There seems to be lots of suggestions and I’d love to see how they compare to each other.

If enough of us post here in the comments section asking for a head to head hand cleaner shootout, you’ll have to do it! =)

Tim

I think there was something else on the market that you could rub into your hands but it was water soluble.. it was called something like liquid gloves or something.

Yeah, I believe this is it:
http://www.liquidgloves.net/

I usually just end up using Nitrile gloves for the most part - but sometimes it’s just inevitable and you get some grease on your hands - Lava is the bomb for that.

http://www.heavydutystore.com/PERMATEX_FAST_ORANGE_33013_Hand_Cleaner__33013_Cream_SMOOTH_p_18154.html

It is not the most industrial or voracious cleaner out there, but it is good at removing grease–and used with a nail brush–works good enough for me. My background with this product is from working as a mechanic in a bike shop. It seemed to remove any kind of grease or road grime at the end of the day. Plus the orange smell doesn’t seem too chemically or toxic.

When I was hardcore into grease monkeying I used to use a product called D&L Blue Label Hand Cleaner. Like the can says “Contains a Solvent”. D&L can get out the mechanic’s tan pretty good. D&L is better than Go-Jo. If you’re really filthy scuzzy and have to get really clean, D&L is the best I’ve ever used. You might just want to run that bar of Lava on yourself after you get done cleaning up with D&L though, to get rid of the solvent.

Or I suppose you could skip the high price of some hand cleaners and go right to the source. Gasoline, diesel fuel, laquer thinner, acetone, Safetykleen, etc. all make pretty good grease cutting agents. Just put down the lit cigarette first huh?

I recently found a pretty good way to get my hands clean. I bought a box of 20 Mule Power Borax to use as welding flux, but tried some with some liquid soap to wash my hands. Let me tell you when they say detergent booster they ain’t a kidding! Borax has a nice grittiness to it too, good for a nice scour. Now I keep a little container of Borax by my sink, just for washing up with.

Borax and any old soap is pretty good for washing up. It gets me clean.

If you’re really desperate to clean your hands there’s always the old Comet, and Palmolive trick too. Take a palmful of Comet, and add some dish soap to that, lather up. Pheeeew! Cleans out your nasal passages to boot! Be warned, this is really harsh, and will dry the heck out of your skin. But any effective degreaser is going to do that right?