Method, sources and corrections
Where the facts come from and how they are checked.
Where product facts come from
Every product fact is the maker's own claim, quoted from its own website or a document it publishes there (product pages, technical data sheets and safety data sheets). Retailers and review sites are never sources. Products come from each listed maker's own hand-cleaner and hand-care categories, with no editorial selection. A product is published only when its maker's pages give all four of directions, cautions, ingredients and sizes, and only when its maker's page makes no drug-type claim (killing germs, healing, relieving or repairing skin, treating skin conditions); a product with such claims is held back, not listed with the claims removed. 55 products found that way are held back for now, including every shielding lotion and hand cream we found, so the site lists cleaners only.
Cleaners, protect products and care products are separate sets. A cleaner is matched to a grime type only when the maker's own wording names that grime for removal from hands or skin; surface-cleaning claims don't qualify. The five types are grease or oil (not oil named as an ingredient); paint, varnish, shellac or urethane; resin or epoxy; ink; and adhesives or glue. A match is the maker's stated use, not a safety recommendation, and the site doesn't say which product works or rank them.
Some makers' pages couldn't be read and aren't listed: GOJO's site refuses automated requests, and SC Johnson Professional's and Kimberly-Clark Professional's return 403. Lava's full ingredient list is on a file host our checker couldn't read. Where a maker's product sheet is printed in two columns, its directions and ingredients are quoted in parts, with […] marking skipped text.
Health and safety context comes only from official bodies: NIOSH and CDC, OSHA, the UK Health and Safety Executive, the American Academy of Dermatology and the FDA. The site writes no first-aid instructions and repeats no drug-type claim from a maker.
Every quote is re-checked word for word before each build by a script that identifies itself as GrimyHandsSourceCheck with a link to this page, follows each site's robots.txt, waits at least 3 seconds between requests to one site and treats a refusal as final. The same rules governed our research. Last check: October 19, 2026 (ET), 42 pages, 208 quotes. Product pages are rechecked quarterly.
A worked example
It is formulated with surfactants, walnut shells and pumice to help exfoliate the skin and remove even the toughest soils – paints, inks, oil and grease.
Matched grime types: Grease and oil Paint Ink
Our explanation written by Grimy Hands
This page shows the rule in action on one product: the maker's quote names paints, inks, oil and grease and says they come off the skin, so the finder lists it under those grime types, and nothing else is inferred.
Our explanation of the quote above. It adds no facts of its own and doesn't rate or recommend any product.
Makers listed
Big Wipes, Kutol® Pro, Lava, Zep. Brand names identify products only.
Corrections
The maker's own page is the authority. If a fact here differs from it, the contact address in our privacy policy reaches us; this site has no forms.