Cleaning hands

[Dark Jedi]

Palmalive dish soap and a toothbrush is all I ever used, never took me more than 15 minutes and my hands were as soft as the two ladies say they will be on the commercials. Pretty important, as I'm a waiter by trade so I need to look my best. As for spending a night with my hands all covered in goo, well they pretty much do that anyways to themselves...

Seconded. Use it straight, on dry hands for best cleaning. It works great!

It should be a thick messy goop, not watery at all to work as a greasy hand cleaner.

[Dark Jedi]

First, wear brown jersey gloves when handling very dirty parts. They cost less than a dollar per pair, and can be bought for $5 in bundles of ten pair. Latex or nitrile rubber gloves (buy in boxes of 100 for about $10) worn under the cotton gloves help even more. If you must re-use the jersey gloves after they are saturated with oil, soak them in kerosene and let them dry a couple of times. Stick them in a washing machine only if you want your SO to kill you. the grease can get in the washer and coat everything put in it for the next ten loads or so.

Another trick is to pick up greasy pieces only with pliers or a shop rag. Or keep one hand in a glove for handling dirty stuff and use the ungloved hand for clean items.

Cut fingernails reasonably short before starting the job.

To clean greasy hands, start with a waterless hand cleaner. Lava bar soap doesn't work nearly as well, and it's much harsher. Goop is the classic waterless hand cleaner. My current one is Fast Orange by Permatex. These cleaners are emulsions of regular detergents and various hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbons dissolve the grease, and everything is mixed into the emulsion. Use a fingernail brush everywhere. Yeah, it will hurt the cuticles, but suck it up. Make a fist when scrubbing knuckles to get grease out of the folds. Wipe off on a dry rag, or paper towels. Repeat to get the areas missed the first time. Then use regular liquid dish detergent, again with vigorous use of a fingernail brush.

Then use a decent hand lotion.

Your membership in The Man Club has been revoked.

[themess]

Your membership in The Man Club has been revoked.

Fine by me. I think that supermodels are ugly, too.

[GS1100GLMLA]

Try using Fantastik cleaner on dry hands and wipe off with a paper towel. I have been using this for years and I haven't found anything that works better. If your hands are greasy or dirty cup your hand and spray Fantastik into it until it forms a pool. Then rub your hands together until the grime and dirt disolves and then wipe with a towel. It has never dried my hands yet and it is waterless and gets grease and grime out of your fingernails and cracks better than anything else I have tried. I have about 6 bottles it this sitting around my garage and house. You can buy it about anywhere also.

[jimcor]

Bag Balm is great stuff. I'd say to wear cotton or other breathable gloves with it on though, not latex or nitrile because they'll make your hands sweat. Do it at least a couple nights a week, and follow up with a soft brush and soapy water in the morning, followed by a decent unscented hand cream like Lubriderm. After working on stuff, make sure you use an oil based cleaner (like Goop) with a soft brush to remove grime. Also I've heard this stuff is good, and Road_Clam told me about something I know I've used before but I can't remember what it was nor can I find the email... Clam, you out there???

A manly man will say, 'To hell with gloves. Give me a pair of socks'. A real manly man will then wear the socks the next day, ah on his feet.

[suzukizone]

cleaning hands

orange/pumice type cleaner w/scrub brush.

now that your skin is rough & raw get some udder cream (Tractor Supply or other farmer's supply store. Wipe it on & let it soak in. Your hands will love it. Great stuff & fairly cheap.

Don't use too much or milk will drip from your fingertips :-)

DH

[Tom MLC]

Clean your wheels & hands at the same time.

Use the waterless hand cleaner, as recommended here a few times. The Fast Orange stuff works well. There are others. Get that goop and start working it in on your wheels with your fingers. Really get in all the tight spots. When you're done rinse it off. Wheels are nice & clean...hands, too.

[drhermanstein]

I need some tips here. My hands are trashed :P Aside from the fact the constant (pointless) washing is making them very dry, cracked, and painful I can't seem to get them clean again.

I cant seem to get everything off and mechanic hands are not going to go well computer service calls :P

Thanks!

I have exactly the same problem, no one has mentioned vitamin E. When my hands get to the cracked and bleeding point, I apply vitamin E straight from a popped capsule to get things healed back up (works stunningly fast because vit E promotes cell growth). I used to just sit in the tub with a good dish soap soaking in and a toothbrush(has the finest bristles) but now I use BT200 a parts cleaner that is primarily carbon eating bacteria. Works like magic!

[eddiev]

I like the Goop hand cleaner. The trick is not to use it with any water. After rubbing it all over and liquifying all the grease, wipe hands with dry paper towels. Then you can wash your hands as normal.