What's new
What's new

Keeping hands clean?

rons

Diamond
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Location
California, USA
A few years ago I was shopping for parts and talked with a diesel mechanic with totally black hands. He said he cleans up after he drives home.

In my case I'm constantly washing my hands. The reason is that I try to reduce absorption and accumulation into my body. The result is dry skin
on the sides of some fingers. I mostly use bars of soap but for the tough jobs I use Gojo Orange. I tried a tube of Liquid Glove (or some name like that)
and it worked. But every time I was into a big mess and had to rinse my hands the Liquid Glove would wash off and had to be re-applied.
Any tips?
 
nitrile gloves keep the dirt off to begin with.

Try a few different hand creams. There are some that soak in really quickly and don't leave you feeling greasy. I want to say Eucerin is one that's good, but I'm not positive.
 
Debstoko Stokoderm Advanced barrier lotion. I have used this shit for 30 years now, or the nearest I could find to it, and wouldn't want to work without it. I started using it when I started making graphite electrodes and running a sinker EDM. Put this stuff on before you get your hands dirty and they wash right off at the end of the day. It will last a full day running a mill with water based coolant no problem, but comes right off with some soap when you want it to. The only place I can find it is MSC, sorry. Try a tube, you won't be sorry.

The "lotion" I like is in the house, can't think of the name now. I will update this post later.
 
I wear gloves all day every day.

I can't stand to wear rubber gloves. I'd rather have dirty hands.

I'm curious what you guys are worried about "absorbing" and "accumulating"? Most oils are pretty inert. I know people on the internet love to claim that oil is bad for your skin and leads to all kinds of terrible side effects, but I never seen any actual proof.
 
I wear 12" nitrile gloves if I get a cut on a finger/hand (happens too frequently :rolleyes5:) and would otherwise get blood on customer's parts. Bandaids don't prevent that since coolant soaks the pad and flushes blood out.

I have used 3M Cavilon barrier cream (then nitrile gloves on top of that) when I get a flare-up allergic reaction to the coolant in the lathe. It works very well to prevent that, but I would not want to use it without gloves, as it is somewhat greasy.

Regards.

Mike
 
I can't stand to wear rubber gloves. I'd rather have dirty hands.

I'm curious what you guys are worried about "absorbing" and "accumulating"? Most oils are pretty inert. I know people on the internet love to claim that oil is bad for your skin and leads to all kinds of terrible side effects, but I never seen any actual proof.

If I ever get another allergic reaction flare-up from the Trim 685 in the lathe, I'll send you pictures. It's pretty gross :ack2: .

Regards.

Mike
 
I can't wear gloves for long periods, my hands sweat profusely.

Yea, I get this too. 5 minutes with rubber gloves on and they're full of sweat. I pretty much wear the tillman tig gloves at all times unless I'm near moving equipment. And I think I posted it in the hand cleaner thread, but the PK Soyl commercial stuff is far and away the best hand cleaner I have run into.
 
Use a barrier cream. It doesn't stop your hands from getting dirty, but it keeps the dirt away from the skin. When you wash your hands the dirt and barrier cream are removed, leaving clean hands.

As above Stokoderm is one of the type.
 
Debstoko Stokoderm Advanced barrier lotion. I have used this shit for 30 years now, or the nearest I could find to it, and wouldn't want to work without it...
The only place I can find it is MSC, sorry...
Thank you for the pointer. I just ordered some to try. Here is the best price I could find: Deb-Stoko Stokoderm Advanced - Skin Barrier Creams
It's also sold on Amazon and eBay. Search for "Stokoderm Advanced". And it's actually a cream, not a lotion.
 
I'm also a glove user, Microflex nitrile in my case. Thin enough to tear easily if they get caught, but if I get my hands too close to something moving I'm being dumb to start with.

My hands sweat, but luckily not too much. I keep a few pairs in rotation so that when removed, they get a chance to dry out before putting them on again. Reuse keeps the waste and the cost down.
 
I'm always in solvents and washing my hands. During the day I use "Udderly Smooth", soaks right in and isn't greasy: Udderly Smooth At night it's O'Keefes: O'Keeffe's Hard Working Skincare(R) | Guaranteed Relief for Extremely Dry, Cracked Skin

I useta get bad cracks, not anymore!

I have a tub of Udderly Smooth. The directions say: "Wash udder and teat parts thoroughly with clean water and soap before each milking".

Cracked skin is what I'm trying to avoid. Then I feel the sting whenever I wash hands. Lip balm on dry skin and cracks helps a little.
 
I'm also a glove user, Microflex nitrile in my case. Thin enough to tear easily if they get caught, but if I get my hands too close to something moving I'm being dumb to start with.

My hands sweat, but luckily not too much. I keep a few pairs in rotation so that when removed, they get a chance to dry out before putting them on again. Reuse keeps the waste and the cost down.

I use a small dusting with baby powder when reusing nitrile gloves.
 








 
Back
Top