Swarfega
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Swarfega is a brand of heavy-duty hand cleaner, manufactured by Deb Ltd. It was invented by Audley Bowdler Williamson.[1] It is a dark green gelatinous, thixotropic, substance, used to clean grease, oil, printer's ink or general persistent, hydrophobic dirt from the skin. As with other such cleaners, it is drastically more effective than soap or other common cleansing products at removing such dirt; Swarfega is thus virtually ubiquitous in environments where this kind of dirt is common, such as garages and machine shops.
Swarfega is used by working a small amount into dry skin, then either wiping, rinsing or washing off.
The effectiveness of Swarfega is due to the powerfully hydrophobic ingredients, notably medium-chain (C9-C16) alkanes and cycloalkanes; in combination with an emulsifier (Trideceth-5 in current formulations). These are more efficient at solubilising oil and grease than a detergent alone.
In the UK, the word 'swarfega' may be used as a generic term for all similar cleaners, particularly if they have the same green jelly-like appearance as genuine Swarfega. According to the company website, the name comes from swarf, being the old engineering term for oil and grease and 'ega' as in eager to remove. This may be a bit confusing, as swarf now refers to the metal shavings and chips resulting from metalworking operations.
[edit] Cultural significance
Swarfega was promoted heavily on a late night showing of espeak as featured on Channel E4 (Sky channel 140). One man with a stutter claimed he could fit an industrial sized vat of Swarfega in his mouth. This is how it is remembered by many fans today.
The comedian Jasper Carrott once joked that after eating a balti in an Indian restaurant, he had been given one lemon-scented baby-wipe to clean his hands. His response was that the baby-wipe was useless, and that he'd need "half a gallon of Swarfega to get this stuff off".
In the Red Dwarf episode Back in the Red: Part I, it is revealed that Lister consumed Rimmer's supply of Swarfega, believing it to be the last of the supply of alcoholic drinks.
In a Victoria Wood sketch, one of the characters complains about Macbeth: "There was some terrible woman who kept washing her hands, saying she'd never get them clean. I felt like shouting out 'Try Swarfega'."
