Knock me over with a feather.......

[wellie]

I'm sure that most of you, familiar with sharing, have discovered some amazing things over the last few months or years?

Well I've just completely but totally accidentally discovered a way to remove the sticky remains of the previous years' preserve labels from your old jars Girls'n'Boys. But please don't quote me.....

On Monday, with the weather being so 'yuk'- I retired gracefully to my kitchen, and made a multitude of stuff for Trousters's Tummy later?

And then, with the greengage jam, or the physalis and whitecurrant wotsit spilling over the top - I reached for the Tesco Multi-AntiBacterial Wipes to mop up the excesses and soggy cat pawprints.

I still can't believe it - but the Tesco wipes (others ARE available kiddiwinkies) have left the jars completely free of label sticky goo.
Hope it works for you too.... X

[Hazel at the Hill]

Never knew that - thank you.

And good to see you on here too.

[Pumpkin Becki]

Excellent tip Wellie, thank you! I was starting to dispair of ever scrubbing my jars clean again.

[scarey55]

Welcome back Wellie - excelent tip and Physalis and whitecurrant wotsit sounds divine.

[Bren In Pots]

Thanks for that, I'll try wipes next time. I usually use wax polish but then I'm scared in case it makes the jars too slippery to hold.

[snohare]

OOH (jumps up and down with joy) ta for that Wellie, a long-standing irritation with my seed storage system finally solved !

[rustylady]

Sounds good to me. Babywipes are pretty good too - in fact they're so good at removing various bits of unwanted muck, including mould stains, that I'm beginning to worry about using them on babies!!!

[Polly Fouracre]

I usually use white spirit but these sound easier!

[wellie]

Curtsey.... (and nice to be back, thank you X)
but surely it's kind of frightening to find that a casual wet-wipe can get sticky-stuff off something that once was completely impossible to get rid of.
Should we be grateful, or worried?

[snohare]

I grabbed antibacterial household wipes the other day to use for cleaning label goo off my jars, simply because the shop didn't have baby wipes. Turns out that they do a sterling job of cleaning soot off stove glass (a notoriously difficult job, I'm told) - saves me buying a special product at a fair whack.
Looking at the ingredients lists for the different wipes, I noted that they all had some form of alcohol in them - usually isopropyl alcohol. Basically this is a very good solvent, nasty tasting to deter substance abusers, and able to not only evaporate when the wipe is used, but also able to bind chemically with all the other substances that are in the wipes. Toxic to the nervous system by inhalation, ingestion or absorption through the skin, twice as bad as normal alcohol (ethanol). Other ingredients listed are ethoxylated nonylphenols (suspected endocrine disruptors, question marks about other forms of toxicity), methyl paraben (known endocrine disruptor, makes skin absorb any chemical it comes in contact with ), diazolidinyl urea (contains formaldehyde, carcinogen, causes contact dermatitis, toxic by inhalation), proplyene glycol (enables other chemicals to get through the skin into the bloodstream, skin irritant on mucous membranes), polyhexamethyleneguanidine hydrochloride (toxic in soil and aquatic ecosystems, but at least not closely related to Agent Orange like triclosan, the most common antibacterial agent in most handwashes !), and polysorbate 20 ("no definitive information available on carcinogenicity, mutagenicity,
target organs or developmental toxicity" - so widely used in food).
Of course dose is everything, and that fact must remain uppermost in your mind when thinking about toxicity. But once you talk about looking seriously at toxic effects of modern cleaning, healthcare or hygiene products you are poking a hornet's nest. This is because there are absolutely no regulations or tests on synergistic effects (where one chemical multiplies or enables the toxic effects of another) and the chemicals industry has lobbied hard for decades to prevent these - with complete success until Canada broke ranks recently and started more comprehensive testing.
Everyone tends to assume that all chemicals in household use have been fully safety tested before they are used. This is not so. Most of the data is concerned with the physical characteristics in manufacturing - flammability,etc. Only 11% have full toxicity data even in isolation, never mind when mixed with chemicals designed to overcome the protective effects of the skin. If you think some regulatory agency out there is keeping you safe from nasty chemicals, forget it. Even legal liability is no safeguard - no data = no proof = no successful lawsuits. Like with smoking, you have to prove one specific product caused the damage. Basically, hardly anyone has a clue what this chemical cocktail we eat, smear or douse ourselves in is doing to our bodies, or how much of anything is safe. Caveat emptor !
Personally I am thinking of making my own soap from woodash and lye....

[Nicos]

Hmm...just as well that I'm lazy and try and stick this years labels over last years sticky mess!!

[wellie]

Okay snohare - have you thought about 'getting out more' ?!
How FANTASTIC are YOU?!
I shall be sure to come to you first when I ever want to know something.
Are you a Scientist, or just dead clever?
Huge Respect.
X

[snohare]

Are you a Scientist, or just dead clever?

I am an unemployed labourer, it just so happens I've been reading "New Scientist" magazine since I was 12. That and the internet...well, I don't get out much.

have you thought about 'getting out more' ?

I do go out for shopping, but I don't find I socialise very much. People tend to run when they see me...

[Jardiniere]

ditto to that...very interesting ....can I use wipes to clean my plant labels also?

[Alison]

I don't like using some of these products either but that's mostly as the smell of them makes me feel a bit sick. Also, I must be the only person on here that has labels that you can just soak off in warm water, no scrubbing or anything. Not sure where I got them from but they're in a large roll so should last at least another year, I hope!

Re sticky messes though, had a really bad label on a cheapo tool from Poundland (or similar) which I couldn't shift with anything including nail varnish remover which usually works. In the end after much scrubbing and swearing I used some olive oil and the sticky mess just disappeared. My hands felt softer also! Think it depends on the type of solvent used but it worked that time.