One of these stainless steel bars of "soap". It's for getting onion and garlic smell off your hands. I was skeptical when my partner bought it, but it totally works. Rub on your hands under cold water and it's like you never even looked at the garlic.
So any stainless steel will do that. No need for a special disk. I use a stainless steel cocktail shaker to peal garlic. Then when I rinse it clean it also removes the smell from my hands.
Just drop the cloves into the shaker and shake hard for 30-45 seconds. Most of the garlic is now peeled and some just need a bit help. So much faster and easier.
Useful for people with those things too! We have one and I love it. I hit it with hand soap and use it like a regular bar to both clean my hands and get rid of the smell.
Since it's for that specific purpose it sits in the soap tray by the sink and is always right where I need it. No hunting for some random steel utensil.
Okay so maybe I've grown to used to the smell of garlic but is it a common problem that people are worried about their hands smelling like garlic/onions? Maybe it's because I wash dishes as I cook, so whatever I chopped/prepared them on I would have washed in the sink while it started to heat up in the pan, but I guess I need to sniff my fingers more after doing so.
I don't know about worried, but onions absolutely make my hands reek. To the point where it can ruin a meal I'm eating, especially if it's a hand food like a burrito or burger or something. I don't mind garlic on my hands, but onions are just awful for some reason.
I don't have one of these bars, but I'm seriously contemplating it.
I think it's home cook weird shit, now sell me something to get rid of fried food smell from clothes. I'll live with garlic and onions which smell amazing over fried oil smell that saturate you skin and leave you as a soggy French fry
There is some theory on how the chromium in stainless steel could help with breaking down and removing the smelly compounds from onions and garlic off your hands, but there aren't any studies proving this.
In my experience just properly washing your hands with water for 15-20s works just as well. I think the "soap" kinda works because it tricks people to not just rinse their hands.
Water plays a crucial role in this process. As you rinse your hands and rub them against stainless steel, the surface acts as a catalyst for redox reactions. Sulfur compounds on your skin are chemically altered, potentially breaking them down into less odorous forms.
You're saying that as if I've never used one. I have, and I don't see a difference to just washing my hands with water. But to each their own ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
As hugin said, the best way to wash oils off your hands is with other oils. Pour a little bit of whatever cooking oil you have on your hands and make sure to thoroughly spread it on your hands, like in between your fingers and under your nails, then wash with hot water and soap. The capsaicin oils will mix with the cooking oils, dilute, and be more noticeable to remove. This also works for poison ivy oils and pine sap
No. The heat from peppers is an oil. Dry finger tips absorb the oil. So either gloves or rub a drop of neutral oil on your fingers before handling peppers.