i can't be the only one.

jmayzer · Sep 23, 2014

alrighty gents, there has to be at least a few lawyers, doctors, and chefs on this site. those of you where clean hands are imperative in your day to day life, whats the best method? after a day of working on your cars, whats the best way to get the grease and dirt out of your skin and from underneath your fingernails? i'm a bartender and i know that my customers don't want to see dirty hands making their drinks. i can get most out with gojo or other industrial soap and a little libman hand brush, but there's always some left over. i'd really rather not wear gloves...any other solutions? cheers.

Steve · Sep 23, 2014

There is Gloves In A bottle, a form of barrier cream which isn't greasy and allows you to just wash the grime off.

AN5Sprite · Sep 24, 2014

John Deere makes a soy based hand cleaner that can be applied before getting your mits greasy, and it works well as a cleaner after the fact. I like it. Thick Nitrile gloves are a good choice though. No need for the liver to to process the chemicals and the fun stuff. :very_drunk:

apbos · Sep 24, 2014

Nitrile gloves, betadine scrub and a good surgical brush keep my hands clean. I do about 5 surgeries a week, but my patients can not complain

Paul
DVM

BustedKnuckles · Sep 24, 2014

Good quality nitrile gloves...NOT the Harbor Freight garbage.

I peel them off when I take a break or need to consult resource materials and give my hands a breather. Grab each glove with a towel or shop rag to dry it before putting it back on. Cover my mouth with the glove and blow into it to easily turn it right-side out.

DNK · Sep 24, 2014

Have changed over to a thin mechanics gloves.
Still have a couple of boxes of Nitrile in the tool box though

Popeye · Sep 24, 2014

Nitrile gloves, although I realize you said you don't like to wear gloves... maybe just use them for the really dirty stuff, like when starting a job and you are just poking around to assess the situation?

Also, use plenty of hand lotion. Grease likes to get in to all the little cracks in the skin, baby-butt smooth hands have no cracks. If I remember, I will rub some "thick" hand lotion just before starting a project. The grease from the lotion fills all the little cracks in the skin - i.e. get your hands "dirty" with clean grease first. Helps a little!

HealeyRick · Sep 24, 2014

If you don't wear gloves, drag your fingernails across a bar of soap before starting work. Help keeps the dirt from working its way under the nails.

MarshgrassA · Sep 24, 2014

Rick,
Great idea. I do that after the fact to help clean under my nails when I've been working (must qualify "working" as I can do little of that on my cars)/cleaning on my cars. Will give it a try as I start getting ready for our fall car show.

Irene

Silverghost · Sep 24, 2014

What are the orange gloves that Ed on Wheeler Dealer uses? Those seem to work well for him. I like to pre-coat my hands with GoJo or similar hand cleaner, working it into the finger nails, etc. before hand. Then when cleanup time comes, the grime comes off easier.

mikephillips · Sep 24, 2014

I must have tougher skin on my hands than you guys. For me its a light scrub with an SOS pad to remove the ground in stuff. No kidding.

SaxMan · Sep 24, 2014

I started using Fast Orange to clean my hands, but eventually went to the black nitrile gloves because I didn't want to deal with having to clean up my hands after every time I touch the car. The worst is getting it out from under the nails.

In the music business, we'll often have photographers or videographers zoom in on my hands. While I take the grease under my nails as a badge of honor, the folks trying to put together promotional material for our band seem to see things differently.

Mike - SOS on your hands? Wow. That is some tough skin! I don't think even Chuck Norris would do that. :emmersed:

mikephillips · Sep 24, 2014

I don't scrub hard, but on the palms and fingers where working tends to toughen it up, works great. And I can finish cleaning those parts in the sink while I'm at it...

AN5Sprite · Sep 24, 2014

As a little kid I can remember my father showing me to wash my greasy hands with gasoline.

Personally, I don't see any difference, except for price, between HF Nitriles and the ones that cost 3-4 times as much from anywhere else. I figure at least you get what you pay for from HF.

PAUL161 · Sep 26, 2014

I use Dawn dish washing liquid, I keep a bottle in the shop. That and a stiff bristle brush does wonders. PJ

DrEntropy · Sep 26, 2014

My now day job is interacting with clients and I will not have "mechanic's hands" with any dirty fingernails.

After any car work I use original formula GoJo, a stiff bristle (Oral-B 40)toothbrush and a green ScotchBrite pad. I hate having grease under my fingernails and gloves are a pain. Cleanup takes about ten to fifteen minutes.

Many of the shop co-workers I have known would joke about my being the "cleanest" wrench they've ever known. :wink:

TRMark · Sep 26, 2014

I use Dawn. If the kitchen is in need of cleaning and around here it usually is since we cook. I clean it, by the time the kitchen is clean so are my hands.

waltesefalcon · Sep 28, 2014

Depends on how clean I want them. Usually I just use Gojos and a good stiff brush. If I am trying to get good and clean then I use my pocketknife to get anything left under my nails, and then a second wash using Ajax dish soap and nail brush.

LarryK · Sep 28, 2014

Technically now days mechanics are supposed to wear gloves because of the presumption that the chemicals from the vehicles are cancerous. For years we were bare handed and dirty. Gloves do the job. Goop is OK. I use Lava soap mostly when I forget gloves. I also use brake clean and soap, not the safest but it works. Also keep a dawn detergent/water mix in spray bottle for instant wipes. The orange gloves are the heavy duty nitrile work gloves, like the purple ones.

glemon · Sep 29, 2014

Brake Cleaner or Carb cleaner does a quick job, I have to admit I have sprayed it on a rag and wiped my hands with it a few times, probably not a good idea, and I have gotten a little more careful since for some reason I have been lucky enough to live past 50.

I don't like gloves either, but the last few years I have started to use them, especially on small to medium sized jobs, they do save a lot of time on clean up. I use the nitrile ones, not enough feel getting small bolts started and such with more permanent cloth type gloves. When I do big, all day, greasy type jobs like pulling trannies or rebuilding front suspensions, sometimes I start out wearing gloves, but they usually tear, and I get tired of replacing them, and get engrossed in the job, and my arms are greasy anyway, so I give up and press on.

I will add that I have tried Goop and Dawn, and a lot of other things, and if my nails are really dirty nothing but time or an hour or so in a chlorinated pool gets them completely clean. But I can get them pretty good with a 15 minute scrub or so.

Greg

i can't be the only one.

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