Clean hands?

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

I'm trying to imagine clothes that exfoliate your skin. Presumably underwear made of sandpaper? Or was that cloths?

Murray

[Trevor Crossman 1Participant @trevorcrossman1]

Just as some others have mentioned ,the lack of awareness of the dangers of many of the industrial liquids that I was required to work with in the past now means that I suffer recurrent bouts of excema on my hands and forearms which sometimes prevents me from practical work. I really do echo the pleas to use gloves and barrier creams when handling any industrial chemical especially liquids, and I always use both as soon as I start work and I can strongly recommend the Polyco Orange nitrile gloves which I get from https://www.justgloves.co.uk/ ( the usual disclaimer, I have no connection other than being a satisfied customer) These gloves are much stronger than the average blue versions, are a little thicker and have a textured surface for better grip, okay a little more expensive but wear better. It is much better not to get persistent and harmful materials on your hands in the first place rather than use aggressive cleaners to get it off- – – -maybe it doesn't appear as macho as gnarly, oily, stained hands but it just might make your skin healthier in old(er) age!

Trevor.

 

Edited By Trevor Crossman 1 on 28/05/2018 00:03:27

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

WD40 gets the black grease off. Then whatever ordinary soap or detergent is around to get the WD40 off.

[FLguyParticipant @flguy]

Posted by Muzzer on 27/05/2018 21:11:05:

I'm trying to imagine clothes that exfoliate your skin. Presumably underwear made of sandpaper? Or was that cloths?

Murray , Even old men can be exfoliated by the correct cloth/ fabric. Supposedly with all the years to get my engineering degree I ought to be able to spell…….NOT. Thanks guys.

[Barnaby WildeParticipant @barnabywilde70941]

I distinctly remember one incident in the early 80's, we were working on a Doctors house refurbishment when I was rubbing something off my hands with a turps soaked rag. The Doc' went ballistic & gave us all a full blown lecture about why we really shouldn't be rubbing such stuff into our skin.

Did you know that your skin is your bodies largest organ? It's not just there to keep the bits in & the dirt out.

I've also sufferred peripheral neuropathy of verying degrees which started 'funnily enuff' about the time I left skool & started work. Try sitting down with your doctor & discussing a condition they know very little about & don't have a magik pill to prescribe.

Because I rely on it so much you tend to pick up what is & what isn't a good moisturiser. There really is only 2 base ingredient options out there, everything else is snake oil. Because I have a phobia about turning into a human fireball I tend to steer clear of the paraffin based ones. Vaseline is just about the only thing that my hands can tolerate.

[I.M. OUTAHEREParticipant @i-m-outahere]

You haven't lived until you have used washing detergent ( the stuff you use to wash clothes ) to scrub your hands , especially when you have spent the day skinning your knuckles working on a car , i can gladly report that the pain is exquisite ! If you know of something that can the smell of diff oil off your hands please let me know !

Many years ago i worked a a hardchrome place and the manager would dip his finger in the caustic strip solution and rub it on his hands to remove any stains from the chromic acid fumes that got onto everything – he had a bad habit of not wearing gloves . . One day he did this but unfortunately for him i had loaded the strip tank up with a lot of caustic beads to strengthen the solution for a job – he had about 10 yards to get from the strip tank to the wash basin to rinse his hands and he was screaming by the time he got there !

For the Aussie readers the hand cleaner from Hitec oils is good stuff although it can be a little difficult to find in shops – no connection just a happy user when i could get it for free from work ! .

From the few times i have used swarfega it seems to be a good cleaner , a little expensive for my tastes and for most of what i do these days dishwashing detergent does the job and if i need to get some really oily/ greasy gunk off me i use the septone pink stuff followed by dishwashing liquid ( this gets the chemical smell of the septone off ) .

We used to get this white stuff i a steel tub years ago ( possibly protectolene ? ) it cleaned well but jeez it stank ! If you let it sit undisturbed for a while it would get this liquid stuff seeping out of it that looked like motor oil i don't even want to think what it really was !

