Help! I dyed my hands

[Teaching3bears]

I was doing tie-dye and I should have used the gloves.  It seems like the dye set very quickly.  It is all over my hands and my fingertips are all dark blue.  That was many hours ago.  None of the things I tried have gotten it off: soap, dish soap, hot water, baking soda, vaseline, body butter.   The only thing that happened is my hands got very dry.  I am worried this will last for weeks or never go away.  I 

[popmom]

I wonder if peroxide would help…

[Melissa in Australia]

Oil? Sometimes dh uses vegetable oil to clean his hands from almost impossable thibgs. He rubs and rubs it in then let's it soak  in for a few minutes then first ribs with a cotton rag then washes. He says the oil goes into the pours and cleans them. 

A citrus based hand cleaner that mechanics use?  Though that might be more for motor type stains

[Shoeless]

Rubbing alcohol with take some of it off, but also dry your hands out. 

It won't last for weeks; the dye has only penetrated the outer layer of skin.  You wash your hands frequently, so they're always sloughing off skin cells. I bet it will be gone within the week. 

 

[Teaching3bears]

4 hours ago, popmom said:

I wonder if peroxide would help…

I am somewhat chemically sensitive and bleach really bothers me so I cannot do this🙁

[Teaching3bears]

2 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Oil? Sometimes dh uses vegetable oil to clean his hands from almost impossable thibgs. He rubs and rubs it in then let's it soak  in for a few minutes then first ribs with a cotton rag then washes. He says the oil goes into the pours and cleans them. 

A citrus based hand cleaner that mechanics use?  Though that might be more for motor type stains

I will try olive oil and look into the mechanics’ hand cleaner.

[El...]

Maybe lava soap. However, it might be targeted to ground-in oils, and not touch the dye. 

[Katy]

I’d try lemon juice, salt, and scrubbing. Then coat your hands in the thickest lotion you can find, even vaseline. 

[Jaybee]

I did the same thing a few months ago with my grandkids. It faded pretty quickly, and I think it was all gone within a week, and I didn't do anything special for it.

[EKS]

It likely bonded with the protein (or some other component) in your skin.  However, I'd try rubbing alcohol, vegetable oil, and acetone (nail polish remover) just to see if one of them might work. (I mean to try them sequentially, not all at once.)  Try the acetone on a small area first, and only if it works, proceed to using more, and only if you're comfortable with the warnings for acetone and skin contact (I used to get it all over my hands in college and nothing bad happened, but YMMV.)

[Arcadia]

5 hours ago, Teaching3bears said:

I am somewhat chemically sensitive and bleach really bothers me so I cannot do this🙁

Face mask, the cucumber or aloe vera or any moisturizing variety. It is a slow and repeated process but doesn’t dry out the skin. Took me days. 

[Teaching3bears]

Thanks.  It got a lot better after I took a shower and then again after I did something that made my hands sweat.  It ‘s funny how the shower was so much more effective than scrubbing with warm water and soap.  I have hope that it will be gone in a couple of days.  

[Catwoman]

If you have alcohol-based hand sanitizer, that might help.

[Terabith]

Welcome to my world.  I work in a preschool and am the "messy teacher."  I often get dye on my hands, even with precautions.  

I haven't found anything that gets it off, but it wears off in a week or two.  Usually just in time for me to dye them some other color!  I just think of it as like a fashion statement.

[TechWife]

1 hour ago, Teaching3bears said:

Thanks.  It got a lot better after I took a shower and then again after I did something that made my hands sweat.  It ‘s funny how the shower was so much more effective than scrubbing with warm water and soap.  I have hope that it will be gone in a couple of days.  

Did you use shampoo? My middle school shop teacher told us that shampoo is effective in removing a lot of stuff from skin. It’s not effective on everything, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised over the years when I’ve tried it. 

[Teaching3bears]

5 hours ago, TechWife said:

Did you use shampoo? My middle school shop teacher told us that shampoo is effective in removing a lot of stuff from skin. It’s not effective on everything, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised over the years when I’ve tried it. 

Yes! I did use shampoo!