# cleaning your hands



## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

If you are a guy who happens to have permenantly stained 'mechanic hands', how could you get them cleaned? you know, the kind where all the skin cracks are always black from deisel oil and such, no matter how much you wash them?


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

http://automotive.gojo.com/news/full_story.asp?featureid=1365&mode=2

This is good stuff and the company has been making this sort of thing as long as I can remember


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## Marshloft (Mar 24, 2008)

Several years ago I came across what I consider the best hand cleaner there is..
I am a sign painter/screenprinter by trade,, I can't have anything with lanoline,, and most cleaners have that.. I needed something that wasn't harsh as my hands would dry out and crack and get real painful..
This stuff is awesome,,, even women use it as a facial..
www.meangreen.com

Gary H.


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

I do 2 major things to keep my hands clean after the mechanic work is done.
First, I put hand cleaner on before I start the task and let the hand cleaner dry.
Second, I have a hospital scrub brush and after the work is done I apply a second application of the hand cleaner and scrub with the brush. I do keep my finger nails short to help with the cleaning. I learned a long time ago that one major turnoff to women is men with dirty hands. This afternoon I pulled a well pump and there was lots of rust and it turned my hands brown. I scrubbed my hands when I got home. You would never guess that I work daily with my hands if it weren't for the callouses.


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## Beeman (Dec 29, 2002)

lonelyfarmgirl said:


> If you are a guy who happens to have permenantly stained 'mechanic hands', how could you get them cleaned? you know, the kind where all the skin cracks are always black from deisel oil and such, no matter how much you wash them?


 I worked for years as a mechanic and always strived to not have mechanic hands. Much of it is precaution and since they came out with the latex gloves and the mechnic gloves it made it easier. A lot of vigorous scrubbing during the day and plenty of hand cream helped. When the weather got cold it made it much more difficult and my hands would crack and dry out badly. Here's a few tips that worked for me.
If your hands are extremely grimey rubbing them down with automatic transmission fluid will help lift/loosen the grime. My hands were never better then when I rebuilt automatic transmissions as the fluid is high in detergents. Scrubbing with a brush and Lava soap to clean them up good as the last washing worked for me. Applications of good healing hand cream as often as possible will sooth and heal them. I would often rub vaseline or udder balm on my hands and leave a very heavy coating of it on then wear white gloves or socks on my hands while I slept. This does wonders for your hands.


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## -TWO- (Mar 25, 2008)

Make him wash your dishes.


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## foxtrapper (Dec 23, 2003)

Powdered laundry detergent. It'll light you up! But your hands come out looking quite sparkly clean.


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## How Do I (Feb 11, 2008)

> Make him wash your dishes.


Or you could just let him get by with using your dish washing liquid...


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## tamsam (May 12, 2006)

They used to make a product that you put on your hands and let it dry. It was like a second skin and was oil and solvent proof but washed off with soap and water. We used it in the remanufacturing plant. We got it from a paint store. Sam


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## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

I use chlorine CIP detergent from the milkhouse. Gets you nice and shiny and it'll let you know in no uncertain terms if you cut yourself and didn't know it.


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## MTplainsman (Oct 12, 2007)

I work in a machine/repair shop, and I will tell you that my hands are so battered, cracked, and blackened with dirt and grease it'd scare you. What I use to pull that grease from deep out of the dry cracks, is a spray bottle of "OXY CLEAN laundry" Please have him give this stuff a try and post about it on here. If that stuff isn't a secret that really works, there ain't none!

Give a couple shots in your hands and rub it all over thourouly while rinse in warm water. Repeat if necassary. Watch the grime hit the bottom of the sink.


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## Beeman (Dec 29, 2002)

I would be careful of any chemicals to try. a mechanics hands are always full of small cuts and cracks for things to enter the body through.


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## gunsmithgirl (Sep 28, 2003)

I always use the fast orange hand cleaner sold at auto parts stores and a scrub brush to get in the cracks of the skin.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

the meangreen stuff sounds good, but is prohibitavely expensive. I wonder if they sell it anywhere? 
maybe I will try the oxy clean.

see, its great and all to _maintain_ mechanic hands to keep them clean, but this guy has been a deisel mechanic for 15 years or better, and has not cared a day about the filth in his skin. Oh he washes his hands on a regular basis, even uses the orange stuff, and Lava soap, but they never do any good.


