The Unexpected Product That Makes Cleaning Sticky Handrails A Breeze

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Handrails are a key staircase feature that provides support for a person ascending and descending stairs. In addition to helping you safely navigate the steps, a handrail also offers you something to hold on to when you miss a step, trip over, or get imbalanced. Maintaining a clean handrail important to its function, as an unclean and sticky surface might lead some people to skip holding on to it altogether, which could endanger their safety. Fortunately, all you need to clean a sticky handrail is a ready-to-use baby wipe.

Handrails are used numerous times in a day and this number only multiples by the number of people in your particular household. Through this daily use, the rail can get sticky over time — an accumulation of dirt, grime, and body oils — if not cleaned regularly. This stickiness can be compounded as well through the use of incorrect cleaning products or furniture polishes. But, if you have a baby wipe or you pick some up the next time you're out (for instance, Target sells a 56-pack of unscented wipes from Huggies for less than $2.50), you'll have the unexpected remedy you need for this common sticky situation on your hands (literally!).

Once you've acquired some baby wipes, it's time to put the wipes to use and unleash their cleaning power on that sticky handrail. Open the pack and remove a wipe before resealing the pack to prevent the remaining wipes from drying out. Now, apply some elbow grease and move the baby wipe up and down the sticky handrail to clean it of whatever residue is there. Note, you may need to use multiple wipes if the handrail is especially sticky.

Wipe down your handrails with a baby wipe every week to keep them clean and feeling fresh under your palm. While perhaps unexpected, baby wipes are a gentle and effective cleaning tool, as they don't contain any harsh chemicals that would harm a surface, such as a handrail. Moreover, they won't burn a hole in your pocket and are easily available. However, baby wipes don't have antibacterial properties since they lack essential disinfectant elements like sodium hypochlorite and contain little or no alcohol. So while you can use them to clean your handrails of stickiness, you can't use them to sanitize a rail to prevent the cross-contamination of germs.