Chopping onions often leaves a strong smell that sticks stubbornly to your skin, and soap alone usually isn’t enough to eliminate the scent completely. According to experts at Masterclass, onions contain sulfur compounds with pungent odours that linger on hands when handled raw.
They shared: “Your body needs to metabolise the compounds for the smell to go away by itself. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to get rid of the smell of garlic or onion on your hands using tools you probably already have in your home.” One item in particular is something you may not expect, but it does the trick: coffee beans.
How to get rid of onion smells on skin
The experts suggest scrubbing your hands with coffee beans to remove the pungent onion smell. To do this, simply rub the beans between your hands for around 30 seconds, focusing on all the fingers and palms.
Then, rinse your hands under cold running water. Coffee beans contain nitrogen, which acts as a natural deodoriser by absorbing and neutralising bad odours from everything from your refrigerator to odours that linger on your skin.
“The other good thing is that you don’t need to buy the super expensive brand since generic coffee grounds will do the same job as higher-end options,” reported House Digest.
Other ways to get rid of lingering onion smells.
Lemon juice is another great way to remove odours. The expert at Masterclass said: “Squeeze a little lemon juice over your hands and rub them together until the liquid has absorbed into your skin.
“Rinse your hands afterwards to ensure that the juice is gone. Only use this method if you don’t have any cuts on your hands—otherwise, the lemon juice will sting.”
Two products sitting in your bathroom can also banish smells from your skin, but you usually use them in your mouth. Toothpaste and mouthwash can help break down the sulfur compounds in onions that cause the lingering odour.
Apply a small amount of both and rub your hands together under running water for about thirty seconds and the smell should disappear.
