Yes, You Can Remove Slime From Hair Without a Cut

Slime has taken over kids’ lives, for better or for worse. On the one hand, the ooey gooey sticky stuff keeps children occupied all day long. On the other hand, slime almost always gets somewhere it shouldn’t be. Thanks to its tacky nature, regular ol’ slime is difficult to get out of basically everything, including furniture, clothing, pet fur, doll hair, and yes, human hair. That’s because the substance is often made by mixing Elmer’s glue, borax, and water.

If, after a few free hours without hearing “I’m bored,” you’re startled back to reality when your child reveals a massive glob of slime lodged to the top of their head, don’t panic: Although it’s tricky to remove, it is possible to do so without reaching for the dreaded scissors.

What you’ll need:

To dissolve slime, oily substances are “the most gentle [because the oil] helps to break the product up,” says Kattia Solano, the founder of Butterfly Studio Salon in New York City. The oils in peanut butter, mayonnaise, and baby, olive or coconut oils help to loosen the slime from the hair, allowing you to pick it out slowly.

There are a lot of different methods to remove slime from hair, so while you may not need all of the following items, they could be useful to have on deck should the first removal attempt fail.

• Hot water
• Shampoo
• Conditioner
• Peanut Butter
• Mayonnaise
• Oil
• Vinegar
• A comb

How to get slime out of hair with conditioner

1. Start by washing the hair in warm water, using conditioner before shampoo.
2. Slowly massage the conditioner into your hair, while using a comb to help remove those sticky clumps.
3. After you have lathered the hair in conditioner, rinse and — if the slime has come out —proceed with shampoo as usual.

How to remove slime from hair with oil

1. Massage a few teaspoonfuls of oily onto the slimy hairpieces.
2. Comb “from the bottom and work your way up,” Solano explains. “Starting from the top of where the slime is to push [it] down might be a little harsh. But if you [can] break it up from the bottom and move towards the top, it works great.”

How to remove slime from hair using peanut butter


While it may seem contradicting to add more stickiness to an already very gooey head, peanut butter has oil, and oil defeats slime.

1. Work a teaspoon or two of peanut butter into the slime-affected hair.
2. Use a comb to work the peanut butter through the hair.
3. Follow with shampoo and rinse thoroughly after (or risk smelling nutty for the foreseeable future).

How to use mayonnaise to get slime out of hair


While Solano recommends starting with conditioner or vegetable oils first, consider giving mayonnaise a chance (it actually has lots of hair-healthy benefits!). Here’s how:

1. Add a couple of spoonfuls of mayo to the slime-infested area and massage it into the scalp.
2. Use a comb to remove pieces of slime and be sure to clean it as you go.
3. End with a nice hair-smelling hair product and voila: slime-free hair.

Can you use Coke or vinegar to remove slime from hair?

While both vinegar and Coca-Cola have the potential to remove slime, oil is a safer bet. “I would stay away from [vinegar and Coke] because [they] can be drying on the hair,” Solano advises. She suggests apple cider vinegar as a last resort, but prefers oil “because it helps to slide the product through the hair.”

How to prevent slime from getting stuck in the first place

There are tons of different types of slime, so next time, consider non-sticky slime. Believe it or not, you can create “fluffy” slime, which is equally fun and without the mess. It’s less likely to stick to fabrics and hair, so that means you can walk away for a minute without worry.

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