Removing paint from your hands is easy when it is latex, but when
you’re using oil based paints it’s not so easy to remove with most
cleaners without harming your skin.
Years ago when I started my
house painting and repair business, I would buy hand cleaners that were
solvent based to remove oil based paint from my hands. Most of the hand
cleaners back then had mineral spirits as part of their formula. As
you probably know mineral spirits is very hard on the skin.
After
using these hand cleaners for a few years, my hands started looking
more like tree bark than smooth skin. They did an adequate job of
cleaning but at the expense of poor quality skin. I then switched to
using citrus based hand cleaners for removing paint. I found that
citrus based hand cleaners were an improvement and cleaned my skin about
as well as the solvent based cleaners. The condition of my hands
improved. However, after using the citrus cleaners, I became allergic to
something in its ingredients. Perhaps it was the citrus extracts
themselves. I don't know for sure.
One day while painting the
interior trim of my own home and dreading cleaning my hands with cleaner
again, a thought occurred to me. Why not try baby oil and see if it
will remove oil base paint. Therefore, I applied baby oil to my hands
and started rubbing the oil into my dry skin and found that the oil base
paint was dissolving. I applied the baby oil 3 or 4 times to my hands
and rubbed it into my skin before rinsing with water. Then I dried my
hands very well and applied it one more time to remove any residual
paint. When I was done, my skin was soft, clean, and felt smooth. Of
course you should know, this was a vast improvement over anything I had
ever used before, and it is all I have used for years. Sometimes the
simplest things sitting right under your nose turn out to be the best
solution to your problem.
Here are several key things to remember
before using baby oil. Use the baby oil before apply water to your
hands. If you wet your hands first, the water will repel the baby oil
rendering it useless. You will need to apply the baby oil 2 to 3 times
to your hands before rinsing them with soap and warm water. Work the
baby oil into your skin and within two shakes of a cat's tail, you will
notice the oil based paint will start dissolving. Wash and then dry your
hands well. Reapply the baby oil to remove any residual oil paint. Baby
oil doesn't work quite as fast as your solvent based hand cleaners for
removing paint, but who cares when you can avoid having your skin look
like tree bark.
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