When it comes to options of cleaning up your grime covered hands at the end of a wrenching session there are a myriad of them to choose from. Some of them work well enough and some of them are total junk. At this point in time the end result of clean hands is usually (a) smelling like an oil refinery or (b) smelling like a piece of citrus. There’s now an interesting third option on the market in the form of Muck Daddy by Amyris Biotechnologies. The roots of the product are interesting because Amyris really didn’t set out to go into the hand cleaner business. No, they were looking to go into the sugar cane based fuel business but market conditions being what they were caused the company to look at other uses for the sugar cane products that they were developing. Muck Daddy came from that program (along with other products).

The active cleaning ingredient is called Myralene 10 and it was developed by the engineers at Amyris as an alternative to the limonene or petroleum solvents that have traditionally been used in hand cleaners like this one. Believe it or not, there are ingredients in other hand cleaners that are being phased out by governmental bodies and the Muck Daddy guys have a leg up on all of them because their stuff is USDA certified Biobased and a mile ahead of the regulations that are hampering some of the other products.

But the bottom line question is pretty simple. Does the stuff work? We can say with authority that it does. Muck Daddy send us a couple of different products to try. The first was a bottle of flip top bottle of “water optional” high performance hand cleaner and the other was a dispenser canister of hand wipes that have a scrubby side with some grit and a smooth side without.

We have been using these after working on our Project Cellar Dweller go kart project and since I have been doing that with my sons, you know that the products have been getting a workout. Most recently it was a spray painting session that left me with two sons suffering from black primer and orange painted hands and arms. Not to be overly dramatic but these guys are 7 and 9 years old so I am never crazy about them using some of the hardcore petroleum hand cleaners and with this being based out of sugarcane it certainly seems to me like a better and less harsh option for them.

Here’s how it went down –

We decided to go with the wipes for the boys and see how they did scrubbing off oil and paint. As it turns out they worked great and the best part was that because we did not have to fire up the faucet and sling soap and stuff everywhere it was as easy as scrubbing, wiping down, and throwing the wipes away. These babies removed the spray paint like nobody’s business and my wife was happy not to have a big mess in the kitchen int he aftermath.

I used the hand cleaner in the squeeze bottle also sans water and it worked like a champ. I wiped by hands with a paper towel after working the product in and my hands were clean with absolutely no residue left over. The stuff actually leaves you smelling like a human being as well. It is a nice scent that any guy would be happy with coming off of his cleaned paws.

We’ve used the products multiple times since taking these photos and they have always done what they advertised and they’ve left our hands clean and in better shape than we start with because of squalane which is a skin care additive that is in the product as well. Anyone who has hands that crack due to working in rough conditions knows the value in keeping them in good shape and preventing that. Muck Daddy has you covered there as well.

Muck Daddy products are available on the web at their site –

Click here to visit the store at MuckDaddy.com