Author Topic: Getting paint off of your skin.  (Read 2669 times)

paddedhat

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Getting paint off of your skin.
« on: May 23, 2016, 05:20:19 PM »
I spent the day repainting the underside of the motorhome, with about a dozen cans of Rustoleum spray paint. BTW, no I'm not some anal goofball who needs to paint the underside of my vehicles, this was done after a lot of nasty rust and corrosion repair. As I walked into the house, the DW and her friend first looked at me like I was Frankenstein ( I get that a lot, same build and intellect, but usually a different face). After they had a good laugh, they told me to look it the mirror.  My head was nearly black except for a strange while oval where the respirator was strapped. I was painting upside down and ended up doing a decent job of painting my whole head with over spray. I looked a lot like Homer Simpson.

I then remembered a trick that a painter once told me about using vegetable oil to get over spray off your skin. Now being the upscale sort, I used olive oil instead. (Yes, it was EVOO, I'm not uncultured) I massaged oil all over my face and hair. As I massaged it in, I watched the oil turn into a black slurry as it removed the paint. I wiped with some paper towels and hit the shower. It was a painless solution to a pretty ugly problem. And that my friends is just another helpful hint from padded hat, who is willing to do stupid things so you don't have to, AND teach you how to clean up afterwords.

anotherAlias

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Re: Getting paint off of your skin.
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2016, 03:42:55 AM »
Also works to get your hands to stop burning after cutting a jalapeņo.

nereo

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Re: Getting paint off of your skin.
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2016, 06:32:42 AM »
great tip... and timely for me as I plan on doing some painting next weekend.

I've used orange oil to very good effect before, but veggie oil (even my expensive EVOO) would be far cheaper.
Did your DW at least take a picture of you looking like Homer Simpson?

lthenderson

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Re: Getting paint off of your skin.
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2016, 07:10:27 AM »
Thanks for the humor!  I'm glad I wasn't sipping coffee while reading this post.

forummm

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Re: Getting paint off of your skin.
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2016, 10:46:26 AM »
Was it an oil-based paint? Or does that work for water-based paints too?

Frugal Lizard

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Re: Getting paint off of your skin.
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2016, 10:58:40 AM »
Thanks for sharing.  Nice imagines.

paddedhat

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Re: Getting paint off of your skin.
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2016, 11:34:46 AM »
Did your DW at least take a picture of you looking like Homer Simpson?

Sadly, my wife has long gotten over the fact that I do picture worthy, stupid stuff. This probably dates all the way back to when I got a massive glob of Clear PVC cement in my hair, and had to shave my head. I was doing electrical conduit work and had to bash a large pipe joint together, very fast and violently, before the glue set. The whole maneuver was about as graceful as an octopus trying to screw a set of bagpipes. Since it was a bit of a panic with dirt, curse words and a hammer flailing about, I failed to notice, until much later, that a significant blob of glue had smacked me in the side of my head, and dried. When I sat down at the hair cutting place, later that day, the girl who was tasked with cutting this mass of my head recoiled in horror, and said, " Ew, I'm not touching that!".  Can't say I blame her, as it looked remarkably like I had acquired a sperm sample from a horse, or something. Once I convinced her that it was dried plastic resin, she carefully cut under it, and left a large hole in the side of my hair. This limited my fashion options significantly, with a buzz cut being the only choice left.

Was it an oil-based paint? Or does that work for water-based paints too?

Yep, it was oil based, latex should come off a lot easier.

anotherAlias

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Re: Getting paint off of your skin.
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2016, 04:52:48 PM »
Was it an oil-based paint? Or does that work for water-based paints too?

It works for latex too.  To be proactive,  I usually don't wash my hair before I paint so it's a little greasy and I'll put lotion on exposed skin before I start painting.  Those two things make paint come off a lot easier when the job is done

Shinplaster

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Re: Getting paint off of your skin.
« Reply #8 on: May 24, 2016, 08:06:31 PM »
Baby oil works too, and smells nice.

LOL about the PVC cement.