Dettol Is Not Good

The night before last, I was stripping paint from some miniatures that I wanted to repaint.  The best way to strip paint from plastic miniatures is to soak them in Dettol and then scrub them clean with a tooth brush.  After soaking them for a while in a Tupperware container, I took to each one of the 6 miniatures with a tooth brush and scrubbed each one vigorously.  I was home alone at the time and I thought nothing of bathing my hands in undiluted Dettol for about 30 mins.

Soon however, I was aware that my fingers had “shrunk”.  Seriously, they developed the most intense case of pruning that I had ever had before.  The pads of my fingers looked like little bumpy walnuts and I was soon aware that my fingers started to burn at the base of my nails… My simpleton logic was that Dettol was “good” and that you use it to disinfect cuts and scrapes on kids knees, so how come I am now burning…

I gave up the scrubbing and looked at my fingers which were red, pruny and burning.  Oops!

Niki came home and I told her my story and she asked “Did I dilute it?”.  Nope.  “Did you wear gloves?” Nope.  I felt like an idiot.

Now this morning when I got out of the shower, both my hands are peeling in small flakes… the skin has died and despite using some girly moisturiser, they’re shedding small bits of skin everywhere.

And I thought Dettol was good for you!