A lot of folks are concerned about using "green" cleaners on their chains. What do you use on your hands if you get something like paint on them? In the old days people used gasoline, paint thinner, etc. on their hands. Now, we know better. So what do you use?

Nitrile gloves.

There are a number of citrus and lanolin based hand cleaners out there do a great job and aren't very hard on the skin. It really depends on what I'm dealing with. Citrus works great on paints and oils, lanolin works on oils, and good old soap with abrasive, like ground peach pits works on things that don't dissolve well like inks and dyes.

For some things I do a first wash with olive oil which loosens and dissolves what's on my hands, than a few soap and water washes to get the olive oil off. The olive oil trick only works well if it's done before water washing.

Often it isn't about getting my hands looking clean, but getting the smell out like after changing a fuel oil filter. Nothing I've ever found gets the diesel fuel odor off, but the juice from a fresh lemon hides it pretty effectively.

Good old fashioned Boraxo. Still the best hand cleaner, and one of the cheapest.

wd40

There are several commercial hand cleaners that work well with GoJo being one of the most well known brands.

For grease and casual dirt I've found hand dishwashing soap to be very effective. I keep a squirt bottle of it in the laundry room so I can get my hands clean before going into the rest of the house.

For latex paint, the best remover is speed. Wash it off before it dries. For oil based or spray can paint or lacquers, acetone is a good remover.

Lava soap.

IF, I forget to wear my nitrile gloves. I still use paint thinner, wd40, or sometimes gasoline with an immediate wash with dawn afterward. Don't really care about the use of the gasoline but the smell just kills me anymore. Mostly though I keep a box of nitrile or latex gloves around in all the corners of the garage for easy find and use.

In order of severity of gunk: Hand soap, Dr Bronners, citrus degreaser, gojo orange w/o pumice, Snap-On Hand cleaner.
as far as I can tell these are all environmentally friendly with even the Snap-On being soy based with Walnut shell abrasive. (I looked for a link for the Snap-On cleaner and it doesn't seem that they sell it anymore, Oh well, atleast I have a case left.) I have yet to find a bicycle mess that these couldn't clean. I also used these on the nasty greases and filthy messes I would get into when I was a Crew Chief in the USAF. Even the nastiest of combinations of hydraulic fluid, oil, brake dust, jet fuel, and grease would be cleaned by two vigorous scrubbings with the Snap-On stuff. GoJo with pumice is a somewhat adequate substitute for the Snap-On cleaner.

I made some soap a while back that I used espresso ground coffee in, that covered the smell up pretty well, and was a good abrasive for getting the gunk off.

When I used to work at a used airplane dealership detailing the plains, I loved the big pump of gojo with orange extract and lava grit. That stuff was the bomb. These days dishwashing soap is great at getting most grease off. Paint, I just use a good scrub brush and effort (or sometimes just leave it once my hands get raw if it's still there).

I use playground sand you can get a bag at home depot or lowes. For greasy hands just vigorously rub your hands in the sand, the sand will take off most of the grease. Try using dawn dishwashing liquid to remove grease.

Gojo, Fast Orange and the like for me.

I have been using 100% BioDiesel for general cleaning including hands. Then I just wash them with regular bar soap.

I don't know about bio-diesel but WD40, mineral spirits, gasoline, Varsol and other similar or harsher solvents should be avoided. Here and there isn't the end of the world but regular use of such solvents to wash your skin will allow some of the solvent to leach through your skin and into your blood stream and on to lodge in your internal organs and do accumulative damage. You won't notice it for the first few years but at some point late in life it may lead to other things.

Borax or GoJo with pumice in it will remove greases and paints as well or better than the solvents that you SHOULD be avoiding contact with on a regular basis.

For years I was a big believer in barrier creams and used them frequently. These days I'm a big believer in dispoable nitrile gloves.

The standard mechanic's hand cleanser in the UK is Swarfega.
It emulsifies oil so you can wash it off with normal soap and water.
It is also good for removing oil and grease from fabric and carpets.

Before you start work, use a good hand lotion like Aveno or Ucern to form an initial barrier. To clean off grease / oil / gas, I use Goop or Go-Jo. I like Goop best to take off any gasoline smell off of my hands.


Tom

I bought some latex gloves from Harbour Freight but seldom remember to use them. what I find works really well is Mary Kay's "Satin Hands" satin smoothis hand scrub. it works well and does not leave your hands feeling dry like the citrus cleaners.

if my hands are really dirty i'll pour baby oil on my hands and work the grease and whatnot into the oil.. then just use soap and water to wash off the oil

rubbing alcohol or just plain soap and water also work great

but gloves are best

Gojo works great for getting really nasty stuff. Especially if it's the kind with pumice. Regular Dawn dish detergent and a nail brush usually will get the job done as well.

Goop. Works well and smells good. Also works on grease stained laundry.

Lately I've been trying to wear nitrile gloves, but when I forget or I'm out I use the same product I've been using for years, "Fast Orange" hand cleaner. Combines a citrus degreaser with some pumice and seems to work very well.

Wait...you clean your hands?

just wipe em on your pants and you're good to go :thumbsup:

I always wanted a job that allowed me to wash my hands after I peed.

Dunno if you can get this stuff over the pond, but down my way everybody uses it. It's the best all-round hand cleaner I've ever used by far.

That Lightning mob's other products seem like they may be just as good too: https://www.lightningcleans.com.au/testimonials.html