Life hack: Easily remove splinters from your hand

Don’t you just hate it when you’re gardening or doing DIY work around the house and you end up with a painful splinter stuck in your hand? It’s a very common complaint, and while there are various creams and ointments available from pharmacies which claim to help get them out, often they don’t work and are expensive too. 

Most people are tempted to pick at them, but this isn’t advisable as you could end up pushing it in further, irritating the site, or causing a nasty infection by introducing more bacteria. 

Read more: Life hack: Remove glass from your hand or foot easily

Next time you have a splinter stuck in the palm of your hand, give this very simple, yet effective hack a try. It’s a very old fashioned one, but it works! 

1. Find a small jar with an wide mouth on it. Something around the size of commercial baby food jars is perfect.

2. Fill it almost to the brim with hot water. Make sure it isn’t so hot that you’ll end up with a steam burn though!

3. Place your hand tightly over the jar, splinter positioned in the centre. The steam will open up the skin, and cause suction to draw your skin and the splinter down.

4. Make sure once the splinter is removed you clean the area properly with antiseptic to prevent infection.

Have you found any other good home remedies for removing splinters?