at 1:30am with silly putty in my daughters hair. The cooking spray worked great! I tried the hand sanitizer, too, but the section I put that on took much longer to get out.
I was woke up by my daughter at like 3 am. I thought she had gum in her hair so I told her to go back to sleep till morning. When I woke up I found that it was silly putty. I found this web site and it literally saved my daughters hair. Thanks!
Thanks you thank you thank you. My 2 1/2 year old woke up with silly putty stick right smack dab in the middle of his bangs.Didn't know what to do. Thanks to this thread, I worked in some Purell and seconds later my son's hair was putty free.
A word to readers,use with care. The stuff runs! Despite my best efforts some of it managed to slip into his eyes and my poor son was miserable. But he was really a trooper.
I should mention, it was hard to wash the residue out of hair. I would imagine oil would be a better choice in this respect. No matter. I'm just glad my son's hair will be back to normal soon and we didn't have to cut!!!!....now to get the rest off his stuffed monkey!!
Thanks you thank you thank you. My 2 1/2 year old woke up with silly putty stick right smack dab in the middle of his bangs.Didn't know what to do. Thanks to this thread, I worked in some Purell and seconds later my son's hair was putty free.
A word to readers,use with care. The stuff runs! Despite my best efforts some of it managed to slip into his eyes and my poor son was miserable. But he was really a trooper.
I should mention, it was hard to wash the residue out of hair. I would imagine oil would be a better choice in this respect. No matter. I'm just glad my son's hair will be back to normal soon and we didn't have to cut!!!!....now to get the rest off his stuffed monkey!!
OMG I am gonna give the cooking spray a shot I will let you all know what happens. My son has been collecting that silly putty for months and has like 9 bunches and I was awoke by a scream at 3 am this morning and its everywhere in his hair all over the bed omg its insane. I will let you know what happens.
I was getting the breakfast dishes out this morning when I heard my 11 year old daughter scream from her bedroom upstairs. I thought maybe she had seen a spider or something, but when she came down, whimpering, it was because she had green Silly Putty matted in her long hair. Unfortunately, her younger sister, who likes to sleep with her at night, had fallen asleep with it. Finding this page was a HUGE lifesaver. We used the Pam cooking spray over the sink with a comb. The only thing I would add, is that it's much more effective to pull the putty out of the hair, than the hair out of the putty. I spent about 15 minutes trying to delicately pull the strands out, and while that worked, it was taking a LONG time and I had three other kids to get ready to go to school. What really made things happen was when I just dug the comb in (I had to press pretty hard to get it through the putty) and then slowly pulled it down through the hair. The putty came away cleanly in pieces, and we were done in about 5 minutes after that. Good luck!
How to remove silly putty from African-American hair: (actually it was homemade silly putty, made from Elmer's glue and borax in a science workshop) Short answer: non-acetone nail polish remover (main ingredient is ethyl acetate)
We rubbed the homemade silly putty into pieces of fuzzy cloth and tested the various remedies recommended on the web first. We tried vaseline, oil, rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer and goo gone. The ethyl acetate dissolved the stuff like magic, whereas the other methods made a mess.
Procedure: 1. Assign the older brother (responsible for getting the silly putty into the hair) the job of playing cards with the puttied person, in the kitchen with the window a little bit open.
2. Cut a few medium-sized pieces of rag, such as an old T-shirt. 3. Dampen one of the pieces of cloth. 4. Run a warm bath.
5. Wrap a rag around the child's hairline as a partial turban to catch drips. 6. Put on rubber gloves so you don't stain your fingers. 7. Pour a little nail polish remover on the silly putty. Tell the child it will feel cold, but will not hurt. Massage. Now blot or rub with the dry cloth.
8. Pick out hair to make sure the putty is all out, and repeat step 7 if needed. 9. Catch drips as they occur with the damp cloth. But if you are stingy with the nail polish remover, it will not drip down. 10. Pop child into bath tub. Shampoo twice.
11. Say yes when the older child asks if he should throw the silly putty out, and let him make breakfast for everybody.
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Archives:
Request: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
Archived on 04/16/2008
My son has put silly putty in his hair, I don't know what is best to break it down to get it out, any ideas?
Kristie from Lakewood, CO
Answers:
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
White vinegar will also break the Silly Putty down. (04/11/2006)
I also encountered glitter silly putty in the hair and tried the cooking spray, mostly because I'm a hair stylist, and figured that oil had to be much better for the hair than alcohol. It worked like a charm! You have to remember to start at the end of the strand and work your way up the hair with a comb and the oil to reduce any chance of the hair breaking.Thanks for the tip! (04/13/2006)
By Katia from RI.
