How much oil have you had on your skin over the years?

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There have been many times over the last 20 years where I was careless and didn't have gloves on and ended up with oil on my hands/arms. I wash them immediately but it's still never good. I now wear gloves and am much more careful.
 
I have worked around diesel generators since I'm probably 15 or 16. 54 now. I've had PLENTY of oil on my skin. I hate working with plastic or rubber gloves on so I don't wear em. I always washed my hands and arms immediately after working. I was so happy when the orange cleaners with pumice came out. They do a much better job getting you clean.
I was a lot less upset about getting clean oil on my hands than dirty oil. I HATE natural gas oil.

There used to be a guy that worked in our starter/alternator shop named Mr Bill. Old timer who had been in the business forever. Every day, he would wash his hands and forearms off with Naptha. His skin looked terrible. I asked him to stop doing it many times.
He also smoked and drank so when he died of cancer I'm not sure if it was from the cigarettes or the years of blasting his skin with Naptha.

I have no issues as of yet.
 
Folks, used oil is carcinogenic, and probably bad news if you happen to be a mouse. Gloves are better. Please don't lock this.
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I've had plenty of oil on my hands as well as any other petroleum product. A bit of gasoline would cut right through the mess. In the old oil based paint era we washed our hands in turpentine or mineral spirits. Then we washed with Boraxo powder or FelsNaptha bar soap before we ate.

I also have fond memories of rolling down the window when the car got filled up at the Texaco. Gasoline had a wonderful smell back then.
 
My opinion...

Seldom oil on hands is in my opinion not a big deal...
Say like every 3-4 months... And a very good wash with Dawn and pumice soap afterwards...

Working routinely aka daily 4-5 days a week with oil on hands and arms... In my opinion it would be better to wear gloves...

Just my opinion on this.
 
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Fair enough … I'm M Jackson on this with one glove! I get the messy part done and wash my hands with Dawn even before putting the new filter on and plug back in. Have sink 20' away. Clean hands get a good grip on filter too.
But quick lube guys can't take their time like that and the PPE makes sense.
 
Well I Im a systems mechanic.Oil on my hands and arms usually before 8am everyday 5 days a week. I even try to wear gloves. No issues except the only way to really get my hands clean is wash the dishes at home. Im sure there is some study that would say all the grease and oil is going to kill me.At 60 Im still healthier than some of my younger counterparts and Ive been greasy all my life. I can still crawl on my knees all day and climb on equipment like a acrobat. Oil and grease must agree with me.
 
A lot, early, early on, I inhaled a lot of asbestos too. I'm pretty sure many other people have done the same and had no idea they did. All you can do is be more careful going forward, you can't reverse time and undo what was already done.
 
Originally Posted by 4WD
Fair enough … I'm M Jackson on this with one glove! I get the messy part done and wash my hands with Dawn even before putting the new filter on and plug back in. Have sink 20' away. Clean hands get a good grip on filter too.
But quick lube guys can't take their time like that and the PPE makes sense.


I'm the same way. I wash immediately and then when hands are clean I put the filter on. Get a good grip.
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Originally Posted by jacobsond
Well I Im a systems mechanic.Oil on my hands and arms usually before 8am everyday 5 days a week. I even try to wear gloves. No issues except the only way to really get my hands clean is wash the dishes at home. Im sure there is some study that would say all the grease and oil is going to kill me.At 60 Im still healthier than some of my younger counterparts and Ive been greasy all my life. I can still crawl on my knees all day and climb on equipment like a acrobat. Oil and grease must agree with me.


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As with almost anything that's bad, or at least not good for us, unless you're exposed to it on a frequent basis, it's probably not going to kill you...
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
I've had plenty of oil on my hands as well as any other petroleum product. A bit of gasoline would cut right through the mess. In the old oil based paint era we washed our hands in turpentine or mineral spirits. Then we washed with Boraxo powder or FelsNaptha bar soap before we ate.

I also have fond memories of rolling down the window when the car got filled up at the Texaco. Gasoline had a wonderful smell back then.


When I was a kid, I liked to stand behind Dad's Rambler to smell the exhaust when it first started up. Probably explains why I grew up to be such an odd duck.
 
30 years ago when I was in transmission (High Voltage Transmission) we were bathed in tresnformer oil, and I pulled the papers on oil and skin cancer...was particularly interested, and that we were bathing in very very clean oil..and I used coal tar soap..and did my own mechanicing...

Mice, shaved, skin abraded, and a high cyclic aromatic content bitumen applied daily...they got cancer...regularly.

Transformer oil, the olides who bathed in it didn't show anything.

An oil change every few months, or a couple of times a week, I care less..if I spill used engine oil on my clothes...I finish, and then wash/shower.

Nothing that a weekend handyman is doing is of any reasonable consequence with regard to used oil exposure.
 
if you read enough on the interwebs, everything is carcinogenic. 8 years of owning a lawn business plus over 30 years of changing the oil on my cars and related repairs and projects, I cannot even begin to guess how many times my hands have been covered in oil. Nor do I care, I'm not going to worry about things that have a .000000001% chance of killing me.
 
Dose is the key.
Sunshine is healthy, our bodies response to it is to produce vitamin d and improved mental well-being. Excessive sun resulting in frequent burns over a long period of time can cause skin cancer in those susceptible to it.

I wouldn't say used oil is healthy, but the toxicity and harm is based on frequency and concentration of the dose.
For DIY home mechanics the frequency isn't there. That being said I am pretty tidy and wear nitrile gloves when changing the oil. A lot of good hand cleaners out there. If you get oil on your skin wash it off with soap and water, especially before you eat, drink or smoke/chew if you partake.
I try to avoid contact with chemicals and used oil on the skin primarily because they can be absorbed into the bloodstream (gasoline has benzene for example ) and it is not good for your organs. People who used to handle the chlorinated hydrocarbon type brake cleaner can tell stories about the instant absorption with skin contact.
 
Originally Posted by Shannow


An oil change every few months, or a couple of times a week, I care less..if I spill used engine oil on my clothes...I finish, and then wash/shower.

Nothing that a weekend handyman is doing is of any reasonable consequence with regard to used oil exposure.




Have to agree with this.
The limited exposure one gets doing DIY oil changes is of no consequence.
Lots of more hazardous things to worry about in daily life and lifestyle.
 
I should probably be wearing gloves, maintaining 3 vehicles, but I haven't found any that are good to work with. I had a pair of "mechanics" gloves, but they weren't fluid-proof, so got thrown away when they got saturated with oil.

What does everyone use? Rubber kitchen gloves? Surgical gloves?
 
I don't use gloves, so lots. But, the oil is never that dirty, there is no lead in the gasoline the car the oil came from, it's never on my hands very long, it cuts through the other grime like a detergent, and OCI's are longer than they have ever been so not worried...
 
Originally Posted by WylieCoyote
I should probably be wearing gloves, maintaining 3 vehicles, but I haven't found any that are good to work with. I had a pair of "mechanics" gloves, but they weren't fluid-proof, so got thrown away when they got saturated with oil.

What does everyone use? Rubber kitchen gloves? Surgical gloves?


You can get nitrile disposable gloves by the 100 ct box. They are handy when handling chemicals, or oil changes.

Get nitrile not latex .

https://www.amazon.com/nitrile-gloves/s?k=nitrile+gloves
 
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