Friday, November 2, 2007

Fly Paper and Peanut Butter

So you know how people always ask what your most embarrassing moment is? For me, there are too many and they occur way too often to choose just one. Today, I had another that has to be worthy of at least a few laughs. We've had some pesky flies buzzing around our kitchen for the last week or so--maybe it's the change in weather and they were seeking warmth inside, or maybe it's just because I have an unhealthy amount of crumbs and food particles around the kitchen. Regardless of their reasons for invading, they are here. I have a thing about fly swatters--I think they are disgusting and as such we do not have one in our house. Ryan has a unique talent of catching flies, shaking them in his hand and then releasing them, all dizzy and disoriented outside, but for some reason this bunch is extra speedy and we haven't been able to get a handle on the situation.

So this morning I was at the store and decided to relinquish my stand against fly swatters and I bought one. I also picked up some of the super-sticky fly paper to see if I could get rid of them without using the swatter. I hung it from the light in our kitchen and got the sticky stuff all over my hands in the process--but never fear, they offer the suggestion of using peanut butter or vegetable oil to clean it up, so I got my hands all cleaned up and went on my way cleaning the kitchen. I watched the flies fly around the tape and linger oh so close to it but not land on it so I promptly forgot about it. I went to clear off the table and was horrified to find that my hair caught on the fly tape. Of course I panicked--and thus ripped the tape from the light and got it more stuck in my hair then tried to take it out quickly, but it was stuck. To make matters worse--while trying to assess the situation, I looked down and realized that there was a dead fly on it, in very close proximity to my face. YUCK. I called Ryan (who although was kind, laughed about the whole thing and told me "good luck" and he wished he were here with his camera) and while I was on the phone with him, ripped the tape out--taking many strands of hair, but luckily no clumps. It left a sticky, residue-y mess in my hair.

Enter Skippy Creamy--I can now say (from experience) that washing your hair with peanut butter will in fact remove fly paper sticky glue. Not something I'd recommend for the regular consumer, but helpful to know if needed. The best thing about it all--only I was here to witness it, and there were no cameras or video recorders around. The record should also show that once I used the fly swatter, our fly population decreased rapidly.


25 comments:

T + S said...

You are a LIFESAVER!! I was searching on google "how to remove fly paper glue from hair" and your blog post came up. I was cleaning my bathroom and had left a fly paper roll attached to a towel rack. My unfortunate cat was lured to the bugs and got caught up in it. The poor thing. I didn't know what to do. The peanut butter was a miracle! I didn't want to shave her! Thank you for your helpful tip! Sara

Anonymous said...

Damn Skippy !, Thank-you soooo much!, My wife has had a harrowing 4weeks of re-training, at 56, she's been stressed, yesterday bein really warm out we had our door open welcoming in all the flies in our neighborhood. My wife was brushing out her waist length grey hair by the kitchen sink and flipped it back right into the dredded fly-paper as she was preparing for her first day of work, complete with 20 or so flies and stated to cry. The helpless moron I am didn't have a clue so I Googled and found your wonderfully helpful post, she massaged in the no-name brand peanut butter, washed her hair, and went cheerfully off to work!, Thank-you so much!

Anonymous said...

your not alone! :( my bf after rushing to get the paper out of my hair said wheres the camera! but never got it on film. im hesitant to put in peanut butter. as it seems that would stay in my hair. but i knew that it was the bubble gum remedy. so off i am right now mins after removing the paper.
thanks
pam

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU for your blog - just got my hair tangled in the superbly sticky fly paper. Peanut butter worked a treat, followed by a deeeeeep conditioner!
Florence, London

Anonymous said...

Hope it works on my Collie Nala...keep your fingers crossed for me! lol

Anonymous said...

Try Corn Oil. That'll get it right off your hands. Tried all sorts of soaps and rubbing alcohol, but a dab of corn oil made it come right off.

Anonymous said...

Thank you thank you for this post! I'm off to try this trick. I have the sticky goo in my hair and I've been in tears over it. Hope it works for me too!

Anonymous said...

thank you thank you thank you for this post - just this morning I bent over a mop sink at work and stood up right into a hanging strip of fly paper! I could hear the little suckers still buzzing and so I panicked, bent over and started shaking my hair, trying to get it to fall out (yeah, in retrospect that was not so bright, because it only served to tangle MORE hair into the gooey buzzing mess.)
Anyhow, in my panic, I RIPPED the paper from my head, along with a ton of hair. OUCH. so here I was, left with this giant clump right in my bangs. I ALMOST resorted to cutting the hair down to the scalp. ALMOST.
so thank you, you have saved me from hastily giving myself a scalping!
Tara

XxFrictionxX said...

Thank you SO much! I got a roll of fly paper completely wrapped up in my hair while I was trying to find my fussy daughters binky & keep her out of the kitchen when I got tangled up in ours. I did exactly what you did: flung my head and tried desperately to get it out. I rubbed about 5 tablespoons all through the left side of my hair and worked it in really well. I sat down and ate a PB&J sandwich afterwards then went and washed it out...and it was all gone in about 20 minutes (including the little fly bodies, LOL)!

You are such a lifesaver!!

Anonymous said...

well then! thanks so much for sharing this! embarrassing or not, you no doubt have saved a ton of us females who walk right into the traps we put of for those awful bugs! i was on the verge of grabbing my scissors and forget about keeping my hair any longer, but i figured i'd give google a try. i can just imagine those flies snickering at us...hahaha. So once again, thanks! i'm off for a peanut butter bath... =P

Athena4463 said...

