Tips, Tricks and Household Gadgets to Remove Fiberglass

Fiberglass: a textile fabric made from woven glass filaments

Sometimes it is crazy how small of an object can have a huge affect on us. In this case what we are talking about isn't even a whole object, it's just small fragments of one. This Instructable is a guide that uses science and engineering to help solve the problem of these tiny slivers of glass being in your arm after a long work day.

Step 1: Into Part 2: Where Does It Come From?

A lot of times laborers in the trades will use a ladder day in and day out. Although even if you are just a parent trying to put Christmas lights up you might struggle with the fact that your ladder is made out of fiberglass. After a whole day of moving it around, up, down, over, under you are bound to get some on you at some point. Now days there are many various types of ladders and the material they are made out of. The four main ones are Aluminium, Fiberglass, Steel and Wood. Out of these choices the most popular is fiberglass. When you put say, you forearm around the ladder to pick it up, tiny shards of fiberglass tend to go into your skin and sometimes causing rashes and constant itchiness.

Step 2: The Solution Pt. 1

Although that you might think you need a special tool or device to help you remove some of the fiberglass to help ease your discomfort, the truth is you don't. All you have to do is go though your car, wallet or drawers and find an old gift card of some sort. This is the main tool used to get under or pop out the fiberglass.

Step 3: The Solution Pt.2

Start by as soon as possible get into the shower or put the affected area under cold water. What this does is it closes up the skin pores and helps prevent the fiberglass shards from penetrating into the skin even farther. After you want to follow this up with a hot shower or hot water on the affected area. This opens the pores back up and int he process helps release the fiberglass particles. This is the scientific side of it.

Step 4: The Solution Pt.3

Now an engineering advancement doesn't have to be some fancy gadget that can launch you to space. All that it has to do is help you solve a certain task easier. In this case after the two stages of washing, all you do is scrape while pushing down on the affected area and this will help pop the fiberglass out of your arm. This is more effective when you are still running the hot water over the area.

This is a great example that you don't have to be a super genius to be an engineer, you just have to be creative and try over and over until you succeed.