Without carefully considering the type of hand cleaner that you use, you run the risk of damaging your skin which can then lead to painful conditions such as cracked skin, dermatitis or even result in an allergic reaction; according to Chris Brooks, technical manager at Swarfega,
Not many people realise the damage they can cause to their skin by using the incorrect cleaner.
Choosing one that is too weak can result in scrubbing the skin too hard to remove ingrained dirt and grim, weakening the top layer of skin, which results in dryness and cracking that can then lead to dirt getting deeper into the skin on the next exposure.
Often, mechanics will choose a strong hand cleaner to avoid over-scrubbing and to make sure their hands are cleaned quickly, however heavy duty hand cleaners may also remove naturally occurring oils in the skin.
Once these oils are removed, the skin’s ability to act as a protective barrier is compromised, allowing chemicals, irritants and dirt to penetrate below the top layer of the skin; if this happens repeatedly, people can develop dermatitis or even an allergic reaction.
Swarfega’s protection creams stop dirt becoming ingrained and work in tandem with the Swarfega hand cleaners, to remove grime whilst minimising the damage caused to the skin.
Know your cleaner
Chris outlined to Garage Wire some of the things you should consider before starting to scrub: “Within the Swarfega range, there are hand cleaners of varying strength that are targeted at different types of grease and grime.
“As a rule, you should always choose the weakest strength hand cleaner that’ll do the job to avoid stripping the important natural oils from your skin.
“Choosing the weaker cleaner will minimise the loss of these oils and will help your skin stay healthy.
“Once you’ve checked how dirty your hands are, have a think about what kind of muck and dirt is on your skin.
“For light to medium soiling with general grease and grime, Swarfega’s Classic green gel is ideal.
“It contains a blend of hydrocarbon solvent and emulsifiers to quickly remove these types of soiling; it also has a skin conditioner in to leave the skin soft and supple.
“For more ingrained oil, grease and general soilings, a product with a non-abrasive scrubber in the formulation may be required.
“Swarfega Orange is a fast-acting, solvent free, heavy duty hand cleaner containing natural cornmeal instead of plastic microbeads for an effective, deep clean.
Avoid skin damage
“Swarfega Lemon is also great for medium to heavy soiling, this contains highly developed surfactant cleaning agents that cling to the dirt and help it wash away.
“It also contains cornmeal for a deep cleaning scrub; for deeply ingrained oil and grease that’s hard to shift, look no further than Swarfega Heavy.
“It removes oil, grease, tar, diesel, creosote and carbon where other hand cleaners will wilt in the face of such tough opponents.
“For people working with paint rather than oil and grease, a specialist cleaner such as Swarfega’s Paint Pro should be used.
“This combines a different solvent to the oil and grease cleaners with cornmeal to remove paints, inks, resins and adhesives.
“Matching up the cleaner to the dirt is important, as different agents are used in Swarfega’s cleaners to target the grime in question.
“Choosing the wrong cleaner can result in additional scrubbing and use of a stronger formulation to shift the dirt, both of which can damage the skin.”
For more information about Swarfega email [email protected], call 01773 855 100 or click “more details” below.