[Closed] What Do You Wash Your Workshop Hands With?

Any liquid hand soap, but add a couple pinches of sugar.

Poorfega

citrus degreaser.

But mostly i wear gloves

Soap. If they're really horrible, washing up liquid.

First up, wear gloves if you can. But if you don’t...
Spray of Gt85/WD40 and a run over with a paper towel gets rid of the grease.
Washing up liquid and sugar works too.

Washing up liquid and a nail brush

GT85 and a Citra IPA

i used normal hand cleanser or fairy, but use a sponge pad to get the hands clean, the pads you get from supermarkets in packs of 10 for 50p, use the light scotchbrite side and they clean up nicely

Big tub of orange swarfega. Costs £18 for 4l, but the last one lasted just over 5 years sat next to the sink in the utility, so pretty good value.

Another vote for "poorfega" (love that by the way) preferably with the soap element being lemon washing up liquid.

The other thing that works surprisingly well for mid level grease removal is an actual bar of hand soap (one of the older brands like the cream coloured imperial leather or Shield but not some fancy new pH balanced bar shaped moisturiser) rather than liquid soap used in running water or a big sink full.

And others have said for proper grotty jobs nitrile gloves. I wouldn't fuss for a quick chain and cable clean but for anything with significant grease, oil or chemical use cover them up.

+1 for big ol' tub of Swarfega. I only paid £13.50 for 4L on eBay, hardly seems worth making your own unless you're using it day in day out.

Washing up liquid - good quality stuff. Cuts through like nobody's business

I only paid £13.50 for 4L on eBay, hardly seems worth making your own unless you’re using it day in day out.

Same here when I last bought one a few years back, but sadly as with everything to do with cleaning, the prices have risen alarmingly recently. Most shocking was the 5l tub of IPA I have for general cleaning - paid £15 for it a couple of years back, but when I checked a month ago, they were being sold for £60 on eBay!

Ozzy Juice in a Rozone parts washer

Fairy liquid mostly. Baby wipes are great at getting the worst off before you wash your hands.

Yep washing up liquid and a nail brush or scourer works well for me.

Lots of soap and a nail brush, but all over, not just the nails.

If I've got very mucky (I never wear gloves), I grab a pinch of washing powder and add a bit of water to wash my hands as normal.

Works surprisingly well, no funny reactions or anything.

Head and Shoulders shampoo has always worked for me for some reason.

washing up liquid and washing powder, cleans your hands up really well, just make sure you have no cuts as it stings like hell!

If just a bit mucky then Shield at soap (even tackles the smell of silage effluent 🤔)...

If really PROPERLY minging and greasy then DEB Solopol thoroughly pisses all over Swarfega. Follow up with something like Working Hands cream in either case.

Nitrile gloves and keep the paws clean to start off with FTW though...

Fluffy white towels, door handles (especially on white goods) or any sort of upholstery actually suck grease and muck from your hands at distances of upto 3 paces.

Failing that soap and sugar.

Got a pack of THESE in the garage to try. Was getting fed up of leaving greasy oily marks on things between locking the garage door and getting to the utility sink.

Work really well, gets paint, oil, grease and general muck off hands and arms no trouble. Then just wash with normal hand soap for a shine up.

Before these I was a poorfega man, box of daz under the sink and some fairy liquid, job jobbed.

Another vote for washing up liquid & sugar from me... 90 % of the time it works every time.

Is Swarfega not as good as it used to be? We had a bucket of purple Swarfega in the shed when I was a child that IIRC left my hands spotless. The current stuff (green) doesn't. I wonder if it's because my hands weren't as dirty then; the Swarfega was better then; or I've bought the wrong kind now.

I wonder if it’s because my hands weren’t as dirty then; the Swarfega was better then;

They're not even allowed to put lead in sweets anymore. Like they'd be allowed to make hand cleaner with anything more potent than water and non heavy metal based food colour.

Salt and citrus. Less sticky than sugar*

I find salted peanuts can be mildly abrasive.

*ymmv depending how the citrus is suspended 😎

Screwfix KF120 gloves most of the time. Nitrile gloves if it’ll be really mucky. Washing up liquid and a nail brush as a last resort.

Washing up liquid and if needed a little sand. Never tried sugar.

Gloves.

