June 22, 2011

How to Get Fly Strip Stickiness Out of Your Hair

I know... fly strip stickiness in your hair? Gross!

Although farm life may sound dreamy, quaint, and peaceful, the truth is that there are some distasteful and unpleasant qualities to rural living.

Several of those irksome traits involve the never ending battles with critters. Deer trample through the garden. They break tomato plants in half trying to get to the tender lettuce leaves and tempting carrot tops. Chipmunks scurry around in the strawberry patch, taking one bite out of every fruit. (Seriously, Chipmunks? I'd be glad to share, but do you have to take one bite out of every strawberry?) Groundhogs lurk at the edges of the garden and sneak in to steal... um, everything. And mice once tried to establish a whole village for themselves in the barn. That situation was so bad that I considered inviting Steven Spielberg and Stephen King here so they could be inspired... but that's another story for another time. (And thank goodness, I did get the problem under control... sorry Steven and Stephen.) (And mice.)

This year the wet weather has made the insect problem particularly horrendous and I am in a constant battle with the flies.I have hung dozens of fly strips in the barn and the hen house. I placed one under the porch light. And I even shamelessly strung one up in the kitchen. With all these fly strips hanging around I'm bound to get into an accident once in a while. And yes, more times than I would like to admit, I have accidentally bumped into one, getting that sticky icky goo (and dead fly bodies) in my hair. Yuck!

So today when it happened, I thought, surely I'm not the only poor sap this has happened to... maybe others would like to know how to get that disgusting sticky stuff out of their hair.

My secret? Cooking oil.

If you bump into a fly strip, pour a tiny bit of any kind of vegetable oil into the palm of your hand, rub it into your hair, and the sticky stuff will completely dissolve. Then just shampoo the oil from your hair.

Go ahead, laugh at me and my unfortunate accidents if you must, but someday you might thank me for posting this valuable information.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

My friend Pam Thanks you very much!

homegrown countrygirl said...

Hi annonymous... you can tell your friend Pam that I'm glad this helped her out of her sticky situation!

Anonymous said...

My mrs thanks you loads too. she too put a strip up and after 2 days walked into it getting her hair tangled. funny thing seeing a human trapped on one but your help eased her embarrassment. thank you.

AgMag said...

You. Are. A. Saint!!!

These horrible people laugh at me when I am almost in tears. You have become my saviour! Thank you so much!!

Nic said...

You my friend are an absolute STAR....thank you so much, after having a complete meltdown/panic attack/multiple hair washes .... You saved me :) yayyyyy

homegrown countrygirl said...

Hello Nic, AgMag, and husband of the Mrs ~ Thank you for your kind comments! I'm so glad that I could be of help!!!

Anonymous said...

The raid Fly strip just got into my platinum hair and all over my expensive glasses, I tried soap n water, NOT!, Vaseline, NOT, alcohol, NOT, olive oil -a little bit, not quite all of it , but I'm worried about the whole front of my white hair, shall it just shave my head? I'll try the peanut butter before I do, I'm so upset! NOT FUNNY!!! Where is the safety warning on these things??? Really? Lighter fluid they say works!

homegrown countrygirl said...

Oh, dear, Anonymous! Sounds like you got really tangled! I'm glad the olive oil worked a little bit, at least to get some of it out. I sure hope you didn't have to shave your head!

Anonymous said...

Thanks! I have lots of pets and houseplants, so flies are a constant problem, especially since I use sprays that are safe for kids & pets that leave no residue--so they only kill the flies I spray and quickly dissipate. So, tons of fly tape for me! The one I just hung broke as I was pulling it out, so it's all over my hands...well, coated w paper towel fuzz now! Thanks for the tip ;3
~E

Anonymous said...

thank you I will be doing this shortly

Anonymous said...

You ROCK!!! I so didnt want to cut my hair!! About to try this trick out...

Anonymous said...

Yeah I got tangled in the fly paper. Nasty. I did cut my hair. Now, I find this. Off to a salon to fix it. Ugghhh.

Anonymous said...

Took me one hour to get the fly strip stuck in my hair. I'm forever gratful for your post

Anonymous said...

Coconut oil dissolves it then you just wash the residue out. Just tried it on my kitten.

karinrochelle said...

Lmao this is awesome. You know what is more awesome? Finding out in Google that others have done it to and have had to search it out. The whole wad of it in my hair when going sleepily to the bathroom. Wide awake now. And thank you for sharing. Lol

Anonymous said...

Worked, thanks! Used a fine-toothed comb to help work it out.

Unknown said...

Thank you very very much. I had one on a ceiling fan and hit it as I was putting my hair up, I instantly cried thinking I would have to cut my hair off. My boyfriend laughed until he realized how upset I was and found your blog. Thank you for saving my hair. It's down to my butt and I have spent years growing it and would have been absolutely devastated had I had to cut it out. <3

Anonymous said...

Thank the lord it works I ran in to one wile doing laundry then to add insult to ingery my dad laughed at me and yanked the thing out of my hair but vegetable oil a life saver thany you so much

Unknown said...

Wow, you just saved a lot of my daughter's hair. they had already cut the fly paper out when I found this, and she used the oil on the remaining sticky stuff. then went to the salon to get her hair cut. we thought for sure she'd end up scalped but it is still a few inches below her shoulders with long layers. it had been waist length with no layers . We were afraid she'd end up getting married with super short hair but now that won't happen. Thanks for the great tip.