–How to Win the War of Dirt vs Skin

how to safely cleanse and protect hard-working hands without harsh chemicals and win the war of dirt versus skin.

It's a common problem: finding a hand cleanser that will cut through grease, adhesives, epoxies and more. For a lot of these types of stubborn grime, regular soap is not the answer. It is simply chemically incapable of doing the job. And industrial cleansers often don't get the job done, either.

We’ve developed a system of products to nurture and protect your skin, to keep it clean, healthy and feeling good, without harsh solvents or abrasives. Here’s how we’ve formulated our balms and cleansers to tackle problems common to hard-working hands:

I scrubbed my hands with soap/gasoline/turpentine/ISO alcohol/acetone (nail polish remover)/sandpaper/etc.
Why doesn’t the dirt/grease/adhesive/resin/etc. come out?

Ow. Don’t do that. If you’re using any of these you’re barking up the wrong tree, and probably subjecting yourself to more harsh chemicals than you need to. To get certain kinds of dirt, grime and adhesives out of your skin, here’s why soap is not getting the job done: It cleans by joining with dirt and grease in a chemical bond. For some kinds of grime, that bond is sufficient to lift it so you can rinse it off. But for other kinds of grime the chemical bond actually traps it to your skin.

You wash with soap and are left with hands that still look like this. Then you reach for some nasty solvent or abrasive and just try harder. And still your hands look like you’ve been rubbing grime into them all day. In fact, it probably looks like the grime has soaked into your skin, where you can’t get at it. At that point, you kind of give up, wait for it to slowly fade, or for your hands to grow new skin, etc.

What a lot of people need is an alternative to soap, something that doesn’t trap grime.

Our Good Clean Mud is an alternative to regular soap. Instead of making a chemical bond *with* grime, as soap does, our Mud breaks down the chemical bonds *within* the grime itself. Rub a little into your dry hands, and give it a few seconds. It contains natural coconut and olive oils which weaken the chemical bonds of the grime. And there’s fine clay, which wicks the grime away from your skin, absorbing it, so it can be rinsed easily away. It’s important to emphasize: the clay in our Mud is not an abrasive; it’s not like pumice-based industrial hand cleansers that work by rubbing away your skin. Our clay is in the formula to *absorb,* which it does handily. Furthermore, common industrial cleansers also include petroleum distillates, limonene and other harsh chemicals. Our formula combines natural clay with vegetable oils, so not only is it effective, but also there are no harsh fumes or possibility of hazardous chemical absorption through the skin. And don’t even get us started with the lecture if you’re using paint thinners or other chemical solvents on your skin: Just google the hazards of chemical solvents that can absorb through the skin.

Examples of grime that traditional soaps/degreasers have trouble getting rid of:

Tree sap. The natural vegetable oils in Good Clean Mud break the chemical bond in natural resins almost instantly.

Other resins. Ditto. Same as tree sap.

Epoxy. Epoxies are formulated to adhere, so they can be tough to wash off. Good Clean Mud breaks their chemical bonds.

Spray adhesives. Ditto.

Grease and old motor oil. The chemicals common in automotive shops or garages have a way of soaking into and staining skin. Rub some Good Clean Mud in thoroughly, giving it time to break the chemical bonds and lift the grime.

And, again, you might find an industrial hand cleansing product that will get these compounds off–but the potential trade-off is a health one. We’re surrounded every day by plenty of nasty chemicals. Why expose yourself to more via skin or respiratory exposure, if you don’t have to?