How To Get Silicone Off Of Your Hands In A Safe Manner

Written by Skye Rhodes Last Updated: Sep 7, 2024

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Silicone sealant is a multipurpose substance but if you don’t know how to get silicone off your hands can be problematic.

It is a sticky material used to do some improvement like refilling the cracks on houses or leaking roofs, etc.

We usually use our hands to spread these surfaces’ silicon if it is on a large scale.

Its sticky nature coats the hands and causes a lot of pain when removing it once you are done with the project.

Getting this substance off of your hands can be difficult, but if you’re prepared, it is possible to clean it up.

The key to removing silicone caulk is not giving it a chance to dry.

If it does, you’ll wait for it to come off on its own while your skin goes through its natural process of shedding.

How To Get Silicone Off Of Your Hands In A Safe Manner

Here are some of the ways and products that can help remove the silicone.

Step 1: Use Nail Polish Remover

The most preferred nail polish remover is the one that has acetone.

Acetone is an organic chemical found in some nail polish removers.

Acetone chemicals can dissolve and weaken silicone caulk with ease.

Pure acetone can as well be used.

This substance helps remove the silicone caulk with ease without experiencing any pain.

The chemical contained in acetone will just wear off the caulk.

How To Use It

Take a small piece of cloth and dip it in a nail polish remover containing acetone.

Gently apply the acetone to the affected area until the silicone begins to loosen.

Roll-off the residual with your fingers to help the process along.

The organic content of acetone will help wet the silicone caulk and make it easy to shed off the sticky silicone caulk.

Please wash your hands with warm water and dry it with a clean cloth once the sealant has been completely removed.

Acetone does not cause any harm to your hands, but it causes some dryness.

It is advisable, therefore, to apply a moisturizer to your hands once they are clean.

Benefits Of Using Nail Polish Remover

• It contains acetone, which dissolves the silicone easily
• It is readily available
• It does not react with the hands
• Easy to use

Step 2: Use Of Mineral Spirit

Mineral spirit is a softening solvent used to remove silicone from the surfaces, including the hands.

Mineral spirit softens the adhesive caulk and makes it easy to peel off.

While mineral spirits are not risky, make sure to altogether wash in the wake of coming into contact with them.

Being in direct contact with mineral spirits for a longer period can prompt truly frightful synthetic consumption.

Benefits of using a mineral spirit

• Less harmful as it does not react with your skin
• It peels off the caulk with ease

Step 3: Use butter and baking soda

Apply baking soda and butter to your hands and rub them together.

The butter will help in lubricating and thus loosen the caulk.

On the other hand, the baking soda will act as a gentle abrasive agent to scrub the caulk off after scrubbing.

Then, use regular soap water to rinse off any oily remains left by the butter.

Butter and baking soda leave your hands clean and soft.

Benefits of using a baking soda

• It frees the skin from itching, irritation, and infections
• It protects the skin against drying
• It’s a useful antifungal agent which protects the skin and the nails from fungal infections
• Soothes the sensitive hand skins
• Butter and baking soda leave your hands clean and soft

Step 4: Use of Tub O’ Towel

This Tub O’ Towel contains a unique bond buster technology to loosen sticky silicone and allow you to wipe it away quickly.

These heavy-duty wipes contain ingredients like lanolin, aloe, and vitamin E, which soften the skin and hydrate it.

The Bond Bluster additive dissolves the molecular bond between the caulk and the hand.

Thus removing the residual with ease without heavy scrubbing, which might be harmful to your hands.

How To Use Tub O’ towel

Take a heavy-duty, Tub O’ Towel wipe.

Wipe over the caulk residual while allowing the cleaning solution to soak in and loosen the caulk.

Gently wipe the residual off your skin.

Allow the cleaning solution to lift away the residue gently.

Benefits Of Using Tub O’ Towel

• The tub o’ towel contains vitamin E and aloe, which softens and hydrates the skin
• It has a pleasant smell
• It can be used over and over

Step 5: Use Of Powdered Laundry Detergent

Apply small amounts of laundry detergent to your hands and rub them gently with pumice.

Take a small amount of vegetable oil, apply it on your hands, and then lather it with laundry soap and wash well.

Benefits Of Using Powdered Laundry Detergent

• Detergents are readily available
• It leaves the hands smooth and soft since it includes the use of vegetable oil
• Does not react with your hands

Step 6: Remove It While Is Still Wet

The best way to remove sealant easily is to attack the problem before the material has had a chance to dry.

