When do you use rubbing alcohol?

Answer 1

Uses for Rubbing AlcoholIn the definition of Rubbing Alcohol in The American Heritage(TM) Dictionary of the English Language, this is what it says: "Rubbing Alcohol - NOUN: A mixture usually consisting of 70 percent isopropyl or absolute alcohol, applied externally to relieve muscle and joint pain."

Here are more suggestions and tips from others:

• If you chose to use it, I would do so cautiously because it can cause harmful reactions. See the link to the right on toxicology.

• We usually use rubbing alcohol to sterilize things like thermometers.

• It can also be used for cleaning your printer heads.

• Rubbing alcohol can also be used after using RitAID for lice. It makes sure the lice are not there.

• Useful for cleaning VCR heads that have become dirty when the magnetic coating on old VHS tapes disintegrates. If the heads are not cleaned, the residue damages any other tapes played in your VCR and the heads eventually (abrasive oxide). Use lint free cloth.

• To clean the TFT LCD screens of notebook computers: removes the oily buildup from fingers and cigarette smoke and restores and tones the special coating on the screen (Dilute the rubbing alcohol 2:1 with distilled water then add 2,5ml apple cider vinegar per 100ml - completely restores and cleans).

• To cut sheets of safety-glass: score the glass with a diamond cutter then pour rubbing alcohol into the furrow and set light with a match - the heat melts the bonded substrate between the two sheets of glass and makes a clean straight break.

• Rubbing Alcohol, used properly, can be used as a disinfectant. Hospitals and medical professionals use it often to wipe off their equipment, such as a stethoscope, that is used regularly and cannot easily be sterilized between uses. At home it is useful when someone is sick (or not), for example, take all areas where people use items constantly, such as doorknobs, telephones, kitchen cabinet handles, refrigerator, tv remote control and TOYS. Using a disposable towel or paper towels, cleanse the touchable items with rubbing alcohol, it usually kills GERMS and BACTERIA and keeps common areas A LOT cleaner, and generally will keep GERMS from spreading. It is particularly useful in bathroom areas. Naturally keep areas well ventilated. It is a quick and easy solution to disinfecting home or OFFICE. And it dries very quickly without leaving a smelly after odor (like bleach).

• Use rubbing alcohol to help dry up a cold sore. Apply when the cold sore appears until it becomes dry and it will shorten the life and begin to fall off. Takes about a week instead of two.

• To clean windows and other household appliances when mixed with baking soda and vinegar.

• To get grease out of a carpet, apply rubbing alcohol and lightly rub in a circular motion with a clean rag until spot is gone. Always Check for colorfastness first!

• Rubbing alcohol disinfects your skin and if you are giving yourself a shot or something it's so that it doesn't get infected

• I carry it in a small spray bottle and use it to sanitize shopping carts, or use after using a public restroom or on the table at a restaurant. I use it to wipe down our seating area on the airplane too (pre 911 of course. I don't know if I could bring it now.) - any place that could have germs during flu and cold season.

• You can use rubbing alcohol to wipe off the oil your skin puts on a surface before you paint to prevent fisheyes.

• You can use rubbing alcohol to remove permanent marker on plastic, or glass. Be careful of the percentage you are using with plastic. Test an area first. Certain plastics can get gummy.

• Rubbing alcohol can be used to remove nail polish and also permanent marker from smooth surfaces (I use it on burnt CDs that I accidentally mark wrong)
• You use rubbing alcohal for many things but it is mainly used for disinfecting cuts and scrapes

Rubbing alcohol and body piercingRubbing alcohol is extremely useful to body piercists. In this wonderful age of single-use, individually packaged needles, rubbing alcohol still has a place in the shop. Here's a few that come to mind:

• Rubbing down chairs/tables/countertops
• Wiping tools to be later autoclaved - no dried blood
• Cleansing area to be pierced before applying iodine
• De-gritting autoclave
• Cleaning jewelry that has been on display
• Display glass/mirrors/registers

Rubbing Alcohol can be used on cuts, scrapes, burns and bruises. It cleans the affected area, and keeps it from getting infected.

It's great to use on bruises. It reduces swelling and gets rid of the black and blue marks. Pour it on a cotton ball and apply directly on bruise several times a day.

Rubbing alcohol is great at getting rid of Athlete's Foot and reducing pain and swelling in feet and ankles with edema. Give it a few minutes and feel the difference...great stuff!

It is used as a disinfectant to get rid of most surface germs.

Rubbing alcohol is known as isopropyl alcohol (C 3H 8O); it is one of the more useful of the commercial alcohols, included in hand lotions and many cosmetic items as well as in antifreeze or deicer products. A 70 percent solution has more germicidal properties than does ETHANOL (drinking alcohol), so it is used in many health-care situations, both in households and in medical facilities. It is also used for massages and by athletic trainers to treat skin and muscle groups, hence the term rubbing. It has a drying effect on the skin and causes blood vessels to dilate; its distinctive odor is associated with doctor's offices, since it is used to clean the skin being prepared for an injection.

Isopropyl alcohol (or possibly ethyl alcohol) is normally has the name "rubbing alcohol" applied to it. It is alcohol suitable for external use only; it's not safe for consumption. It is packaged with a bit of water, and the alcohol content varies from one manufacturer to another. It's between 70% and 95% alcohol depending who the supplier is.

You use it to kill germs on cuts and wounds

Safety:Isopropyl is an adequate disinfectant that should, in an area where exceptional contagion is a possibility, be augmented by an antibacterial. It is NOT very effective at all as an antiseptic, eg. it should not be used on open wounds. It's not as effective as iodides or hydrogen peroxide, and it's a lot more painful. Use it to clean things; not wounds.