Have you ever had paintbrush bristles leave little white dots of paint all over your skin? Or maybe you’ve gotten paint on your hands from holding the brush too tightly. Either way, it can be annoying to have paint on your skin. And it can be frustrating to try to clean it off. But don’t worry – there are a few methods that can help.
Painting is one of those home projects that can be a lot of work. On top of it, no matter what you do to prevent messes, paint still seems to get in some places. One place that paint can land is on your skin. It can be hard to get off! Here are a few tips to help get paint off your skin during your next home project!
How to Get Paint off Skin and Hands
Here are the steps to get paint off of your hands and skin after you have painted.
Pretreat
Before rubbing your hands under the water, pretreat it with your favorite kind of oil. This will loosen the paint and moisturize your skin before washing. You can use food based oils such as vegetable or olive oil or a skin friendly essential oil. More traditional skin oils, such as baby oil or cocoa butter oil.
Work the oil into your skin over the stuck on paint. Use your fingers and the oil to try and work the paint loose if possible.
Wash Your Hands
Via Burst on Pexels
Use regular soap and warm water to begin washing your hands. Dish soap seems to work wonders with paint removal, so you may want to opt for this.
Add additional soap to your hands if you are having a hard time getting both the oil and paint off. Turn the water up to as hot as you can and where it is still tolerable.
Hard to Get Paint
Even after the moisturizing preparation and washing your hands with soap and water, you may still need to do some touch ups. Start by rewashing your hands again.
Dry your hands and inspect them for any leftover paint. You can dab a bit of nail polish remover onto a cotton ball and use it to remove any leftover paint.
Additional Tools
There are a few items you may want to have on hand as you do the steps above. Grab a washcloth that you can use to rub on your skin as you wash them.
A unused toothbrush may also be handy to scrub paint off of your skins. Remember that toothbrushes touch the soft skin of your gums, so they should be fine to use on your hands. Just be sure not to scrub too hard so as not to hurt yourself.
Aftercare
Via Moose Photos on Pexels
Once all of the paint is off of your skin, it is important to put back the moisture you may have stripped away while cleaning. Choose a scent free hand lotion or few drops of your favorite moisturizing oil and apply them to your hands.
Keeping Paint Off of Skin
Consider investing in some rubber or latex gloves that you can wear while painting to prevent paint from staying on skin. Choose gloves that allow for dexterity and are breathable.
If gloves aren’t your thing, then wash your hands a few times while completing your paint project. This will prevent a large amount of buildup on your hands and make for less cleanup.