First, finish the area you’re working on.

Stopping midway through laying silicone sealant can disturb your process and create a sloppy, uneven look.

So it’s best not to compromise your work to get your hands clean a couple of minutes faster.

Afterward, simply take a paper towel and thoroughly wipe the skin clean.

This will remove all of the large globs of silicone, but there can be some residue left behind regardless.

The small parts can be removed using other chemicals like nail polish remover.

Since a significant piece of keeping your hands clean when caulking is to have the option to clean them immediately.

It tends to be useful to continue cleaning supplies with you as you do your caulking.

Keeping a perfect plastic pack and a couple of paper towels close to you.

While you can have clean hands when you finish your task and the waiting bother of indicators built up with dry silicone.

Benefits Of Removing The Caulk While Still Wet

• It’s less adhesive to the skin than when it dries up completely
• It does not include a vigorous physical process to remove as you just wipe with a towel thoroughly

Step 7: Rub Your Hands With A Plastic Bag

Another way of how to get silicone off hands is with a simple plastic bag.

Take a plastic grocery bag, place it between your hands.

Rub your hands together with the bag between them to help scrape the caulk off your hands.

When the silicone hasn’t dried yet, it sticks to the bag more than to your hands, removing much of the remaining caulk.

Though this trick is a little unconventional, it’s cited by specific home improvement resources as being effective.

Benefits Of Using A Plastic Bag

• It is safe as it does not react with your skin
• It’s readily available
• It’s convenient to use since the caulk has a high affinity to the plastic bag than the hands

Step 8: Use Of Rubbing Alcohol

Apply rubbing alcohol to your hands to loosen the silicone caulk and carefully rub your hands together.

Rubbing on alcohol, your hands cool down your hands and softens the silicon in your hands, scrubs, and dries out.

Use on scrapes and slices or to clean hands.

Be sure not to scrub too harshly as this can irritate your hands and dry them out.

Rinse your hands using running water to remove the alcohol and caulk.

Your hands are now clean and off any caulk being safe.

Benefits Of Using Alcohol

• It is safer since it causes no harm to the skin
• It can cause drying to the skin if not well used, so ensure you scrub the hands nicely

Step 9: Try Using A Hairdryer

Silicon is a synthetic compound.

When any synthetic mixture is heated, it weakens gradually.

Because of this property, it is recommended to use a hairdryer to loosen the caulk’s hold on your hands.

Turn the dryer on and wave it over the affected areas, allowing the silicone to gradually warm.

Regulate the amount of heat released from the dryer.

You can start at the lowest.

Increase gradually till you feel the warmth.

Once the silicone has heated up, try scrubbing your hands with a sponge or another mild abrasive to get it off.

Benefits Of Using The Hairdryer

• The amount of heat produced can be regulated
• It’s readily available
• The heat weakens the caulk quickly without using more energy

Step 10: Try Washing It With Water

If the caulk on your hands hasn’t dried, you should be able to remove much of it with a paper towel or plastic bag.

To get the last of it, rinse with water.

As you rinse, periodically scrub your hands with a sponge, paper towel, or mild abrasive.

Please note that you should not use a nice towel because silicone is waterproof; once it sticks to the towel, it will not get off.

Choose a towel that you will not need to use again.

Benefits Of Using Water

• It is readily available
• It’s natural and does not cause any harm to the skin

Step 11: Use Eucalyptus Oil

Put a lot of eucalyptus oil on a paper towel and rub your hands.

Wash off with soapy water.

Lightly Spray Preen on your hands and rub them gently.

Then wash your hands well with liquid soap and warm water.

Benefits Of Using Eucalyptus Oil

• It’s is safe since it only requires you to rub your hands
• It leaves the hands moisturized due to its oily effect

Step 12: Use Wash Up Powder

Rinse your hands with some white spirit.

This will help the water to wet your hands since silicone is waterproof.

Then get some washing up powder and massage it into your hands.

Washing up powder will loosen up the silicone caulk and works on it.

Benefits Of Using Wash Up Powder

• White spirit help to soften the silicone caulk thus enhances the water to wet the hands
• Wash up powder massage loosens the caulk and removes it

Step 13: Use Baby Wipes

Baby wipes are suitable for people with sensitive skin since you are not using harsh solvents.