There's a fine line between manly hands with a bit of dirt under your nails and contact dermatitis/eczema because you're a dirty bugger who never looked after their hands.

Nitrile or latex gloves for messy jobs (oily, greasy, brake fluidy)
Mechanic gloves for everything else.

Put them by the garage door so you pick them up as soon as you walk in even if it's just to tinker for 5 minutes.

Realized I should probably take more care of my hands when I saw a photo of them! They're 33 going on 85!

Some gritty orange stuff that I acquire from work.

Massive tub of Manista (made by the same people who make swarfega, but better). Cost per use is bugger all.

Or if I'm in the garage, brake cleaner and some kitchen roll.

As above,washing up liquid and washing powder works a treat and also warms your hands.

I tend to keep Baby wipes in the garage, and use one before I go back in the house.
But they probably don't meet the environmentally responsible requirement...

Failing that I'll use washing up liquid.

I have sensitive skin and I find the best and gentlest way for me is rub some veg cooking oil on my hands rinse under warm water and then wash off with some soap (washing up liquid, bar of dove or hand soap).

But I should wear gloves.

Any washing up liquid and sugar.

Personally I use soap, hot water and sing happy birthday a few times until they're clean.

Just out of curiosity, how minging are you're bikes if you're getting proper dirty hands with ingrained grease and grime?

Interested to understand how you reconcile disposable gloves with "environmentally responsible". I find washing up liquid does the job for bike levels of muck.

Interested to understand how you reconcile disposable gloves with “environmentally responsible”. I find washing up liquid does the job for bike levels of muck.

1) Use non-disposable mechanic gloves, I only use the disposables for things like fork servicing or brake bleeding where I'm actually getting covered in oil.
2) It's a small impact, a 200g box in a year? Probably less CO2 than driving to a trail once.
3) Washing up liquid in itself is an environmental catastrophe.
a) it has to be manufactured
b) it's heavy to transport as it's still mostly water
c) those surfactants end up in the rivers where they strip the mucus off the skin
of the wildlife there.

I use washing up liquid for mucky hands, too. Drying them with @kayak23 's towel.

Washing up liquid.
Or if they're really bad washing up liquid and washing powder.
The nature of my job leaves me using the second option a fair bit.

I wipe mine on Dracs iPad, they come up flawless.

Washing up liquid and used coffee grounds - I guess it is the same as sugar but the coffee grounds are already used and not wasted. You can actually premix the coffee grounds and soap and keep it for a while.

I wipe mine on Dracs iPad, they come up flawless.

🙂

Barrier cream beforehand makes cleaning a lot easier, especially under the nails, learnt that from my painter & decorator days.
Fairy liquid and sugar always works.
I had some grime wipes once, soft on one side and a bit rough on the other, they worked really well but forgot the name of them,
think they were from Aldi, so cheap as.

Barrier cream beforehand makes cleaning a lot easier, especially under the nails

Yes, I always used barrier cream in the old days messing with rally cars. I keep telling myself to buy some now!

But washing, Swarfega followed by soap and water.

Orange swarfega, +1

I have the green swarfega, it does a good enough job. I did have a box of blue latex gloves but found them too easy to snap or snag, picked up a pair of the muc off gloves and quite like them so far.

Gloves as often as possible, my hands crack if they get within a half mile of sanitiser gel so I do my best to keep them happy.

If I don't have gloves I use a bit of powder if it's really ingrained otherwise soap and a nail brush.

A naan bread, wrapped around a large kebab.

Washing up liquid and used coffee grounds – I guess it is the same as sugar but the coffee grounds are already used and not wasted. You can actually premix the coffee grounds and soap and keep it for a while.

I do this too. I guess it's just an abrasive, but works really well.

Pinch of dry grounds from the bowl by the sink, drop of washing-up liquid (biodegradable since you asked), rub a bit, introduce a tiny bit of warm water, rub some more, rinse.

Going straight in with the water doesn't help at all - same applies if you use the Swarfega.

Before leaving the garage if they're really bad I'll use GT85/degreaser sprayed on my hands and a paper towel to take the worst off. And pray that I've not got a cut!! Swarfega or Halfords own version sitting by the kitchen sink too if needed.

Brake cleaner then..

Washing up liquid and soap powder

Then soap.

Stings a touch if you've a cut