Thank you so much. For me it felt like it was even worse because it was my sweet little girl's hair that was on the chopping block. I had already tearfully called my husband to let him know I was heading to the beauty shop with her hair in a plastic bag inside a hat (to keep it from sticking to her car seat on the way) so they could chop it off and hopefully keep enough to do an Emma Watson cut. She's only four and my dreams of First Day of Preschool cute pictures were almost crushed. Thanks to you, there is still a chance she (and my dreams of cute pictures from her childhood) can still be saved. You deserve a medal.

Anonymous said...

What a great article! I never thought about using PB!! DUH!!! I work for a Humane Society and one of our buildings has started to attract flies. I was volunteered to hang the cheaply make strips and wound up with the glue alllll over my arms and hands... along with floating dog fur...UGH!

I tried laundry soap, regular soap, a bit of bleach... NOTHING! Saw your article. I grabbed the PB and washed them in it. Skin is sticky free and softer... with a hint of PB!

LIFE SAVER!

Anonymous said...

PS: The dogs seem to like me more! ;)

D.I.M. Incorporated said...

Thank you! I do hair and had a client call me crying and wanting to cut her long hair off after getting fly paper stuck to it. Thanks to you she can keep her lovely locks. Also, have you ever seen Forget Paris? A pigeon sticks to the mouse trap paper and then flies on to her head. I laughed so hard I cried! She probably should have read this blog post....

Caitlin said...

Another satisfied customer here! You're a life saver. And btw - store brand PB works just fine, too (:

lynette said...

This morning I am thanking the Universe for the internet and for you. I thought of peanut butter, but in my present state of semi-hysteria, couldn't be sure. And then you, with the same hideous experience. I swear, when I ran into that thing with my head and then couldn't free myself without rolling it up near the roots of my hair? Oh. My. Stars. I was shrieking at my husband to CUT IT OUT CUT IT OUT!!! He said "it's about a half inch from your head." "CUT IT OUT!!!" And three flies stuck in my hair. Ack! Nothing is more detestable to me than flies. And dead ones? Shudder. Off to the store ... another grateful gummy-haired fan.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the peanut butter idea!! Our goldendoodle got into fly paper and the peanut butter took it right out! Plus Dogs love peanut butter :-)

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much. My daughters mischievous kitten got the roll of fly paper stuck to his tail and leg and was terrified. I removed the roll but there was a lot of the sticky residue all over him. I decided to google it and your post came up. You saved her little kitten from having to be shaved.

Anonymous said...

Getting ready to try the PB on my poor kitty cat. Hopefully Jiff works as well, lol

Anonymous said...

Peanut oil was easy and effective...glue melted right out of my hair!

Anonymous said...

How funny! The cat stuck in the fly paper hung from the bathroom towel rack is the exact same reason I googled how to get the goo off of her fur! Thank goodness I found your blog!

Josh (and Zoe) said...

Thanks for your post. This morning, while my wife and I were in bed, my 6-year-old daughter climbed up on the kitchen counter to sneak a piece of her Halloween candy, which we'd set atop the fridge. Her sneaky little plan came to a very sad end when she came into our room, sobbing, with fly paper (which I had placed over the fruit bowl last night to try to round up some pesky fruit flies) stuck in her beautiful golden locks. It had taken me a good 15 minutes to get the stubborn glue off my hands so I was not at all confident about her hair, but thanks to this blog and a few others, we took the leap, first with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil and then with a tiny bit of peanut butter for the toughest spots. Both worked great and we're all off for the day when I thought it was going to be a serious late to work/school day for all of us. Thanks for sharing your embarrassment!

Unknown said...

UR A LIFESAVER. literally....

Right after my husband walked out the door this morning around 630, his mischievous kitten decided to go fly catching. Well....within 10 minutes after my husband left, I hear a loud crash BANG and then hear a loud angry meow/growl sound. His kitten came walking around the corner with the sticky flytrap wrapped all his side and legs. After I stopped laughing my butt off, I started Googling on how to remove the super sticky glue. Most sites suggest shaving the sticky areas. Since I didn't want my husband coming home from work to a very angry partly shaven kitty....i kept Googling until I came across your post. GENIUS!!!!!! Now he's sticky free and I managed to keep myself from being mauled trying to shave him. I am definitely going to pass this on to everyone I know. Thank You Very Much

Anonymous said...

Who knew that so many dogs and cats got flypaper on them. My 8 mo old English Cocker came in wrapped in fly paper. I had taped it in the doorway outside the patio door, and apparently it fell down over night.I When my puppie went out this morning early, she came back in with this sticky surprise. I bathed her but it did not come out, just got dirt caught on it. So I tried google and sure enough, others have had the same experience. I will give it a try! Thanks!

Unknown said...

Ok. I have to say I did it too. I was trying to pull the roll out of the tube per instructions and it tore in half. Trying to catch it before an end hit the floor, I grabbed the stucky stuff, pinched thr torn ends back together and finished hanging the strip. Now I had sticky fingers and the water runnung to rinse them made me need to use the bathroom. I ended up with toilet paper stuck to flypaper glue all over me. I scraped as much ad I could off and used corn starch to stop my hands from sticking to everything. After finding this blog, I hope there is enough peanut butter to clean me up with.