cleaning hands

brucebanner

what's the best and quickest way to get oil off the hands?

rake

swarfega, jif, lard,angle grinder.

Buckled_Rims

+1 for swarfega

I used to be a sheet metal worker and used it for many years without any problems on my hands.

The worst is to wash hands in White Spirit to take off the Oil, then Fairy Liquid to take off the White Spirit :shock:

AndyOgy

WD40

Buckled_Rims

AndyOgy wrote:

WD40

My mother loves the smell of GT85, she honestly thinks it's perfume for bikes :shock:

father_jack

Or fairy liquid and white sugar.

softlad

rake wrote:

swarfega, jif, lard,angle grinder.

+1 for the angle grinder - and your hands will never get dirty again....

dmch2

washing up liquid works pretty well and you'll already have some. If you're really in need then swarfega type stuff with sugar in is the best - the sugar acts like grit. Or you can get wipes with strong detergent built in, forgotten the brand name but that work fairly well too.

Monkeypump

Father Jack wrote:

Or fairy liquid and white sugar.

Or Fairy liquid and washing powder - always worked for me, until 'we' (i.e. the other half) decided to use liquid/capsules/etc. for the washing.

bompington

Petrol

Buckled_Rims

Fairly Liquid works but it'll take the natural oils from your skin and you'll soon have dry skin conditions.

If you have oily hands regularly then Swafega is a 10/10 product and Fairy Liquid is a 2/10.

rake

i wasnt joking when i said lard. it was shown to me ages ago, i bet it would be even better with sugar. lard wont remove the oil from your skin. swarfega is best though.

ChrisSA

Cheap (read strong) clothes washing powder. Feel the burn.....

chunkytfg

Couldnt you just wear gloves? :?

father_jack

chunkytfg wrote:

Couldnt you just wear gloves? :?

What are you, a girl? Men only wear gloves if they're dealing with sulphuric acid. Even then, we're hard and put our hands in anyway. Acid doesn't bother us tough guys.

pilot_pete

Buy a bottle of Bold washing gel/ liquid. A small amount pulls all the oil off my hands for a fraction of the cost of Swarfega.....ans as others have said, if it is really in-gound a little bit of salt (cheaper than sugar) added does the trick.

PP

bill57

Pilot Pete wrote:

If it is really in-ground a little bit of salt (cheaper than sugar) added does the trick.

You've obviously never done this with a cut in your hand - nobody uses salt after that!

lae

If you're doing this regularly, don't use washing up liquid. When I used to be a mechanic the boss had incredibly painful dry cracked hands from his early days.

I use Swarfega or Deb Lime Green.

graemematheson

I wear surgical gloves if doing work on the bike that I know is going to end up with manky hands. get yourself a friend who works for the NHS and can blag you box....

Swarfega works OK on the odd occasion I run out of gloves.

pilot_pete

bill57 wrote:

Pilot Pete wrote:

If it is really in-ground a little bit of salt (cheaper than sugar) added does the trick.

You've obviously never done this with a cut in your hand - nobody uses salt after that!

It's great for cleaning the cut! Us cyclists are such wimps sometimes.....

PP

mclarent

Baby wipes. Leave your hands soft as...

SteK

You can pick a tub of Swarfega up from good(!) Pound Shops and I've always found it works well. You'll probably get a pack of nail brushes from said pound shop too, keep one of your nails and use the others for tyre cleaning duties.

The more expensive option is to take your dirty hands to the local chip shop, order large fish, chips and curry, add lots of salt and vinegar and eat with your fingers. miraculous tasty hand cleaning.

Stephen

mrushton

Grapeseed oil or olive oil? Grapeseed is cheaper. It dilutes the oil on your hands and you just wash with soap/water. Disposable gloves are the sensible option.

desweller

I always wear gloves. Doesn't matter so much on a bicycle, but it's good practice for cars - used oils are carcinogenic.

andyrr

I've a large container of orange gritty hand cleaner stuff I got in Costco - cost around £5 and will last for ages - it has a pump dispenser so dead easy to get a dollop onto the dirty hand(s) with minimal mucking about, keep this under the sink and I can open the door with my foot and get the stuff on my hands without getting handles etc manky.
Other tip, if you aren't going to wear gloves, is to apply hand protector or similar before you start the job (you could probably use lovely flowery-smelling cream if you really wanted.)
That way the oil/dirt doesn't soak into the skin quite so much and both acts as protective layer and makes dirt removal easier.

I've used washing powder in the past - horrible stuff and left a film behind on the skin that needed scrubber off and washing-up liquid and simialr both fail to remove really oily dirt and is harsher on skin.
I also have a pack of swarfega hand wipes which are fine in emergencies and work ok but seem to irritate any cuts.

Using inappropriate stuff on your skin over a long period of time is likely to lead to skin problems later on.

Chris James

Morrison's sensitive baby wipes.

Rather worryingly for my kids' nether regions, the wipes seem as effective as white spirit!

clazza

Baby oil - work in thoroughly with grease / dirt then use regular soap to rinse it off

ride_whenever

5l tub of whatever is cheap.

Leave the lid off so you can just stick your hand in when you need some.

rake

i sometimes just leave the oil on my hands and let it wear off in normal use. its got to be the cheapest option, and manly.

Radioactiveman

rake wrote:

i sometimes just leave the oil on my hands and let it wear off in normal use. its got to be the cheapest option, and manly.

By let it wear off I presume you mean your skin due to dermatitis ? :twisted:

rake

either way it gets the job done cheap. oil comes off. :idea: