As an ink remanufacturer and filler, many people at home attempt to re-fill their ink cartridges and find that the ink used in printers is very hard to clean off. Unlike typical pen ink, printer ink is designed to be very permanent and it can be very hard to clean off. This is because most home printers use aqueous inks based on a mixture of water, glycol and some dyes or pigments. These dyes and pigments are what stay on your hands after an accidental spill or mis-hap.
Here are some of the best solutions of removing ink off your hands that I’ve found. Your results may vary depending on the type and color of ink you have on your skin.
- First, just like your mom would suggest, use soap and warm water to see how much of it you can get off. I’m sure most of the people reading this article have tried this; I just wanted to cover all the basics first.
- After you’ve tried to wash your hands with regular soap, step up a notch and purchase some lava soap. It’s commonly known as black soap and is made by WD-40. What sets this soap apart from regular soap is that it’s made with ground pumice, which is material that comes from lava (hence the name). With this added ingredient, it usually gets ink right off.
2. Another common household item that can be used to clean off ink (either on your hands or on other surfaces) is common hairspray. Simply spray it on the area of ink and let sit for 6-10 seconds. Then wash with soap and warm water.
3. If, after all these methods, you’re still seeing ink on your hands, I would recommend taking 1 part bleach and 10 parts water and soaking your hands for a few minutes. The bleach should clean the remaining ink off your hands. After you clean your hands, I would recommend applying a hand moisturizer since the bleach can remove more then just ink.
If you have any other suggestions or tips on how you cleaned ink off your hands, feel free to comment on this page.
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128 Comments (Leave a Reply)
after having tried all options, bleach worked! thanks!
Rub with lemon remove soome but not all
ckAfter everything else failed Bleach (white King) did the trick
I got lots of blue ink on several fingers. I first used soap and water. I removed my nail polish and tried the nail polish remover. Still blue. Cleanser didn’t work so I went with the 1 to 10 bleach. Like magic, the ink came off and as a plus, it cleaned my nails too! Thanks for the tip!
Thsnks for the info…
I tend to stay away from chemicals and this may not have saved my life but it did save the appearance of my hands
For me too it was the bleach that did the trick…
I have found Mean Green Power Hand Scrub to be the simplest way to remove all inks from my hands.
that bleach trick worked like magic… thanks a lot!!
I have been refilling cartridges for about 10 years. The best thing I have ever used for getting the ink off hands is called Redorun. You can usally get it from places that sell refilling equipment,
Hairspray removed most of it. Then I put a little bleach on the remaining spots and washed it off immediately.
Tried several of those mentioned, nothing worked. Sprayed on some Clorox Clean-Up with Bleach and got it all off. Thanks for this page – very helpful
I tried soap, fingernail polish remover, more soap, bleach, soaked in bleach and water but the thing that worked for me was the pumice stone. Hard on the hands, had to use lots and lots of lotion, but it worked.
bleach mixture worked like a charm!!!
Arm and Hammer baking soda took off the magenta ink I got on my fingers when changing a cartridge. I t was surprisingly quick after trying lighter fluid and hairspray. Won’t use anythig else.
Tried the hair spray first. I could see it worked a little because the drops running from my fingers on the sink had color to them. Then after a few tries of hairspray did the 1 to 10 parts of Clorax. It did the trick to remove what was left. Thank you. It was a life saver.
DyeGone works best
after not much else worked (didn’t want to revert to bleach) I dipped a “Polarbar”Profile by Flowery (it was something I had around when I did some wood refinishing:it’s a fine grit for refinishing fingernails)…so I guess it’s equivalent to a pumice stone, which I don’t own..anyhow, I made a paste of peroxide and Bonami cleanser, and mushed it on the bar, and with very little rubbing, got the darned stuff completely off.
carpet cleaner worked. hairspray didn’t work. didn’t try anything else.
tuff stuff upholstery cleaner 1 minute then it all washed off. from wallmart
last night some one spreaded colour printer ink on my white car i ve washed it with plain water in the morning as i was geting late 4 office now i m in office but upset and worried about the leftover marks on my new car
YESTERDAY I COVERED MY HANDS IN BLACK INK TO REMOVE THIS I WASHED MY HANDS IN A MIXTURE OF VIM OBTAINED FROM SUPER MARKETS AND LIQID SOAP IT MAY HAVE TO USED MORE THAN ONCE BUT IT CERTANLY IS SUCCESFULL
Ciggarette ash and a pumice stone, got ash tip from a hairdresser when I asked about removing hairdye from skin so thought it may be worth a try and it worked.
Unfortunately it had to be the bleach, not a nice thought but it worked the best and got rid of it all – had to apply lashings of moisturiser to compensate. Gloves next time definitely!!
Have no idea why they give all those choices. Like everyone else, who had success, I used STRAIGHT bleach..came off like butter. Rediculous to show hairspray and nail polish or alcohol…they dont work.
Thank for at least showing the bleach.
The reason why there’s more than one choice there is because some people don’t have blech in the house or they don’t want to use such a harsh chemical on their skin with other less abrasive solutions may work. Glad the bleach worked for you though.
Soft Scrub with Bleach – directly on hands works very well.
crest toothpaste worked best for me after trying hairspray,nailpolish remover, soap, comet.
i use bleach with dish soap, it instantly removes the stain.
bleach done the trick after washing with soap an tried white spirit to but bleach is defo the key