Use Soap Before Water to Cleanse Greasy Hands
Everyone knows the traditional hand washing procedure: wet your hands well under running water, add soap and dry. Unfortunately, if your hands are covered in a thick layer of grease, the conventional method may not cut it off, but flipping it over is a must.
Trying to rinse the olive oil off your hands with plain water is clearly not going to help, but even a quick rinse seems to make the liquid soap less effective. In theory, this shouldn’t be true: as long as the soap comes in contact with both water and oil, it should work. In practice, pre-rinsing a baker’s buttered hands means they need several washes to feel truly clean. First, applying soap completely solves the problem: it allows the soap and oil to mix thoroughly, so they rinse off the first time.
This method works great with lighter lubricants like butter, vegetable oil, and even Crisco. However, if you have to deal with a really tough mess like engine oil or bicycle lubricant, you should definitely go for something more powerful . Whatever you use, be sure to first apply the cleanser and then run your hands under the tap. The grease won’t stand a chance.