It started about a week ago. I noticed a sticky feeling on my hands so I washed them (as I do regularly). Unfortunately it wasn’t long before the feeling came back. I’ve started noticing it on everything I frequently touch - mouse/keyboard, Xbox controller, phone, on and on. I tried household cleaner, rubbing alcohol, water/soap on these surfaces and it seems to help for a short while, but it comes back within hours. Just now I gave my phone a good wipe with soapy water and as soon as it dried it feels sticky again.
I’m not sure what else to try or how to get rid of it.
Possible culprits I can guess at: -pollen? the cars around here have been covered in greenish yellow powder which I have seen before, but never experienced this stickyness. I don’t use my car / touch the door handles very often.
-some sort of plastic or rubber is degrading, maybe my phone case? It’s an Otterbox that’s over 6 years old.
-a little weed container I bought around the same time this started, maybe the store had vape juice spilled on it? But I don’t touch it often enough to warrant the spread of this profound stickyness.
Any ideas are welcome. It’s driving me nuts.
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This reads like a Junji Ito story
Ikr? I can imagine the slightly surrealistic hands sticking to things
This is where the plastic eating bacteria evolved. Over the next few weeks cars fell apart, computer mice crumbled and civilization was no more. Even after the reemergence, people were sticky. The new generation doesnt know non-stickyness.
If the Otterbox case had a rubberized coating on it to try to improve grip, and with it being 6 years old, there’s a possibility it’s the culprit. You could try ditching the case for a little while, and/or getting a new case and swapping them out, clean the surfaces again and see if you feel the stickiness again after handling your phone and other stuff.
However, often with those rubberized coatings, the degradation (when severe enough to feel sticky) is more immediately apparent and you’d be more apt to avoid touching anything else afterward. Also in my experience I don’t recall it transferring to other surfaces much, but then again when I dealt with it I noticed ASAP and cleaned my hands right away.
Yes, a degrading phone case can do that.
Horror writing prompt
I’d almost bet money it’s the otterbox. If it’s one of their older models, I would bet a small amount that’s what it is if it could be an anonymous bet and a good way to confirm. I’ve had a few otterbox cases over the years, and the older ones always degrade and get sticky, and it transfers. Their newer ones and colored ones don’t (or haven’t yet anyway), but I’ve stopped buying them because of it.
You can’t fix it, you just have to toss the damn things.
It probably contains some form of butyl rubber. The same stuff is used on cheap tool grips and if you get the wrong solvent on it then it becomes instantly and permanently sticky. I imagine it does the same thing with enough age as well.
I had a pair of speakers (studio monitors) with rubberized plastic on them that did this. It was truly maddening. My guess is it’s something plastic/rubber like that. Your phone case is a good suspect, have you taken it off the phone and inspected it inside and out?
How is your heart?
He’s not going to die of stickyness, and you don’t even know if he’s an organ donor!
It’s probably sticky too
Likely unrelated, but after I’ve cut raw garlic cloves everything feels weird, almost sticky, no matter how much I wash my hands.
I’m guessing probably the thc because it’s sticky af and the otterbox as well 6 years is old for rubberized plastic
soap won’t work. Get yourself some goo gone or orange oil. I use medical grade adhesive removers but I just happen to have them on hand and they work great.
There are certain types of rubber/plastic that do this when they degrade, as others have mentioned. I had a small HDD with a rubberized coating on it and rubbing alcohol started to speed it’s degradation and it was a horrific mess. I also had a rubber mallet from a discount tool store that started to stink so bad, and it too was sticky and degrading. And (oh, you thought I was done…) I had some small Rubbermaid totes that I purchased at Walmart over 15 years ago that started to feel greasy and sticky when I touched them. I washed all of them multiple times until I realized the plastic was not cured and was breaking down. At least those did not stink. They only lasted 1 year before that happened.
Test your blood sugar, high blood sugar can make your hands weird
What’s the soap that car mechanics use? Gojo? It’s like this gritty soap designed to get oil off of hands. Get some of that.
My dad used to use something called Swarfega when he’d been working on anything oily, it was amazing stuff.
My guess would be the phone case or anything else you’re in high contact with made out of a rubber composite type.
