How to Clean and Remove Ink Off Hands
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.
54 Comments
Excellent tips, keep up the great work!
The Bleach was really the only one that worked for me. All of them help to fade it a little, but with ALOT of scrubbing. Only a few seconds in the bleach and it was gone!
Oxyclean work real good. Made a oxyclean paste and used a brilo pad.
bleach worked for me had loads on my hand dont even need to leave that long about 15 secinds!! thought i would be spending all week getting it off just need to wash really well and use some hand stuff aftert thanks xx
I actually had lots of pen ink on me and i went sraight to the hairspray which worked excellently
thx.
the bleach tip was AMAZING. thank you sooooo much!
i thought i would have to go to classes with printer ink all over my hands!
nothing would take it off, but the bleach tip was an absolute godsend.
The bleach did the trick, thanks much!
Bleach was the winner for me, thank god as had a film audition next day. This saved me! Thanks!
All I had was clorox cleanup, but it worked really well.
I didn’t have any of that Lava soap, but I did have a pumice stone and that worked out. Thanks for the inspiration.
Bleach straight on paper towel worked easily.Denatured alcohol and paint thinner didn’t work
I had black Calidad ink from the spent cartridge on my hand. I first tried to remove it with metho, then soap and water without success. After reading this wonderful page I tried hair spray which removed a lot of the black ink but left a brown stain. I didn’t have bleach so I soaked my hand in diluted Coles Domestic Cleaner (like Domestos)for about 5-10 mins. This worked well except for the tiny cracks in my (oldish) fingers so I used the same product neat on a cotton wool ball and wiped the rest off. Brilliant. Thanks for being there. I’m constantly amazed at the information that can be found on the net. Thanks again and again.
thanks for the tip! bleach worked the best.
Windex w/ ammonia works well also
Hi,
I am looking for ink cartridges for the Epson RX700. I have bought compatibles in the past but the ink quality is not so great or the chips dont recognise. Any help would be appreciated
try dish soap and a 3m scratch pad it works well. just be careful not to rub your shin raw
Thanks had it all over my hands and tried your tips really worked
Bleach is the best
Thanks for the assist
you can use white spirit and hand wash then leave on for 2 mionutes and rub alot until ink comews off
For a toxic-free solution, try baking soda and witch hazel. Works well for the counter tops too!
I like the hairspray thing, the bleach sounds scary.
Thanks for the tips! Bleach worked the best!
Bleach works the best
scrub gentle with wire wool
I didn’t have anything on the list, but I used Hydrogen Peroxide(the stuff used to clean cuts) and it worked wonders. Just wet a cloth with it and it practically works like an eraser, there’s also no bad smell or anything to worry about!
Bleach worked – amazing – used it straight, no dilution.
Direct application of Bleach did the job…fast!
[...] How to Clean Printer Ink Off Your Hands [...]
Thanks heaps, the bleach worked a treat. Went from having bright pink hands,to looking like i have just taken off nailpolish! Much better (residue in the nail bed wouldnt budge, but rest was off in seconds).
Bleach was amazing. I just stuck my hands in the water and bleach solution and shortly after, my hands were mostly clean. Very little scrubbing required because it dissolved the ink.
Thank you.
Thank you sooo much. Clearing up for Christmas I moved a bag of old Epsom cartridges that we hoped to hand in for recycling (apparently Epsom don’t take ‘em back though) and unknown to me one (black) had leaked. I got it all over my hands and on the floor near the front door!! I had visions of playing hostess to my mum-in-law for Christmas dinner with black hands and nails. Tried first washup liquid and then butter and sugar (for abrasion)- no good. We couldn’t find any meths, white spirit or Swarfega, all things we thought might help. And then I found your site – brilliant. We did have Milton bleach, and it worked like a charm. I used it neat and worked quickly with a nail brush, washed off and used hand cream.
Once again, thank you for taking the time and trouble to put this site up.
Lynette
I keep a small spray bottle of Meths for just that, works fine.
It was canon ink. black. I tried hairspray. no luck. I tried bleach, and it came right off.
Brillo worked!! Thanks
BLEECH IS THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED TO ME.I WAS TRYING TO FILL MY INK CARTRIDGE INK GOT EVERYWHERE. NOTHING WORKED.I WAS WALKING AROUND WITH BLACK HANDS.SOMETHING TOLD ME TO GOOGLE IT AND IT BROUGHT ME TO THIS SITE THANK YOU SO MUCH BLEECH WORKED INSTANTLY IT CAME RIGHT OFF
I wouldn’t bother to try anything else but bleach. I didn’t even dilute it: dampened cloth,wiped ink off, wash hands with soap and water and applied hand cream afterwards. Excellent site.
Thank You Very Much for this helpful page.
I used soap and hot water and the ink came right off. You had to scratch at the ink a few times but it worked!
Bleach worked for me, tried soap, hairspray and even WD-40, nothing worked but the bleach/water solution.
Thank you very very much for saving my day!!
Bleach is the solution for me:)
And I had actually tried 95% alcohol, it DOES NOT work! So don’t try it!
Thankyou so much, a pea size amount on a dampened cloth worked an apsolute treat! Even down nails!
I wouldnt reccommend Swarfega, it hardly made a difference at all, soap was more effective. Just go straight to bleach.
I was a bit apprehensive to use the bleach but wash with handwash and moisturise with a good hand cream.
It worked a treat many thanks!
Bleach was the only thing that worked for me. It removed printer ink from my hands. Great site!
bleach worked instantly, though i had some ink on face too so didnt want to use bleach, make-up remover worked well too.
Seem most testimonies pointed to bleach effectiveness. If bleach is that good in cleaning ink stained hand, I have an idea why not using it to clean clogged print head.
The mechanics soap in the Orange bottle and de-greaser work well as well.
The bleach worked very well on my hands. I then thought I would try it on my ink spotted t-shirt instead of throwing the bleach water out. The ink isn’t coming out of the shirt but you never claimed it would do that either.
bleach saved my life I was trying to figure out what to do. I had a meeting to go to with ink all over my hands and I googled this site and within minutes my problem was solved.
Thanks , MerCi
thank you so much!!!!!!
Did not have any straight bleach…I did have some mildew remover bathroom cleaner that had bleach in it…that did the trick…my hands were covered, so was my lower chest/upper belly (from when I tried to catch the bottle as it was tipping over on the edge of my desk in front of me)…used the cleaner both spraying directly onto my hands and also spraying it onto paper towels, if I had a rag or crappy towel around, I probably would have used that, which from other cleaning experiences should have done better than the paper towels…hope this helps anybody…
Hi Everyone… I joined in the ranks of “black hands Inc” this pm. Nothing worked… sigh. I googled the problem; & Voila’… lots of ideas. I’d have tried the bleach trick; but used the last bit of it a week ago. BUT…along the same lines, I had an “Instant Spot Remover” (that’s the product name; the company name is Whink) that worked wonders! It actually kind of dissolved/disappeared in front of my very eyes! No bleach in the ingredients; “Methylpyrrolidone & Isopropyl Alcohol” are listed.
Thanks to all!!
bleach was best.3 parts water to 1 part bleach in campbell soup can,soaked fingers 10 seconds,wiped with paper towel,great help.thanx.
Thanks for the tip, the bleach really worked
Hair spray didn’t work at all so I mixed a little bleach with warm soap and water and it came right off. I thought I was going to be walking around with my left forefinger blue for a long time. Thank goodness for all the tips.
Judy