How To Remove Stubborn Price Stickers

It seems like just yesterday that Martha Stewart's garlic peeling hack was tearing apart the internet. Armed with a pair of mixing bowls, her legions of fans vigorously shook and shook till they had more garlic cloves than they needed (as if that's even a thing).

Everyone knows we love a Martha hack. So, when we saw that she's back with a new one, we had to jump right on it. Turns out she knows a thing or two about peeling off those pesky price tag stickers that never seem to come off kitchen ware. Naturally, people are obsessed.

If you're like me, the only trick in your arsenal is the soak, scrape, and fail method: You soak the item in hot soapy water, get tired of waiting, pull it out too soon and scrape off the sticker. Half of it gets left behind, at which point you either take your nail (or some sharp-edged object) to it, or give up.

A simple search on YouTube will yield more sticker hacks than you can handle, from employing odorless mineral spirits to single edge razor tools—even lighter fuel, which is less appealing for obvious reasons.

But Martha's trick is simple, and far less frustrating:

Turn on hairdryer
Point close to sticker for 15-20 seconds (or thereabouts).
Turn off hairdryer.
Experience a micro surge of dopamine as you peel off sticker in one quick motion.

Naturally, we had to try and replicate the success of this video. In the interest of science, we decided to try it with three different kitchen ware materials upon which a sticky price tag was stuck. Here is our verdict on each (with proof attached):

Glass

This was the easiest one, which could be attributed to the fact that stickers peel off easiest on glass, anyway. Not to take away too much from the success of it, because it left no residue, which is a marvelous thing.

Stoneware

Three words: Did. Not. Work. The sticker was as stubborn as ever. I mean...do they bake these on?

This was a no-go for us. Photo by Arati Menon

Stainless Steel

The good news: We got the sticker off in one swift motion. The bad news: We did get some gluey residue (which will probably come off with a scrub). The ease with which the sticker peeled right off though, was a mini marvel. We'll take it, Martha.

Do you have a trick to remove stubborn stickers? Let us know in the comments!

Arati grew up hanging off the petticoat-tails of three generations of Indian matriarchs who used food to speak their language of love—and she finds herself instinctually following suit. Life has taken her all across the world, but she carries with her a menagerie of inherited home and kitchen objects that serve as her anchor. Formerly at GQ and Architectural Digest, she's now based in Brooklyn.

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