[colin wilkinsonParticipant @colinwilkinson75381]

The first time I saw a mechanic wearing vinyl gloves was probably in the early eighties. His brother worked at Shell research and warned him that many of the compounds used in modern motor oils were carcinogenic, including unleaded petrol, and he should avoid getting them on his skin. Also the reason some machinists developed testicular cancer through splashes from cutting oils whilst standing in front of lathes and milling machines wearing overalls and not protective aprons. Colin

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

In the late 1960s, Halfords sold a pink hand cleaner called "That Stuff", which worked far better than Swarfega. I haven't seen any on sale in the UK for years, but a quick "Google" reveals it is still being made in the USA. A friend of mine who regularly got bitumen on his hands, being employed in the roofing trade, used to make his own Swarfega-like hand cleanser by mixing green Fairy Liquid with paraffin – and it really did work. As an angler, I find that lemon-scented washing up liquid kills fishy smalls better than anything. This smell-killing quality is probably why they make citrus-smelling industrial hand cleansers. When I was a sub-editor on a newspaper over 40 years ago, I noted that compositors swore by Boraxo for removing printer's ink.

[Nick HulmeParticipant @nickhulme30114]

Posted by Bob Lamb on 26/05/2018 00:19:59:

Thanks for all the replies – I might give Manista a try as there is supposedly a stockist near me. Alternatively if Nick H wouldn't mind living only until he is 115 I wouldn't mind putting in a bid for one of his gritty gold bars! Bob

Bob,
PM me your address and I'll bung you a bar in the post free gratis and all that
Regards,
Nick

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Mick, peripheral neuropathy is one possible problem that can be encountered from contact with industrial solvents, if I remember correctly and I might be wrong, prolonged exposure to solvents such as carbon tetrachloride, trichloroethane, methyl ethyl ketone can cause peripheral nerve damage. Those readers who use such solvents for skin cleaning are playing Russian roulette with their health, I speak from experience, don’t do it!

Dave W

[Trevor Crossman 1Participant @trevorcrossman1]

Samsaranda, oh dear! I shudder to think how much carbon tet, how many pints(gallons?) of trich. and mek and alochrom ,and chromic acid have I sloshed around during my aircraft repairing days, and not always wearing gloves, because they usually disintegrated after a few minutes, or perhaps the frequent case of not bothering to don gloves just for a quick wipe of the structure with some mek before spreading the prc1221 jointing compound. 20/20 hindsight doesn't help a lot when a bad skin flare-up happens

I don't care how much I spend on barrier cream and vinyl gloves now, I consider the cost to be utterly irrelevant when set against avoiding the excruciating pain of severely sore and burning skin!

Trevor

[VicParticipant @vic]

A friend of mine worked on offset litho machines many years ago and the supplied hand cleaner was a creamy white compound with a lovely Almond smell, any guesses what it was?

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Trevor, I worked on aircraft as well which is where I came into contact with a lot of the nasties. Recently recommended to me is a preparation made by Weleda, comes in a tube called “Skin Food” , I am impressed with it as it quickly soothes the sore patches and causes swelling to disappear. It contains various herbs including Calendula which is well known for healing properties, is available from Holland & Barrett, costs I think £9.95 and even our local NHS Dermatologist recommends it so worth a try if it gives you any relief. It sounds expensive but the preparation is very oily and a little goes a long way.

Dave W

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Posted by Vic on 27/05/2018 11:40:24:

Posted by Mick Charity on 27/05/2018 05:33:18:

Vaseline is just about the only thing my hands can tolerate.

Have you tried Aloe Vera gel? I’ve found it very good on dry sore skin. You can “reactivate” it’s soothing effect once dry by moistening again with a little water. Holland and Barret sell it but make sure you get the pure Aloe gel without any additives.

Aloe Vera cured my dog's eczema. It was the only thing he didn't lick off as the taste is quite awful. You can grow your own, just slice bits off and rub it on the affected parts

Edited By duncan webster on 28/05/2018 14:26:04

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

From all the Posts on this subject,it seems that Hindsight is a wonderful thing,just a pity that we dont get it in time !

