Our testing revealed that rubbing a pointed stainless steel surface against the skin under running water removed lingering garlic smells best. Using the edge of the spoon or fish gadget to get under our fingernails helped extract trapped sulfur. And although we could still detect trace amounts of odor even after scrubbing, the testers didn’t seem to mind it, noting that the scent was “much gentler” and “truly smelled fine.”
This stainless steel figurine neutralizes garlic odors by binding to sulfur compounds and removing strong smells from handling garlic, onion, and fish.
This sturdy stainless steel spoon features a pointed edge that makes it easier to scrape under nails and remove garlic smells.
Washing our hands with mild dish soap removed garlic smells surprisingly well, but it wasn’t foolproof. “Initially, it seemed to mask most of the smell, but after four or five minutes had passed, it was less successful at doing so,” one tester noted. That said, Wirecutter cleaning writer Caroline Mullen confirmed that using dish soap is more effective overall than using regular hand soap. “While hand soap is formulated to be gentle on skin, it’s generally not as effective as dish soap at lifting grease and grime — both from dishes and hands.”
You should also opt for dish soap that’s fragrance-free, like Palmolive Ultra Pure + Clear Dish Liquid. “Fragranced hand soap can temporarily mask pungent odors like raw garlic, but with an unscented dish soap you can tell more easily when a scent has been fully removed, or if you need to scrub again,” Caroline explained.
Once we wrapped up testing, I asked the panelists to rewash both hands with mild dish soap, which surprised us with the best outcome. The testers who had rewashed their hands with mild dish soap and who had tested the stainless steel spoon or the stainless steel fish method had the freshest hands of the bunch, to a noticeable degree. And after 24 hours, the two testers who paired those methods together said the garlic odor on their hands had completely vanished.
