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Home / Cleaning Guides / People & Pets / People / How to Clean Tar Off Skin

How to Clean Tar Off Skin


Cas said, “anyone have tips on how to remove TAR from the bottom of your foot?”

Table of Contents:
  1. Removing the Tar
  2. Additional Tips and Advice
  3. Sources

Whether you stepped in fresh tar on the road or on a glob that washed up onto the beach, the goo likely stuck immediately to your skin. If you try picking it off with your bare hands, you will have tar on your hands as well. Use the steps below to remove the tar from your feet, hands, or any other patch of skin.

Removing the Tar

You Will Need:

  • Rubber gloves
  • A plastic bag
  • A plastic scraper
  • Margarine
  • Mayonnaise
  • A cleaning rag
  • Olive oil
  • Baking soda

Steps to Remove the Tar:

  1. Put on rubber gloves or cover your hands with plastic bags to avoid spreading the tar to your hands as you remove it from your feet.
  2. If you have any large globs of tar, scrape it off with a plastic scraper or other item that can be thrown away afterward.¹
  3. Spread a generous amount of margarine² or mayonnaise over the tar. Let the mayo sit on the tar for several minutes,³ then wipe off both the mayo and tar with a dry cleaning rag that can be thrown away afterward.²
  4. Wipe oil, such as olive oil, onto the tar with a paper towel or cotton ball. Leave the oil on the tar for several minutes,³ then wipe both the oil and tar off with a dry cleaning rag that can be thrown away afterward.²
  5. Combine one part water for every three parts of baking soda to make a paste. Spread the paste over the tar. Let the paste dry on the tar for several minutes, then rinse it off.⁴
  6. Repeat the process as many times as needed to remove all of the tar.

Additional Tips and Advice

  • Do not try to use water to remove the tar. Water will usually help the tar to set, making it more difficult to remove. Only use water after removing as much of the tar as possible with one of the removal cleaners listed in the article.⁵
  • Do not let the tar come in contact with anything that you don’t want to have to remove it from later. If you have to walk somewhere with tar on your foot, put a plastic bag over your foot to avoid leaving a trail.

Sources

  1. The Complete Household Handbook by Good Housekeeping
  2. Joey Green’s Cleaning Magic by Joey Green
  3. Vinegar, Duct Tape, Milk Jugs, & More by Earl Proulx
  4. Extraordinary Uses For Ordinary Things by Reader’s Digest
  5. Don Aslett’s Stainbuster’s Bible by Don Aslett

Cleaning Guides, People

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Related Posts

  • How to Clean Dirt Stained Skin
  • How to Clean Stains from Hands/Skin
  • How to Clean Tar Off Of Your Car
  • How to Clean Tar from Carpet
  • How to Clean a Piercing
  • How to Clean Tar/Blacktop from a Dryer

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About the Author

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Melanie

Hi! I am a seasoned writer-researcher who prides myself on quality and accuracy. I always vet my sources and test the cleaning methods I prescribe! I hope my cleaning guides can help you out! :)

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Comments

  1. Joffy says

    June 29, 2015 at 4:36 pm

    What gets tar off? WD-40.

    Reply
  2. Cat B says

    July 12, 2017 at 2:02 pm

    We used mayo, which got quite a bit of the tar off the fingers. Then used undiluted shampoo, which got off the rest.

    Reply
  3. Linda says

    July 19, 2017 at 3:06 pm

    I just took tar off of my grandson’s legs. I used canola oil and let it set just a minute and it came right off. Used paper towels so I could throw them away.

    Reply

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