When I remember some of the stuff I handled,and cleaned up with over the years,I wonder that I have any hands left at all. Now,like many others,I take a bit more care,too late perhaps,but better late than never.

We need our fingers,how else can we pick our noses !! Think about it !

[Trevor Crossman 1Participant @trevorcrossman1]

Hi Dave W, I do have that product amongst my vast armoury of potions'n'lotions which I use to help keep my skin supple and unbroken, and I also use many other natural products which we grow such as Aloe Vera and Comfrey which I find to be more effective than synthetic/petroleum jelly based products. As Mick Charity has said, trying to have productive discussions with one's GP about eczema/dermatitis is very difficult because the condition has so many possible causes there are simply not the resources in the NHS systems to investigate everyone in detail and so the stock remedy is ''emollient + steroid ointment'' which only ameliorate the condition, but will not cure it.

After extensive reading on the subject over the past few years, I have found that in my own case extra amounts of certain vitamins and minerals will keep the skin on my hands rash-free and in very good condition and without the danger of excessive thinning posed by the use of steroid creams, provided of course that I am absolutely strict about PPE as soon as I unlock the 'shop door. No exceptions! Period!

Trevor.

[mick70Participant @mick70]

try toothpaste amazing stuff.

used to work where it was made and we always had a tub of it in workshop.

also good mixed in boiling water to clear sinuses.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Trevor I agree the NHS and local GP’s do their best but it is a vast subject and their first suggestion is always steroid creams, problem is when I used them yes they brought relief and the skin heals but it is so thin that the dermatitis quickly reappears and it’s a never ending circle, you end up experimenting and arriving at your own solution which works best for you. What vitamins have you found help your skin problems? I agree strict discipline is necessary to ensure no exposure to the known irritants, my regime lapsed the other day and I spilt some Citric Acid on my hand when descaling the shower head, am suffering a sore hand at the moment, still episodes like that are all part of learning and programming oneself to take care.

Dave W

[brickyParticipant @bricky]

I had soriosyis on my elbows habds knees and even in my hair.As I was having stomach problems someone suggested that Alovera juice was good for ones stomach,so I took a capful a day.I noticed that my sorioysis had disapeared about a month later so I atributed this to the juice.I have told other sufferers about this and those that have tried it have had good results.

Frank

[Cyril BonnettParticipant @cyrilbonnett24790]

Vic

When I started working for a local newspaper we used a hand cleaner that had some sort of abrasive in it, always remember it as my first few weeks working there gave me sore hands.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Muzzer on 27/05/2018 21:11:05:

I'm trying to imagine clothes that exfoliate your skin. Presumably underwear made of sandpaper?

Murray

As worn by the noted comedian, Dick Emery?

[Maurice Cox 1Participant @mauricecox1]

When I joined the G.P.O. back in the sixties, they supplied two kinds of soap, White Windsor, which was ordinary toilet soap, and Glycarin and Borax, which did not lather and felt very gritty, but did a good job of cleaning hands. As to soothing sore hands, my father in law worked on a farm, and swore by Udder Grease!

Maurice

[RobCoxParticipant @robcox]

From the looks of it I'm the only one who uses liquid soap – the sort from a pump action dispenser. No water at first, just soap and an old non-stick washing up sponge as a mild scrubbing brush. Once the soap has lifted the oil and grime, it washes off with water.

I sometimes use nitrile gloves, but they set off my eczema, so they're reserved for jobs using solvents eg white spirit.

There's an additional benefit too – the springs in the dispensers come in handy for projects later once they're empty.

Rob

[colin wilkinsonParticipant @colinwilkinson75381]

Rob, are you using powder free gloves? Powdered are known to cause some problems. Colin

[ZebethyalParticipant @zebethyal]

Posted by Georgineer on 26/05/2018 22:10:21:

No takers for a wet bar of soap sprinkled with Vim or Ajax then?

Or Best Universal Grit Grime and Effluent Remover?

George

If Daz 'ont wighten it, and OMO 'ont brighten it, B***er it.

Also the Finest Universal Cleanser Known

Ultimately known as, The Handier Houshold Help! – another Fred Wedlock fan I see.

[Author]

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