Life Hacks -- Getting Fiberglass Fibers Out of Your Hands

Yesterday, I was repairing a leak in the garage roof. I was using tar paper that was made with fiberglass fibers. The work gloves that I had were too bulky. So I used my bare hands. Big mistake. The tar paper shed tiny microscopic shards of glass that stuck into my skin. It was painful. You couldn't see the particles. They were that small.

I tried washing my hands. To no avail. I tried scrubbing them with a pot scrubber. It made the little shards go deeper into my skin. I tried using rough coarse salt as a scrubbing agent. I tried immersing my hands in olive oil to float off the shards. It didn't work. I tried skin lotion and liquid soap.

Finally, I soaked my hands for half an hour in the bathtub with the hottest water that I could stand. This was to open up the pores. Then I dipped my wet hands in whole wheat flour. The flour clung to my hands. I started rubbing my hands together, and the flour clumped and turned to dough. It still stuck to my hands. I had to roll the dough around until it formed up into a real resilient, plasticine-like consistency. As I rubbed it around it clung to my skin, and it removed the fiberglass shards from my skin.

Problem solved. Another little life hack. Next time, I will wear gloves.