What kind of soap or powder do you use for very dirty hands

Fast Orange.

Dorothy finally gave up an lets me keep a bottle by the sink.

I use Goop or a similar hand cleaner. It is a mix of something like vaseline and lye. When worked vigorously into dirty hands, it at least partly saponifies the crud, and makes it a lot easier to wipe/wash off.

Jon

Depends on what it is...petroleum grease is different than paint which is different that just "good 'ol dirt"

For grease-specifically, one of the waterless handcleaners first, the basic always is the original Lava hand bar and a brush.

I like Boraxo for non-oily grime. Ir even cleans off dried bluefish guts. It's available online.

It works on oily grime, too, but for oily stuff I use Goop, which is better. It smells a lot better than Permatex hand cleaner, which is what they sell in most auto-parts places.

A box of Boraxo and a can of Goop are always kept by my shop sink, and another can of Goop is in the garage.

Ignoramus19207 on Thu, 23 Feb

There was something we used in the Autoshop back in Germany. You rubbed it in at the start of the day, and the grime didn't "stick" as well. That or gloves, if you know ahead of time.

After that,it depends on what the dirt is: grease, "dirt", organic compounds?

A tablespoon or so of lanolin based cleaner or even fresh ATF to loosen and then followup with cheap shampoo and water.

FWIW cheap shampoo like Suave etc. works better than dishwashing soap for many things.....

--it also works well for cleaning those red shop rags--slosh around in a 5 gallon bucket, wring out into the sink one at a time and set aside...repeat this 3 times using fresh shampoo / water mix and then finally wash them in the automatic washer along with your work clothes.

Fast Orange or Orange GoJo either one with pumice. Both will take off most any crud you get into. And they don't stink like the kerosene based ones.

You can get a product called Invisible Glove in some stores. You apply it like a hand lotion and it keeps the crud from sticking.

I have seen mentioned in vintage (~1910) automobile books that one tip before working on your car was to rub your hands with a bar of dry + soft bar soap.

The soap fills the cracks in your skin, plus is in the right location to attack the oil when you wash your hands after finishing the car maintenance.

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For getting metalworking grease off my hands, I use some orange waterless soap stuff with pumice. Works well enough.

Also on the advice of another hobby-machinist, I bought some pure lanolin butter off eBay to use as hand lotion. Smells funky, kinda expensive ($16/lb shipped) but a little goes a long way, and it works very well. Much better then vaseline, in every way but price.

Do anything for the smell? I always handle the chum, its almost as bad as bluefish. Milady won't let me in the house. The neighbors get a cheap show, I strip just outside and head straight to the shower.

BTW, we catch a lot of bluefish in Florida Bay and just toss them back in. I figure the northern New England types must be more desperate for fish.

Depends what the dirt is. For the worst, like black diesel engine work I use those stretchy, coated gloves, a real saver on your hands. then a wood flour based soap paste. water soluable. This does the cleaning job best. The next cleaner is a jel type called Swarfega, based on soap and mineral oil, also with micro granules or again wood flour. To get out deep ingrained dirt, Im the 2 handed self propelled optically driven washing up machine soI do the washing up after her indoors has been cooking. The results (of the cooking) are great, but the mess she leaves the kitchen is beyond dscription. Hope this helps Ted.

I use the orange GoJo. But even better are the good disposable nitrile gloves I keep handy, "Best" brand, non powdered. They have the XXL size I need in one of their lines.

I also use them when chopping up jalapenos.

Pete Keillor

Hey Iggy,

I really agree with Steve about "Invisible Glove", one brand of what is called a "barrier cream". And using this falls in with "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!" 20 seconds ahead of time, saves many minutes later on. It is fantastic, and although there is a "warning" on the label, repeated uses (twice a day or more) for me cause NO problem with my allergy-prone skin. But you have to do it every time you enter the shop. Application is very quick, and it never stings or feels funny or lessens your sense of feel or grip, but it takes a few minutes for your hands to return to "normal and non-slippery" just after application, but you get used to that very quickly when using it daily. Then after working, use one of the other suggestions for washing-up after you get dirty, and the dirt comes off easily. Great stuff, but getting harder to find. Maybe at automotive supplier?? The last tube I have at the moment has on the label: INVISIBLE GLOVE Protective Hand Coating manufactured for BLUE MAGIC, INC. Cleveland, OH 44122

Take care.

Brian Lawson, Bothwell, Ontario.

I usually use Dawn dishwashing detergent first. It works pretty well on grease and oil. And then if necessary some orange based cleaner. A brush helps a lot. I use to have a couple of the brushes surgeons use. They were good.

Dan

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Hey Ted,

Good stuff too. I recall many years ago when working in an auto repair shop in the '60's, a teenage friend had acne very badly, or at least what we referred to as "black-heads" on his face and neck. Anyway, I'm sure it stung his eyes to do it, but he would wash his face after work with Swarfega, and with-in a few days or a week the black-heads were GONE.

Brian Lawson

I've never liked wearing gloves. But, in this case, it may save a lot of work, later.

Walmart has "foamy antibacterial hand soap" in the health and beauty aids section. Works great, so I bought a couple for my mechanic. he says it just moves the grease around, and he went back to the orange stuff he was using.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

Ignoramus19207 wrote in news:Q9mdnYKEyLClvdrSnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

The best cure is prevention: get a package or three of blue nitrile gloves at Harbor Freight. Wait for them to go on sale, and you can get them for about five bucks for a box of 100.

For the stuff that gets through tears in the gloves, or on your wrists where the gloves don't reach -- or when you forget to use the gloves -- try Fast Orange. It works best if you start by using it *without* water: work it into the grease thoroughly, until all the gunk liquifies. *Then* wash it off.

Another product you might try, if you know anybody who's an Amway distributor, is Amway's LOC. In my experience, it works better than Fast Orange, but it costs more, too (which is why I switched to Fast Orange).

Someone else suggested Goop; I disagree. Goop doesn't dissolve well in water. Keep using Goop to clean your hands, and eventually you're going to wind up snaking your sink drain to remove a 1/4"-thick lining of greasy, dirty Goop. That's why I switched from Goop to LOC.

There used to be a product called Frasco which is not made any more,it is the best I have used,It was sawdust mixed with what appeared to be common soap powder, I still have some. You could probably make it yourself.

I'll second both of those. The skin protector keeps crap from getting down into the pores, the worst part of dirty hands any more. I wear gloves when I can (latex, nitrile, leather, cotton) or just go for it and use GoJo when I can't. I do like the orange-oil-based goops they have out now. Old style hand cremes would leave a thick, greasy layer on your hands which wouldn't wash off very easily. I hated the slippery finger feeling they left.

-- Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships, that is why good ideas are always initially resisted. Good ideas come with a heavy burden. Which is why so few people have them. So few people can handle it. -- Hugh Macleod

Separately, vinegar, alcohol, tomato juice, and ammonia will remove lots of nasty scents from your hands. (Do not mix them.)

-- Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships, that is why good ideas are always initially resisted. Good ideas come with a heavy burden. Which is why so few people have them. So few people can handle it. -- Hugh Macleod