How do you get spray foam off your hands?

Foam comes off most easily while it is still wet, and while it is wet it is the product the safety sheets classify. Every sheet in the table says to wash it off, and several say to do it now: "Wash immediately and thoroughly" on the Kraken Bond FastCoat sheet and six Stanley sheets, "Remove material from skin immediately" on DuPont’s. DuPont’s sheets give the reason in one sentence, quoting a skin decontamination study for MDI, the isocyanate in these foams: cleaning very soon after exposure is important.

The same study is where corn oil comes from. DuPont prints that a polyglycol-based skin cleanser or corn oil may be more effective than soap and water; it is the only comparison between cleaners on any of the 26 sheets we read. Wipe the excess off first, as DAP’s sheet puts it, "Use a rag to remove excess foam from skin," and then wash.

No sheet names anything that dissolves cured foam on skin. DAP’s is the only one that addresses it, and its instruction is patience rather than a solvent: "Cured foam may be physically removed by persistent washing with soap and water. If irritation develops, use mild skin cream." TYTAN’s sheet explains a stain that can stay behind: "MDI compounds have a mild tanning action on the skin."

The sheets do not agree on when to see a doctor. Most say to get medical advice if irritation or a rash appears or persists; the FastCoat sheet and six Stanley sheets say to get medical advice or attention after skin contact without that condition. The hazard statements on these products include an allergic skin reaction, so a rash is a reason for medical advice rather than for scrubbing harder.

Acetone is the usual home advice, and it is in the gun cleaners these brands sell: the safety sheet of Stanley’s T244 cleaner lists acetone at 20 to 30 percent, and its data sheet says it "Cannot be used to clean cured foam." None of the 26 sheets we read tells you to put acetone on skin. The one that names acetone, DAP’s, names it with mineral spirits for uncured foam on "clothing or other surfaces," with a warning to avoid eye contact.

Clothing is the other thing every sheet mentions: take it off, and wash it before you wear it again. DuPont’s sheets go further and tell you to discard what cannot be decontaminated, naming leather shoes, belts and watchbands.

All 26 sheets we read call for protective gloves, the two-component kits and the single straw cans alike. The question on this page is the one the sheets would rather you never had to ask.