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 getting 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.

1. 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.
   

1. 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.
   

1. 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.
   

1. 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.