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

I found the best way to cure that was to change jobs.......
I was an engineman for a bit aboard my first ship, they sent me messcranking (working in the kitchen) for a few months and after working in the scullery rinsing dishes and running the dishwasher my hands were back to clean.
I used to work maintenance at an aluminum extrusion plant, which will rival being a diesel wrench. Since I moved to my new job in a food drying plant my hands are clean again.

Other than that I have liked the Gojo hand cleaner and the homemade laundry detergent the wife makes will clean me up pretty good.
Goop worked well if you had a brush, it didn't have the scrubby stuff in it like Gojo.


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## NJ Rich (Dec 14, 2005)

I learned a good tip from a friend. My hands had gotten greasy and I didn't have any type of hand cleaner. Friend asked if I had any WD 40. I did. He said, spray your hands with WD 40; massage it in; wipe off with a rag or paper towels, maybe 2X; wash with hand soap; maybe wash with hand soap twice. Your hands should be pretty clean. I would not recommend doing this on a regular basis but it worked for me many times now.

My brother worked in a new car dealers garage and the guys there used automatic trans fluid. Can't recommend that either but it works.


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## EDDIE BUCK (Jul 17, 2005)

I've never tried it but I've heard if you are going to be doing something like changing oil and filters or repacking wheel bearings or painting or handling cresote post, go ahead and rub some vaseline on your hands, everything else will have a hard time sticking to them. After the job, soap and water will cleanum. Eddie


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## Faithful One (Mar 22, 2008)

There is just some stuff you just need to wear the Nitrite gloves!

I've used automotive seam sealer and all sorts of nasties, you get this stuff on you, it's just terrible to get off, can't use acetone(skin absorption) so it just peels off, with your outter layer of skin.

...I even got a wife-beater with cured bondo on the fabric, it's survived hundreds of washings, still there.:grump:


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## wdchuck (Jun 24, 2007)

Goop, and doing dishes(hot/soapy with Dawn), it works for me. 

Follow up with some udder butter or good cream, even vaseline or A&D ointment with bread bags/socks over the hands for a night or two. 

The skin is the largest organ, and it does let in just as much as it lets out.


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

stay out of the shop for 2 weeks, and wash dishes every day


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

yeah! stay out of the shop for 2 weeks, and kiss your farm good bye.
shop pays bills..ah, the joys of being self employed


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Dish soap and baking soda. Rub the dish soap in well before using any water, then add a bit of water and the baking soda. It takes a bit of work but it gets it all and leaves your hands feeling soft.


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## ColumbiaSC. (Nov 25, 2005)

don't let anyone fool you into using spray carb. cleaner on your hands as a cleaner. I had this joke pulled on me once out in a field while changing out a starter... My 'buddies told me it works great, well I had no water to wash it off with so I found their cooler full of beer and totally washed my hands off in it and the ice water. I got burned but they had to clean each can before drinking anymore,, so I got the last laugh!


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## Guest (Apr 17, 2008)

I've used Greased Lightening for years on my hands and clothes.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

All the dishwashing detergent suggestions made me think of those old palmolive commercials with Madge having everybody soak their hands in little cups of the detergent.

Women do continually complain of mechanics hands. Easiest just to become a hermit. :rock:


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## Seeria (Jul 21, 2006)

I've found baking soda with a touch of water is all I need after working on the engine. Not sure if that would work on age old stained skin. *shrug*


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## fixer1958 (Dec 12, 2005)

HermitJohn said:


> Women do continually complain of mechanics hands. Easiest just to become a hermit. :rock:


I've been told they are working mans hands and the only complaints are if I don't keep my fingernails scrubbed out. Have you ever seen an old farmer that 'didn't' have knarly calloused hands and could palm a basketball.
The ones I know anyway do.

I don't want to be a hermit, or maybe a hermit that has a female hermit that will wash my hermit underwear:rock:


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Complain about the hands that keep my car running? NEVER! I am extremely grateful for my mechanic and would not dream of complaining about stained or rough hands.


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## Rocky Fields (Jan 24, 2007)

Hey.

I have used Boraxo, Lava Soap, and Comet kitchen cleanser for heavy grunge...Comet works the best. But if I have light grunge, GOJO works good.

RF


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