How do you get the smell of death off your hands?

I didn't know this one had died for maybe weeks, but I knew for sure as soon as I opened the door. I thought I could just drag it outside like I did with the last one, but this one was too big and had to be removed in pieces. What a mess.

I've washed my hands in bleach, vinegar, dish detergent, hand soap, and repeated over and over. The smell is still there. I smell like a two week old cadaver. It just seems to be on my hands, even though the smell had pretty much overcome me while I was doing the clean-up.

Out of desperation I tried Coleman Fuel, Denatured Alcohol and Xylene. No good. Ballistol is masking the smell pretty well, but it's still there.

I'm investing in some man size heavy rubber gloves that are at least mid-forearm length in case I ever have to do this again. Might just call Serv-Pro and let them deal with it.

Anybody know something that will get this smell off? ...and maybe a good deep freeze alarm?

 

The science of death malodour:
The smell of death: evidence that putrescine elicits threat management mechanisms

The Chemistry of Death:
The Chemistry of the Odour of Decomposition
Odor of Death: An Overview of Current Knowledge on Characterization and Applications

When washing hands...use COLD water...using hot water dilates the skin's pores and allows absorbtion of the chemical compounds of putrefaction into your skin.

Possible options for deoderising:

Salt (moisten hands first); Vinegar (white); Toothpaste (including baking soda - not a gel); Lemon juice; or Hydrogen peroxide - (diluted solution)....not all at the same time Smelly hands? Here’s how you can get rid of the odour

Another possibility is rubbing activated charcoal powder on hands...the charcoal may absorb the chemical compounds that comprise putrefaction...you have to decide whether you can live with smelly hands or charcoal stained hands

In the event of a zombie apocalypse...your smelly hands could be a life saver

 

Short answer, You don't!
It's a mental thing, once you have smelled it up close, handled it with your own hands, its with you till your brain forgets it!

 

just like smelling burning body's on a battle field you never forget the smell i don't think it ever go's away its its been over 50 years but still smell it at times of stress

 

Crest Original Toothpaste works great after cleaning fish, handling dead stuff, and one of the few things that will make liquid sticky pig manure tolerable, it also does a fair job at toning a good skunk spraying down. Other than that 3-5 days

 

I've heard Tomato juice will help ,, could just be an old wives tale .

 

Reminds me of an embarrassed shopping trip for hospital sized sanitary napkins we used in our air filtration on the diving compressor. They kept trying to sell me more ergonomic products like tampons...finally met a woman that took me right to what I was looking for and showed no surprise, saying that a man had just came in and purchased two cases of Summer's Eve douche because it was the only thing that would remove skunk scent from his dogs.

 

After removing a dead opossum from a clients fan, I had the same problem. The lady squirted lemon juice on my hands and it went away. Been using it every since.

 

Got a question you might know,, I've seen this Skynyrd album cover for a few songs ,, but "That Smell " didn't come out under that cover ,, if it is even an actual album cover . Just curious,, never seen that cover before anyway.

 

Thanks to everyone for the input.

Colgate tooth paste was all I had at work, but it helps. Lemon juice was working, but I think it needed more time or more applications. I'm doing the wash, rinse, repeat routine with the lemon juice and tooth paste whenever I have a chance, since they seem to be working.

This is one of those nuggets of knowledge that I hope to never need again, but it's sure a relief to know.

 

If you had a little Jose Quavo and salt with you then that smell could be better tolerated?

 

Sounds like the freezer kaputed?

 

I had so much fun with a couple text messages I'd sent I thought I'd try the same bit on you. Folks that hadn't heard about the freezer in advance were a little shaken up.

The chest freezer in the garage had a blown circuit breaker, likely from some minor storm surge or heavy rain. Another cord that was outside on the same circuit went under water and popped the circuit breaker. It's been a couple weeks or more since we had a rain event like that, so the damage was done LONG before I discovered that the freezer was warm. Now I'm looking into at least some visible warning that the power is out on that circuit. Maybe a little LED night light that I can see as I pass by. This works on my beer fridge in the other house. It has green and red lights on the GFI that tell me if the bulb in the fridge is burned out or the power is off at the wall.

 

When I was a kid, knew a man who fought at Gettysburg with 1 st Minnesota. Said that he had never been able to get over the smell of the battlefield with all the dead men and horses rotting away in the summer heat for days.In his 90's and still had nightmares of it and couldn't stand the smell of any dead thing, would leave and not come back till it was gone.

 

Dang a freezer ! was waiting for a name drop , Brandon,etc, little Dr Fake ,,so many could bring a smile.

Link

link
We use these on all freezers 2 on some with $$$$$ in them
Sloth

 

Vodka then Cold water bleach

 

I had a freezer go out 1 time. I like you didn't know it . It was on the back porch,, walked by it everyday. Sitting on the porch drinking a beer 1 day ,, looked over and seen pinkish ooze leaking out of the little weep hole . I knew by then it was to late . I never even opened it,, I duct tapped the lid closed ,, got it in the pickup and threw it out at the dump. Lost a lot of good food in there.

 

Sloth, you've found the ideal solution. Mount the sensor in the garage freezer, run the monitor into the laundry room on the other side of the wall. Need to read up on the cord length, but even if it has to stay in the garage we can check it in a flash and dog will let us know if the alarm sounds. Even if we can't hear it, he will. Very cool. Pun intended. Thank you.