If you’ve made the classic mistake of gluing your fingers together with super glue, don’t worry – it’s not permanent and you can even take some steps to get the glue off quickly and painlessly.
The super glue family of adhesives – wonderful for making things stick together well. But what are you supposed to do when the glue sticks to your skin? If it’s ever happened to you, you know that super glue sticks really well and you may very well have two (or more) fingers stuck firmly together. You know that the glue will eventually wear off but there are some things you can try to speed the process along.
The first thing to keep in mind is that super glue will eventually wear off your skin, so don’t hurt yourself trying to get it off.
With that in mind, you can find commercial adhesive removers that will remove super glue. Most are not made for contact with the skin, so be careful before you start spraying yourself with adhesive removers. That said, finger nail polish remover is also often effective at removing super glue and if your skin isn’t sensitive to this kind of contact, you may have the answer right in your cosmetic case.
A less intensive method of removing super glue is to use hand lotion. Almost any kind of lotion will do. Simply rub the lotion thoroughly onto the skin and the super glue will likely start peeling off from the edges.
As the super glue thoroughly dries, you can also sometimes just peel it off. This is especially true when there’s only a small section of super glue, but be careful of larger sections of glue because there’s the potential to peel skin as well with the glue.
Vigorously rubbing the spot under running water can also help remove super glue. A fingernail brush is an ideal tool for encouraging the glue to flake away.
Steps
Don't worry, eventually the glue will wear off. Don't do anything stupid to get it off!
Clean up wet glue using a wet paper towel or terry cloth.
Soak your skin in warm soapy water, scrub with a wet cloth.
Use nail polish remover and dab dried glue.
Wash with warm soapy water.
Tips and Tactics
If nail polish remover doesn't work, try a commercial cleaner made for removing adhesives from skin. Do not use commercial cleaner which is not made for human skin.
