I can’t say I’ve every got my hands really dirty while modding PCs, but like many people here I’ve got a penchant for getting them into quite appallingly greasy conditions by playing with the oily bits of two- and four-wheeled vehicles.

Based on my years of amateur grease-monkeying, I thought I’d share my thoughts on some of the hand cleaning products out there.

Ingrained oil & grease may be de rigueur if you’re a mechanic, but if you fiddle around with infernal combustion engines as a hobby at weekends & work in an office during the week, you’ll want to get the smeg of your hands so it doesn’t show up against your white collar.



Deb “Swarfega”

Having been around since the 1940’s, Swarfega is the granddaddy of them all, and is practically a generic term for industrial hand cleaning products. If you work somewhere that has industrial had cleaner dispensers as well a regular soap, chances are it’ll be this ubiquitous green goop in it.

This always surprises me, as frankly, it’s not very good. At best, it’s only marginally more effective than a bar of soap, and it leaves an unsavoury greasy residue on your hands than you have to wash off afterwards if you want to avoid lubricating everything you touch.

Typical price: £2.49 for a 500g pot

Overall rating: 2 out of 10.



Comma “Manista”

This was the product I used for years before discovering something better - no real complaints as the “soap” portion of it is pretty effective – and is made even more effective by the “polychips” in the formulation: these small plastic grains help get the grime out of your fingerprints & under your nails.

Typical price: £3.99 for a 500ml pump

Overall rating: 7 out of 10.



Loctite “Fast Orange”

I “discovered” this in around 1998 and was very impressed: it was a quantum leap better than anything I’d used before.
Orange oil (if the advertisers are to be believed) is meant to be a very effective natural degreaser – even if it isn’t at least it smells fairly pleasant. Like “Manista”, “Fast Orange” is basically a high performance liquid soap with a granular component, but what makes it so much more effective is the size of the grains: “Fast Orange” uses ground pumice rather than plastic grains. These Pumice grains an order of magnitude smaller (i.e. 1/10th the size), and get into nooks and crannies far more effectively.

Typical price: £4.99 for a 400ml “Dalek”; £16.99 for a 3L tub.

Overall rating: 10 out of 10 – hand cleaners don’t get any better than this.

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Wow! Hand cleaners, dremels and metrosexuals all in the same night. I am thoroughly impressed.
Only one of those I have heard of (probably due to side of the pond) is the Fast Orange. Lava soap w/ pumice or Gojo w/ pumice is probably the most common here. We use the Gojo here at work.

I've been using fast orange for a few years and I highly recommend it. And no, Johnny isn't lying about the smell.

Powdered BORAXO soap and good ol H2O...nuthin beats it...I got a gallon jug of loctite Orange too, but the BORAXO powder rulz IMO...been using it since high school metal shop days vintage "74"

Gojo. There is no substitute.

Quote: Originally Posted by j-dogg Gojo. There is no substitute.

Agreed. Besides, after I'm done with my hands, I need something that abrasive to clean them.

GoJo Natural Orange