Removing that persistent and pesky garlic smell from your hands is actually very easy. When I first heard about this I didn’t believe it would work. But it does and it’s as easy as washing your hands! Simply put, thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water while holding a stainless steel spoon and voila the smell is gone. You actually don’t even need the soap!

The science behind this is pretty interesting and has to do with food chemistry. Garlic contains sulfur so, when you chop or otherwise handle it in the kitchen, the sulfur is transferred to your skin. Washing your hands adds water to the sulfur and turns it into a mild sulfuric acid which is why simply washing your hands seems to intensify the smell.

Adding stainless steel to the process allows the sulfur molecules to bind to the metal thereby transferring the smell from your hands. I know you’ve tried lemon juice and even toothpaste and nothing seems to work… believe me, this really will take away the smell.

And, it works with onion and fish smells too! In fact, it works so well that many kitchen utensil companies manufacture stainless steel bars that look like bars of soap. But a spoon or even rubbing the walls of your stainless steel sink or faucet for 10 seconds under running water will be just as effective.