[Share] How to remove stickiness from matt rubber surfaces

You probably have some gadgets around the house that has this matt rubber coated surface that is now sticky after a year or so. This is common in humid/hot places.

Removing stickiness from rubber surfaces on headphones 

I have this pair of headphones and the inner sides of the head phones above the earpiece is made of such rubbery surface and it turned sticky after about a year in storage. After googling for solutions, I discover that there were various recommended solutions, so I decided to try this wipe made of 70% Isopropyl Alcohol & 30% distilled water on my headphones and it worked!

Isopropyl Alcohol Wipes

While originally meant for hospital and clinical use, this wipe is quite handy - good for wiping keyboards, mouse, even stains off the wall and cupboards. For parents with kids, you can also bring it along when dining out so that you can clean any dirty or oily baby chairs and also to wipe toilet seats or diaper changing stations before use.

Before using this, i resort to using talcum powder to counter the stickiness but it was unsightly.

After the wipedown with the alcohol wipe, some parts of the rubbery surface is now silky smooth like new while some parts have a rough feel but no sticky feeling. Beats the sticky feel prior to the wipedown. Perhaps one more round of rubbing will help remove the rough bits.

However, it may not work on all sticky rubber surfaces, I tried it on my mouse and it feels even more sticky now. I guess its the composition of the rubber that matters?

There are many different type of similar wipes in the market, especially antiseptic wipes, so make sure you look out for the content that says Isopropyl Alcohol (70%).

Alternative brands include :-



Isopropyl Alcohol is also available in liquid bottle form like this :-