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
I couldn't find any cooking spray so I opted for the rubbing alcohol with my 4 year old. It worked well, I just put a towel over her eyes and had a bowl to dip the comb in. It took about 10 minutes. (04/16/2006)
By Deb
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
The cooking oil worked great. Acts as a lubricant so the Silly Putty won't stick to it. (05/04/2006)
By Jim
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
After using GooGone and olive oil, I found that SKIN-SO-SOFT from Avon worked quickly and easily when my daughter wanted to braid her hair like Rapunzel and somehow thought that Silly Putty would help achieve that special look! (05/14/2006)
By BC
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
Thanks for all the great info. I found that alcohol disolved it but it was still sticky so I put skin so soft on a lice removal comb which worked great since my daughter had her curly hair tangled in a glob of silly putty. I rinsed the comb with hot water with each swipe until it came out clean. (06/23/2006)
By Karin
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
PAM cooking spray, NOT PNUT butter, thats ONLY for gum, PAM COOKING SPRAY took the whole wad out of my 7 yr old's hair in about 5 min. Fine tooth comb and head over sink, spray the pam and watch silly putty dissolve while you comb thru! (07/05/2006)
By SNB
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
Thank you for the information about using cooking spray to remove Silly Putty from hair. My 9-year-old daughter was playing with Silly Putty on the floor, got Silly Putty in her hair, and mashed it in while trying to remove it.
I just used the store-brand cooking spray and a fine-toothed comb to remove the Silly Putty from the hair. It worked! Thanks for this site and thanks to Google for indexing it. (09/02/2006)
By South Jersey Mom
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
Cooking spray took the silly putty right out of my toddlers hair in minutes! Thanks to all! (09/05/2006)
By Andrea
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
Crisco is the bomb. (09/24/2006)
By Tom
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
You can use baby oil. Soak the hair in the oil, work into hair, then comb it out gently with a fine tooth comb. (04/29/2007)
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
1:00 a.m. the phone rings.....My great grandson, 2 yrs old, has a large wad of silly putty in his hair...I went to Google, found you and all the great tips, called his mommy back with the info. I'm sitting with phone in hand waiting to see how the (b)Battle of Silly Putty in Hair(/b) is going... Thank you everyone for your tips! You have probably saved his mommy's sanity! Nana Carol (05/03/2007)
I tried vegetable oil, mazola cooking spray and neither of them worked well. So, I tried HAND SANITIZER (GERMX, PURELL ect.) It came out instantly!! It was a miracle! The cooking spray, was working, slowly and I was still ripping my daughters hair. Just an FYI for all you reading this, that stuff will get almost anything out of everything w/o damage. Gum, paint, sticky stuff from stickers, anything that is gooey. I think it must be the alcohol content in it. It is my Windex....for anyone who has seen the movie Meet the Fockers. (05/19/2007)
By Teresa
RE: 8 Simple Steps To Removing Silly Putty From Hair
1. Get over initial panic aroused by screaming child
2. Locate baby oil under sink, buried beneath the curlers and what-nots
3. Add generous amount of baby oil to putty
4. Work oil in hair until putty is soft
5. Take fine tooth comb and slowly comb putty out
6. Bathe child
7. Throw putty in trash
8. Drink a cup of coffee with a shot of Bailey's to calm nerves. We all know that as long as mom is happy, everyone is happy. ;-)
(07/01/2007)
By Angela
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
I had read about skin so soft, and I had a huge bottle of it (and I don't use cooking spray). After a few minutes it started to dissolve the silly putty and I was able to comb it out with one of those black combs that it seems all boys have. Two shampoos to dissolve the oil, and he's back to "normal" and not girly smelling. (07/23/2007)
By Cheli
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
Pink Silly Putty in my 9 year old boys hair-NOT good! The instant hand sanitizer and a fine took comb worked in seconds. The peanut oil did NOT work.
I feel like supermom! (07/24/2007)
By Dee
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
Purell worked like a charm. Worked it in real good then had the little one jump in the shower. Here is a photo of her hair after the purell melted the Silly Putty.
