Christmas Tree Sap Gets Everywhere—Here's What to Do About It
There are so many things to love about Christmas: Lessons and Carols, Uncle Orson's eggnog (his secret is the use of rum and bourbon), tartan everything. But Advent isn't all festive outfits and the wanton mixing of alcohols in a cut glass punchbowl; the season also brings with it many signature holiday messes.
While there are worse Yuletide cleaning jobs than removing pine sap from your car, the sticky resin that gets everywhere as you're transporting and setting up the Christmas tree isn't something you can simply wash away with soap and water. Here's how to get rid of it.
Removing Sap From Your Person
We'll get to the sap on your car in a minute: First you have to remove any sap that got on your hands-preferably before you start driving and transfer it to the steering wheel.
There are as many products that will do this as there are ways to trim a tree, and you'll often hear people recommend things like paint thinner or mineral spirits. Sure, those will work, but there are gentler options that will perform just as well, and are therefore a better choice for use on your delicate skin. Among those are rubbing alcohol and products like hand sanitizer and nail polish remover, which contain a high concentration of alcohol.
Cooking oils, like olive or coconut, are also excellent for quickly taking sap off of skin. Plain old salt can be used to slough away sap by rubbing a bit between your hands; it gets bonus points for serving as an exfoliating agent.
Removing Sap From a Car's Exterior
Hoisting your Christmas bush up on the roof of your car will inevitably leave a stick trail of resin on the exterior. When it comes to removing that sap, preserving the paint job is priority number one. Paint thinner, for example, would be an ill-advised tool for this particular operation.
Out of an abundance of caution, I checked in with Bob Sorokanich, deputy online editor at Road & Track, who recommends using a spray-on remover like Turtle Wax Bug & Tar for removing small droplets of sap from a car's exterior. For removing larger swaths, he cautions that you may need something stronger. "This may sound crazy, but gel hand sanitizer does a great job of removing sap blobs from your car's paint. Squeeze a small dot on your fingertip, rub it on the blob of sap, and let it sit for a few seconds. It'll dissolve the sap almost immediately and you can wipe it away with a wet paper towel or a clean, damp rag. I make sure to rinse and wipe the spot a few times, otherwise the alcohol in the hand sanitizer can lift the wax off your paint job and leave a dull spot."
He suggests that you finish up the job by spraying an instant detailer, like Mothers California Gold, to clean up any smudges and polish the area to a nice shine.
Removing Sap From the Interior of the Car
Most people transport a tree by strapping it to the top of the car, but it's not uncommon to put smaller trees, or items like garlands and wreaths, in the backseat or in the trunk of a station wagon, which can leave sap on seats and floormats. If you've got a can of WD-40 rolling around in the trunk, it can be pressed into service to take sap off of leather, just be sure to go over the area with a damp, sudsy rag or a premoistened wipe to remove the WD-40 residue.
Rubbing alcohol (or hand sanitizer) is the ticket to safely removing sap from carpeted floor mats, fabric upholstery or seat covers. Rubbing alcohol can also be used on leather, but you should be sure to wipe it away with a damp rag so that it doesn't cause the leather to dry out.
And as for those pine needles that are now everywhere...
Before I leave you, here are two quick tips for handling pine needle pick-up: As counterintuitive as it sounds, before using a vacuum to clean up pine needles, empty the canister or bag. Pine needles are bulky, and your vacuum will perform better if you start with an empty chamber. You'll also want to switch to the hose attachment, or use a handheld vac, so that the sticky needles won't get stuck in a vacuum's brush attachment.
That same advice about the hose attachment also applies to the vacuuming up of confetti, which may prove helpful to know come January 1!
Jolie Kerr is a cleaning expert and advice columnist at Esquire. She's an alumna of the least prestigious St. Grottlesex School, where she always had the cleanest dorm room. Her laundry bag is an L.L. Bean Boat and Tote.
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