How to Get the Onion Smell off Your Hands: 6 Simple Methods

Alliums, like onion and garlic, contain sulfur compounds with very pungent odors that linger on your hands when you handle them raw. The smell of most types of onions can stay on your skin long after cutting or crushing them, any time from an hour to two days.

Your body needs to metabolize the compounds for the smell to go away by itself. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to get rid of the smell of garlic or onion on your hands using tools you probably already have in your home.

Here are six different cooking hacks for removing the onion smell from your hands after you've finished cooking:

1. 1. Wear gloves to handle. This preventative method will keep the smell of onions off your hands entirely. Wear a pair of disposable gloves while handling onions and dispose of them after your prep work is complete.
2. 2. Wash with salt soap. Mix dish soap, bar soap, or liquid hand soap with table salt and baking soda to create an odor-removing salt soap scrub. Coat both sides of your hands in the solution and rub them together for twenty seconds. Rinse your hands under cold water until they are clean.
3. 3. Use toothpaste and mouthwash. Toothpaste and mouthwash can eliminate the sulfuric chemical compounds in onions that leave a lingering smell. Rub your hands together with toothpaste and mouthwash under running water for around thirty seconds.
4. 4. Scrub with coffee beans. You can use a scrub made of whole coffee beans or coffee grounds to neutralize the onion odor. Scrub the coffee beans or grounds in between your hands for thirty seconds. Next, rinse your hands with cold running water from the faucet.
5. 5. Use lemon juice. Squeeze a little lemon juice over your hands and rub them together until the liquid has absorbed into your skin. Rinse your hands afterward to ensure that the juice is gone. Only use this method if you don’t have any cuts on your hands—otherwise, the lemon juice will sting.
6. 6. Rub with stainless steel. Rubbing your hands with stainless steel can effectively remove the onion smell from your hands because it clings to the sulfur molecules left on your hands and removes them from your skin. To do so, simply rub your hands with a stainless-steel spoon, steel bar, or another stainless-steel utensil under cold water to remove the onion smell.

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