(12/18/2007)
By Jeff
Removing Silly Putty from Hair :(
My 10 year old girl put silly putty in her hair! I called my sister (a hair stylist) she said peanut butter should do the job. It saved my life, after I made her take a bath (it was out just getting the oil out) and i used Dawn it worked, after use regular shampoo and conditioner. (12/29/2007)
By Terri
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
Baby oil worked for me! (01/05/2008)
By Chris
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
PAM did the job! I covered my son's mouth and nose so as not to inhale the PAM spray. The blob has huge right at the front of his head at the scalp. I did allow for a bit of tugging and pulling just to remind him to keep silly things away from his head; by the way, he is 12! Thanks for your help. (02/11/2008)
By Christine
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
Thanks so much for the tip on cooking spray! It worked magic in my daughter's hair this morning. She fell asleep playing with silly putty and awoke this morning to it matted to her hair. It started at the roots so I would have had to SHAVE her head in order to get it out! Thanks so much for helping me save my daughters hair and self confidence. (03/05/2008)
By Tonia
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
During nap time in my PreSchool class my own son decided to sneak silly putty and wear it as a hat! I am so thankful for this website! Handsanitzer was all I could get my hands on and it worked like a charm! Your a God send! (03/24/2008)
By Destiny
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
For little ones: Calmly cuddle with yout child in bed or somewhere relaxing. Reassure them that mom will get it out. Gently massage a few drops of baby oil on both underside and top of puddy. it will become soft like chewed chewing gum, but be slick on the hair. Gently work with little sections- stretch it to remove it. The ball of puddy lifts away from skin as you work with it. After it is removed, take a towel and buff excess oil off. (04/05/2008)
By Kate
RE: Removing Silly Putty from Hair
My daughter left a message on my answering machine early one morning. There were only a few minutes before my granddaughter school bus was due to arrive, and she had somehow managed to get silly putty stuck in her hair. I was in making bread, so I washed my hands, and called her back. Much to my relief, my daughter had thought to try cooking oil.It worked like a charm, and my daughter had the silly putty out, washed her hair, and had her at her bus stop in a matter of minutes.
Being a Grandmother of 23 Grandchildren, I would have recommended baby/ cooking oil. However, any sort of pure oil will safely remove silly putty safely from a child's hair. I have never tried/ used Pam, and would not recommend it. It may work, but it is still a spray. Cooking oil is a purer source of oil, and will not hurt the child, should it accidently gets into their eyes. Whatever you decide to use, I wish you all the very best of luck. (04/16/2008)
My daughter the other night got in a homemade (Elmer's glue) silly putty fight with my sister-and my daughter. She ended up with it in her hair. Nothing would untangle it or remove it short of cutting her beautiful hair. So, I pulled out the rubbing alcohol and it SLID the goop right out. I have used alcohol on gum, goo from tape, etc. It works GREAT and we all have that on hand! Try it.
By angels4ever
Answers:
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SUE (Guest Post)
This really works. My daughter got the original silly putty in her hair and it was majority of the silly putty ball next to her ear. I use a lot of rubbing alcohol and a plastic scraper I use on my good pans. Thank you. Very thankful that we didn't have to cut all her hair off. Sue
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Brenda (Guest Post)
Thank you for the tip. This definitely works on the original silly putty. I used rubbing alcohol to get a big gob out of my nephew's hair. It also worked for getting it out of my carpet!
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adam (Guest Post)
My daughter got the color-changing Silly Putty in her hair and the rubbing alcohol trick didn't work at all.
Nor did freezing, nor peanut butter. If I don't find another option, she gets 15 inches cut from her head, as it is right at the scalp!
Silly Putty has a polymer base and evidently you treat it like an oil stain. One site recommended WD-40 which probably wouldn't be too good for the hair but maybe if you sprayed a little on a comb, you could then scrape it off the hair. As it dries it gets harder and will flake off in time.
Another site said that if you rub the ball of silly putty it came from, it will pick up the putty. Another thing I'm not sure i'd try on her scalp because you might just get more there.
Susan,
Thanks for the advice (I'm pretty sure the WD-40 would have worked), but I was successful with another method: spray cooking oil! I just sprayed it on and combed a little at a time out, starting at the bottom and very slowly working my way up as I removed 1/8" at a time. Only a couple strands of hair lost, a quick shampoo, and she's as good as new.
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Faith (Guest Post)
Well my daughter actually got glitter silly putty in her hair. OMG! We tried all of things that are posted and a few others, none of them worker. We finally got it out in a hot bath using a lot of conditioner. It takes a little time, but it really worked. It is also a lot easier on your little one.
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Rhonda (Guest Post)
Thank you so much! My 4 year old Granddaughter made a necklace and was wearing it (when she was taking a nap no less)! It took a few minutes, a few tears, and only lost a little hair. All before Mommy woke up from HER nap! Thanks again!
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Darryl (Guest Post)
Thank God for this website. My 7 year old just came down with a bunch of Silly Putty in his hair. Thank God, too, for Pam Cooking Spray, because a few sprays and a good comb got the stuff out.
