how do you remove the smell of onions from your hands?

Question

(the day after)

Answer 1

rub lemon on them

Answer 2

Be careful with some of these answers as some are rude, some are dangerous and some just cover up the smell. I am sure you can even use Freebreeze as it is a neutralizer. First off before cutting onions you can put on some tight light weight rubber glove then never have to deal with it and if you work with food you really ought to be doing this it may be a legal requirement but it is recommended if they fit well it is a barrier against blood etc. when cutting meat. There is also a product that makes a second skin on your hands that is silicon based that helps decrease getting stuff on your hands which I would think would be including smell. Your skin is somewhat porous such that putting on gloves or the silicon gloves or even some handlotion will decrease the permeability and chance of absorbing. I know lemon works for fish. The Martha Stewart suggestions I would avoid because obviously her judgement is not that good if she took advice from someone that was illegal. All that does is remove the outer layer of your skin that may have absorbed it and a slip can cut your hands. Never was too impressed with Martha even before she went to jail but I have watched her show it is ok but I really think the Martha Stewart lines are UUUUGGGLLLY overdone chintzy looking and cheap over priced looking also a bit out out style looks like country does modern out of date like the poor do. But the baking soda should help absorb odors.

If you can avoid it with gloves then you do not have to deal with it. They also say if you keep your mouth shut and breathe though your nose it helps decrease the chance of crying but I found good ventilation helps more and not standing close or right over it or even getting a food processer to cut the onions which will help keep the smell off your hands.

Or get someone else to cut the stuff for you. Always liked the food processor for things like this.
Dawn is excellent for helping remove smells it works well when washing dogs and cats. Lemon neutralizes things that are alkaline that can cause smells the same way vinegar can but watch out you may have a bad chemical reaction. Using some baking soda and rubbing it into your skin will help but I am big on the food processor stuff especially where onions are concerned and it cuts everything up in such a pretty way so easily.

Answer 3

One household tip for removing odors from fish, onions, or garlic from your hands is to rub your hands across the blade of a stainless steel knife. In fact, you can even buy stainless steel 'soaps', which are just hunks of stainless steel that are about the same shape and size as a bar of normal soap. Does stainless steel remove odors? If so, how does it work?
There isn't a lot of hard scientific data (that I have seen anyway) concerning stainless steel odor eaters. However, you can test this kitchen wisdom yourself, using your nose to take data. Better yet, get someone else to smell your fingers, since your own sniffer will have odor molecules inside it already from exposure to the food.

My experience has been that the knife trick works, but only up to a point. If you have been working with onions, garlic, or fish long enough for their 'perfume' to be absorbed into your skin, the best you can do is to diminish the scent with the steel. Other types of odors are not affected by contact with the metal.

How It Works

This is speculation on my part - if you know more about the chemistry behind this phenomenon, please feel free to write me. It makes sense to me that the sulfur from the onion/garlic/fish would be attracted to and bind with one or more of the metals in stainless steel. Formation of such compounds is what makes stainless steel stainless, after all. Onions and garlic contain amino acid sulfoxides, which form sulfenic acids, which then form a volatile gas (propanethiol S-oxide), which forms sulfuric acid upon exposure to water. These compounds are responsible for burning your eyes while cutting onions and also for their characteristic scent. If the sulfur compounds bind to the steel, then the odor is removed from your fingers.

Answer 4

To remove onion smells from hands you can try any of the following suggestions below, however the best practical way I will recommend is to handwash any small piece of cloth you want using a small amount of washing detergent added with water. A minute of doing handwashing is good enough to remove onion smell. Rinse hands well and onion smell is gone. Apply hand lotion thereafter to keep your hands soft and moisturized.

The following are your other options:

Cut lemons or limes and rub it in your hands. Using its juice only is good but using tje whole fruit in its peef works much better. Adding a salt gives more good effect too.

Mix a ratio of two level tablespoons of baking soda to a glass of water and soak hands for 30 seconds to a minute then rinse well. Also works

Pour two tablespoons of table salt into your palm, mix with a little water and wash hands with this mixture, rinse, and add a little lotion to your hands. Aside from removing the smell of the salt from your hands, it also sluffs old skin off and softens hands.

Just run water over your hands while holding a stainless steel spoon or other utensil in your fingers. Silver absorbs the smell.This works just be sure the utensil you use is silver made.

A drop or two of dishwashing liquid and a little salt and rub for just a bit and rinse. This works somehow.

Answer 5

Remove the smell of onions from your hands or cooking equipment by rubbing them with lemon juice

Answer 6

I've never had it last that long, but I use either dishwashing detergent (Joy Lemon or Citrus) or else Soft Soap Kitchen Hands, which neutralizes odors.

This is probably not particularly recommended by anyone who is "in the know", but when I have any stubborn problem on my hands I use just a little bit of Comet cleanser and wash gently. I'm sure it isn't the best idea, but it works on most stuff.

Answer 7

A solution to odors on your hands from cooking, such as fish, onion, and garlic smells etc. Stainless steel is known to remove odors from hands by simply rubbing the hands on the stainless-steel under running water. There are special stainless-steel discs that are sold to remove odors. Save your self the money and use a stainless-steel spoon, or anything else stainless-steel and hold it under running water while rubbing your hands with the item. No more odor!

Answer 8

Pour some Arm & Hammer baking soda on your wet hands, rub together to form a light paste, then rinse off. Repeat if the smell lingers. Lemon won't remove the smell completely, just cover it up until the lemon scent wears off. Then you've got oniony hands again. Baking soda works every time.

Answer 9

Lemon juice does do it but suppose not a lemon in sight,not even the bottled kind,always helps to have more than just one method--Vinegar does it too-in fact vinegar kills ALL odors---it is acidic so rinse hands with vinegar-don't forget the nails and then after several seconds inse hands with plain water. Voila all smell gone. Vinegar works on mold,mildew,animal accident-if acrpet has to soak into padding,vomit---anything that smells and the vinegar smell dissipates in approx 15 minutes-put some vinegar in a small dish-will pull bad odores out of the air.

Answer 10

My experience has been that the knife trick works, but only up to a point. If you have been working with onions, garlic, or fish long enough for their 'perfume' to be absorbed into your skin, the best you can do is to diminish the scent with the steel. Other types of odors are not affected by contact with the metal.

Answer 11

Ok, well in the future, afterwards, DONT wash your hands in hot water because of just makes the smell stronger on your hands. To get rid of the awful smell wash your hands in cold water with vinegar or lemon juice. I'd go with lemon though because it smells nicer :)