The process takes a little bit long time to complete and uses several wipes at the same time.

You can end up using 8-10 wipes for better results.

As much as the process may seem not economical, it is safer to use.

Benefits Of Using Baby Wipes

• Useful to people with sensitive skin, which can easily react with chemicals
• They leave the hands soft and smooth after use
• They also work on any bacteria on your hands since they are antibacterial

Step 14: Use An Abrasive

Though silicone is tough, rubbing it off can help remove it from the hands.

Kitchen sponges are useful in rubbing off the silicone from your hands.

Pumice stones can as well be used as abrasive.

But when using pumice stones, you should be careful not to rub your skin raw.

The silicone will fall off by itself, so there is no need to irritate your skin too much.

After using all the ways mentioned earlier, you might find that some silicon traces remain.

How To Use It

So for any caulk that remains, start by rubbing butter all over your hands.

It’s best to cut off a piece of butter rather than using the whole stick if you plan to use the butter for culinary purposes later.

Next, apply baking soda to your hands and rub them together.

The butter will lubricate and loosen the caulk while the baking soda will act as a gentle abrasive agent to scrub the caulk away.

Use regular hand soap to wash off any oily residue left behind by the butter.

When all these methods have failed you, simply wait.

Sometimes those stubborn spots of silicone on your hands will just fall off automatically.

Scrubbing and rubbing too much may harm your hands, so the best thing to do is just to wait for it to fall on its own.

We understand that our bodies always shed off the dead skins.

Once areas covered with the silicone wears off, it will just fall off with the caulk.

Choosing Silicone Remover

When choosing a silicone remover, you should be keen to ensure that the products you select are safe for the body.

Some chemicals may be harmful to your body; any may react badly and may cause more harm than good.

Read through the product to the atheist that it is safe for use.

Some products can remove sticky silicone correctly but not from your hands.

Don’t use harsh solvents.

When it comes to getting silicone caulk off of your hands, stick to the safe methods that have described in this article.

Don’t risk trying anything that may hurt you.

Risks Of Removing Silicone

Acetone and mineral spirits are safe for brief use on your hands, other, harsher chemicals can present serious problems.

Many noxious or caustic solvents can be harmful if touched, inhaled, or ingested.

So you’ll want to stay away from them since such products can bleaching to your hands, scorch them, and many more effects.

These products include strong acids and bases, bleaching, drain cleaner, and paint thinner.

Never utilize a sharp apparatus or a cruel grating to eliminate silicone caulk from your hands genuinely.

In spite of the fact that it might be enticing to utilize a blade or a small bunch of steel fleece to scratch it.

These strategies run a high danger of harming your hands.

Useful Tips

Never use a sharp tool or a harsh abrasive to remove silicone caulk from your hands physically.

Though it may be tempting to use a knife or a handful of steel wool to scrape or cut annoying dried-on caulk away from your hands.

All these methods run a high risk of injuring your hands.

On top of this, there’s a minimal guarantee that they work well against the gummy, clingy silicone texture.

It’s good to try your best to prevent the silicone from sticking.

When spreading the silicone on the surface, always remember to dip the hands in water before touching the silicone.

This will ensure that your skin remains moist before it comes into contact with the silicone.

Wet hands do not stick to the silicone caulk immediately like the dry one.

This will keep your hands from sticking very fast to the caulk.

So, before you start spreading silicon on your objects, ensure you keep water next to you to keep dipping your hands.

Though this advice probably goes without saying for most, in the interests of safety, it bears mentioning.

Kitchen wipes, Fine-coarseness sandpaper (in case you’re cautious), and Pumice stones are all suitable abrasives for usage.

CH3)2CO and mineral spirits are commonly ok for brief use on your hands.

Numerous toxic or offensive solvents can be hurtful whenever contacted, breathed in, or ingested.

So you’ll need to remain far away from them.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, silicone is an effective sealant that is widely used and most preferred by many people to do repair projects.

We have deliberately assessed the alternatives of how to get silicone off hands.

Thus, depending on highlights that make up an ideal silicone remover.

The adhesive can perfectly adhere to the surface for more than ten months, thus making it suitable for its purpose.

Silicone is waterproof; once it seals a leaking roof or bathtub, it does it entirely.

Removing the silicone from the hands is difficult, painful and can be hard to remove.

When choosing the solvent or any other chemical, you must be very careful since some chemicals are harmful to your skin.