Fingerprints
Skin oils transferred by touch. A greasy soil rather than a dirty one, which is why water alone does not shift them and why they return immediately.
In detail
A fingerprint is a deposit of skin oils, sweat residue and whatever the hand last touched, left where the ridges of the fingertip made contact. Chemically it is an oily soil, which is the whole reason it resists a dry cloth and a rinse: water cannot wet or carry oil, so wiping with water redistributes the mark rather than removing it. The two routes that work are the ones that always work on oils — a surfactant, which is what detergent in warm water provides, or a solvent that dissolves the oil outright, which on stainless steel means a hydrocarbon solvent such as methylated spirit or isopropyl alcohol. Both are recommended by the stainless steel trade association, and the choice between them is practical rather than chemical: detergent needs rinsing and drying, and a volatile solvent evaporates without a residue, which is why it suits vertical panels and anything where a drying mark would be as visible as the fingerprint was. Nothing prevents recurrence except not touching the surface, which is why proprietary polishes for the job are sold on the basis of minimising re-marking rather than cleaning better.
What works
Detergent is effective against Fingerprints Supported
Solvent wiping is effective against Fingerprints Supported
Microfibre cloth is effective against Fingerprints Established practitioner practice
Why
- Fingerprints is explained by Surfactancy
Hacks and claims involving this
- Newspaper for cleaning glass Established practitioner practice
- Vinegar for mirrors and glass Does not work
- Toothpaste as a metal polish Does not work
- Washing-up liquid on leather Does not work
- Baking soda paste for marks on painted walls Supported
- Alcohol cleaners are gentle, so they are safe Disputed
- Spraying cleaner onto a screen or keyboard Does not work
Sources for this page
Sources
Care and Maintenance of Stainless Steel
British Stainless Steel Association, Stainless Steel Advisory Service, 2001 · Trade or professional body
Relied on for: That fingerprints on stainless steel are removed with detergent and warm water or alternatively a hydrocarbon solvent, and that proprietary spray-applied polishes are available to minimise re-marking. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — Sprint 29 re-read all four pages: Factors Affecting Maintenance, Maintenance Programme, Cleaning Methods with the whole of Table 1, Table 2, and Notes 1-10. Earlier sprints named both tables but carried only part of one and none of the notes. Supports a wider statement — our claim was widened. SPRINT 29 FOUND THIS UNDER-EXTRACTED WHILE ALL THREE SIGNALS CALLED IT DONE: zero representation debt, in the fully-harvested list, and honestly noted as 'read in full'. Five of Table 1's eleven rows, all of Table 2 and eight of ten notes had never reached the graph. Newly built: tannin and coffee deposits, heat discolouration, the 1% ammonia routine clearance, oxalic acid for embedded iron, and the condition-triggered domestic frequency rule. The paraphrase cap is part of the cause, and the fix is not a longer paraphrase — the facts belong in the citing records.
What CleaningHQ cannot answer yet
These are recorded questions about this subject that we have not yet researched to a standard we would publish.
- Clean a stainless steel appliance exterior
- Achieve a mark-free finish on glass
Last reviewed by a person on .