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.
1. Soap
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.
2. Lava Soap
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.
3. Hairspray
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.
4. Bleach
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 for others who find these 4 tips don’t fully get the ink off.
Black ink all over hands – tried nail polish remover, hair spray, Soft Scrub, baby wipes (which usually remove pen ink just fine), hydrogen peroxide, etc. Nothing helped until I used the Bleach solution. Non-chlorine bleach doesn’t work — it has to have the chlorine in it. Works in seconds!
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
Magic Eraser worked like you wouldn’t believe!
I tried the hairspray remedy , it didn’t work for me , but a few seconds in the warm water and bleach made it disappear almost immediately not even a trace left behind, I would have tried this method sooner or later off my own ” bat ” but seeing that it worked for so many on this blog I gave it a go for my second attempt…thank you
Lemon doesn’t work at ALL. Peroxide does work some. Nail polish remover helps…but next I’m trying hair spray.
BLACK PRINTER INK! it went ALLOVER! now removing it from the sink was easy but from hands wasnt easy at all, the things that worked for me was:
Hand Cream for 10mins then wash off with a Brillo Soap Pad! tshowers was 100% correct!!
We tried oven cleaner and that took off about 90% but the hand cream and brillo soap pad took the last 10% off
(dont be put off the idea but it does take a lot of scrubbing)
My dad is also an eczema sufferer and we really didnt want to use “hard” liquids that would harm the skin, oven cleaner was our last resort and it worked but we wish we had read this before and used the brillo soap pad
BIG THANK YOU TO TSHOWERS
Used the 10/1 Water/Bleach Soloutin and a Sponge and ink came off expept blue
I went directly to the bleach and water and presto! amazing results 🙂
I used hair spray and nail polish remover, and nail polish remover worked more for me.
Hairspray and acetone didn’t work. Didn’t have pure bleach, so I used Clorox Clean-up that I had on hand. All is right with the world. 🙂
A bit of various items but dish soap and toothpaste with several tries
Hairspray gets ink out of fabric and works really well. Used it on my hands and then tried dish soap didn’t work. looked this up on al gore’s internet, diluted bleach with a shot of dish soap….that’s the answer, worked like a charm!!!!!! Thank you
I tried everything – usually use a nail brush and scrub my hands til the bone shows thru!! Tried the toilet bleach (in the sink – didnt fancy putting my hands in the toilet just after id been!) Conclusion : Bleach and Warm Water works a treat followed by some Aloe Vera otherwise it starts to burn a little bit!
Used carpet spray and a pumice stone to get the cartridge ink off my husbands fingers.
Lava soap got most of it out. I removed the rest using Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
I have had a cleaning bisuness for 17 years,and I can tell you that from the sound of it,your glass is etched,in which case the damage is permanent.Does it look cloudy?If so,then all you can do is replace the glass. Unfortunately, I have seen this happen to glass that my customers have paid as much as $3000 for.If you do replace the glass,perhaps a brushed glass that will not show etching is what is in order.Sorry!
Was changing a printer cartridge (magenta) and it leaked on my hands a lot, arghhhh. Had no nail polish here, hair spray, didn’t help much, soap and warm water a bit…but the one that worked gr8? Bleach….poured it in an old plastic milk jug bottom, cut out, and worked awesome. thank you.
Wife said use lemon juice,I could see it will work after a lot of rubbing. But i used neat household bleach.all fingers were INK free in seconds, then i used hand cream. GREAT.!!!!.
I used a dab of bleach on q-tip and then apply on all the ink areas, then washed with Lava soap. works well on the hands. still have ink under my nails, but not so bad. thanks!
Soft Scrub with Bleach
Tried bleach diluted 10:1with water NOT NEAT then wash off with soap & water great!!
Thanks every one (Jesus lives!!)
Peter
1:10 bleach+water mixture worked like magic to remove deep blue ink from my hands.
Soft scrub with bleach worked pretty good.
I found Sard soap and a scrubbing brush reasonably successful.